expired film?

O

onespeed

Guest
In a recent camera deal I recievec d 4 bulk rolls of expired film
3 rolls of 100 asa t-max
1 roll of 400 asa t-max
all are from 1996 what is the general rule on losing film speed? I was thinking that I could shoot them at their rated speed and then develop in diafine at the normal times since diafine does effectively increase film speed and shooting them as rated would compensate for the loss due to age? whaddya' think?
thanks in advance
Robert,
 
If the film was refrigerated, you may not need to compensate. It's bulk film. Spool some short rolls and do a little testing. Piece of cake!
 
I strongly second Wayne and am still using Tri-X ASA 320, in 220 format, from my fridge, expired 10 years ago ! Yes, 10 years.
 
I have loads of expired bulk B&W film from as far back as 1978 (and the latter had been stored in a closet, albeit in Alaska!) and all is fine and seems to be at full speed or real close (Delta 100, HP5+, FP4+, Plus-X, Tri-X, Neopan 400).

I'd shoot a roll or two and see what happens. But I really doubt you've lost much of any speed.
 
i got given a large amount of bulk film (ilford pan 50) from my biology lab last year. it was kept cold for a long time (expried 1996). However like everyone has said the film was fine and gave some killer results
 
If the film has been stored cold you can probably use it at rated speed and live with the slightly higher base fog. I suspect that Diafine would be too harsh at this time. Maybe try some Rodinal at high dilution (1: 75 for 15 minutes or even 1:100 for 20 minutes). If you can get hold of some Benzotriazol ("anti-fog) you can add that to the developer. I usually use 10ml of a 2% solution of Benzo/ 1000 ml developer. Too much of it slows down the film considerably so be careful. Never use unknown or out-dated film for important stuff - it is for the experiments!
At the moment I have 4 rolls of Kodak bl/w film sitting on my dersk. The expiry date was June 1930! This summer I will try to shoot with it. The friend who gave me the film did a test-roll and thinks the speed is around 0,375 ASA. Obviously it will require a tripod and a fast lens. Most likely I will try the old D-20 formula and a fair bit of benzotriazol. At 0.375 ASA I am not worried about the speed dropping much more!
 
kmack said:
In general I believe the rule of thumb is to add one stop per decade
Click to expand...

Hi
That sounds good and I will take it into consideration when I try out the films on some warm and sunny day. Thanks!
 
Tom A said:
....Obviously it will require a tripod and a fast lens....
Click to expand...

If you use the tripod you might not necessarily need the fast lens!

:p
 
thanks

thanks

thanks for all the replys, I will try that chemical tom mentions and see what happens I 'd hate to toss 400' feet of film just for the heck of it I'll give 2 people 1 roll each of 100 asa t-max if you p.m. with your adress but ya gotta promise to shoot it and tell me about the results
 
onespeed said:
thanks for all the replys, I will try that chemical tom mentions and see what happens I 'd hate to toss 400' feet of film just for the heck of it I'll give 2 people 1 roll each of 100 asa t-max if you p.m. with your adress but ya gotta promise to shoot it and tell me about the results
Click to expand...
Here you go:

I shot a short roll this weekend from the film Robert sent me (Thanks again).
Both were shot under 'Sunny 16' conditions at 100 ISO Leica IIIF and Summitar f2/50.
Developed in Clayton f76+ 20C 7min 30 seconds initial agitation then 15sec every minute.

They looked a little thin but scaned very well.
The base fog did not seem to be worse than normal.


388650328_ede92583e1_o.jpg
388650329_45ffb7ac37_o.jpg
 
Last edited:
Generally Ill pull it by a stop. Im shooting with a lot of post dated film at the moment -all kinds.
 
irq506 said:
Generally Ill pull it by a stop. Im shooting with a lot of post dated film at the moment -all kinds.
Click to expand...

If you're "pulling" it is that not shooting at lower speed and then compensating for such in development? How does this change anything for expired films? Shooting at a lower than box speed and not compensating (or not pulling) I can see but ....
 
thanks,

thanks,

thanks for the pic and the report, can someone define "base fog" for me I have pushed and pulled nailed for me it applies to pushing a log when its not on the mill I pull with my truck!!!!
thanks again and I hope you get some good photos with the film
Robert,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom