Is this film still good?

[68degrees]

I bought 21 rolls of fuji and kodak color film at a garage sale for $7. Expiration dates are like 2005 to 2008. They were not in the freezer or refrigerated. I think they were kept in a house or storage unit. What are the chances they are stilll good?

 

[lam]

Judging from description I wouldn't expect fresh results, possibly very dense negatives.

Go take one roll and shoot it and develop it at CVS or your favorite 15 minute developer and see would be the only way to know.

 

[sevo]

We can't tell, with as little information as that. It entirely depends on the film speed, type and storage conditions. In general, fast film decomposes sooner than slow film, colour film sooner than black and white, and it first of all becomes evident on slide film. Heat will significantly decrease the shelf life of film.

A 2005 expired ISO 800 slide film from a hot attic will presumably be destroyed beyond any usefulness (being not only 800% over expiration, but also stored in conditions much worse than specified), while a ISO 100 black and white film from air conditioned storage expired in 2008 will presumably be as good as new (being merely 100% over expiration, in better conditions than calculated). Colour negative will sit somewhere in between - I'd expect a 2008 100 ISO film to give mediocre results in a wet print, but it will probably auto-correct and scan without a hitch, while a 800 or 1600 ISO film from 2003 will be firmly in the Lomo camp of over-exposed or cross-processed film even if you throw all possible post-processing at it.

 

[68degrees]

...- I'd expect a 2008 100 ISO film... will probably auto-correct and scan without a hitch, while a 800 or 1600 ISO film from 2003 will be firmly in the Lomo camp of over-exposed or cross-processed film even if you throw all possible post-processing at it.

Lomo! nice haha. Im just hoping for scannable correctable exposures. We shall see. Thank you.

 

[Classique]

I use expired film mostly and to get the best result, you should overexpose by a stop or two. As others mentioned above, faster films get worse faster than slower ones.

 

[x-ray]

Judging from description I wouldn't expect fresh results, possibly very dense negatives.

Go take one roll and shoot it and develop it at CVS or your favorite 15 minute developer and see would be the only way to know.

Thin negs not dense. Film loses speed as it ages. Shadows go first.

If it was stored in a cool spot or room temp it's probably OK but would't shoot it for anything important.

Best thing to do is take a roll and try it. A couple of dollars for processing is a small investment. Everything else is just speculation.

 

[kbg32]

Bracket and write down your exposures, so you know what generally to expect next time. Throw'em in the fridge to keep them from aging further.

 

[Photo_Smith]

Like others have said, depends on storage the negs could be dense because of high base fog which can be compensated for in scan/printing.
Results can surprise, here is Agfa 160 stored at room temp 9 years out of date:

Impossible to tell though as there are so many variables.

 

[Sylvester]

21 rolls? Enough to create an aesthetic style for your photography... Film is film.

 

[Joosep]

Well.... I take em away from you for 8$ !

 

[68degrees]

Bracket and write down your exposures, so you know what generally to expect next time. Throw'em in the fridge to keep them from aging further.

i got them in the freezer now is that ok?

 

[haempe]

Thin negs not dense. Film loses speed as it ages. Shadows go first.

This is right, but fog can make even "thin" negs very dense. I think this was meant.

 

[pakeha]

I`m still using some agfa vista that expired in 2008.Even better price than yours, a free brick given to me by the local lab. This film was stored on a shelf in the lab,someone had stored it out of sight for years. So far it has been fine. Not like you are going to have a big loss here really.