Expired Hp5

[Tadhgo]

I just acquired a 17 meter roll of expired hp5 film, it's unopened and
was kept in an attic. I think its about 20 years old, not sure if i'm
reading the expiry date right.
Does anyone have any experience with using out of date black and white film?
Anyone know what I can expect if i use it?
The thing is I'd have to buy a bulk film loader and cassettes just to use this film, just wondering if its worth it really..
Thanks

 

[Tom A]

Stored in an attic - could cause problem with fogging. I would recomend that you open the can in a totally dark room - pull out a fully stretched arms lengths (both arms) and get one cassette and load it. Shoot it at iso 100/200/400 and process in your regular "soup". The age has probably slowed it down a bit - so you might find that 200-250 iso will wokk bets.
Check for fog - HP5 is not bad for it, but even if you get some - you can "print through" it in a wet darkroom or boost the contrast in L/R or P/S if scanning. I have used out-dated film a lot. The record is Kodak bl/w from 1931 (works, but is 1/2-1 iso and not pretty). 20 year old TriX seems to work well, some fog. I find the slower films age less (another reason for taking it easy obviously) . 20 year old Panatomic X @40-50 iso looked really good.
Try it - you dont have anything to loose - and cassettes and a film loader can be used for fresh film too.

 

[malcD]

leica lllf - summitar 50/2 - 100/f4 --- out of date hp4 by 20 years

 

[Tadhgo]

Thanks for the replies, I'll give it a shot and see how it turns out..

 

[ChrisLivsey]

Please be sure to let us know. I have a couple of IXMOO cassettes with FP4 (not PLUS) unsure of age in from when I bought them. I'm waiting for a bit brighter weather otherwise it's going to need a tripod 🙂

 

[Tadhgo]

Sure, will do.

 

[ChrisN]

Tom - if I take a strip of exposed, undeveloped film and clear it in fixer, will the film display "film base plus fog" or just film base?