Slide Film Options? Expired or not.

dave lackey

dave lackey

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Recently, slide film has returned to my interest. Looking back over all the years, black and white film and slide film have accounted for the majority of my significant "keepers". But I have not shot slide film much in the past ten years.

I am shooting some 120 Velvia at the moment, and I have sime 35mm Velvia and expired Provia waiting in queue.

I am very much planning to cut down 120 slide film for my 127 needs.

What are my options for any format to use slide film these days? It seems that expired slide film works pretty well... but how long expired?

Can anyone recommend specific expired slide films that may be found and have a good potential for being useable?:):):)
 
Dave,
The only "sure thing" in my opinion regarding slide film, was that expired Kodachrome didn't suffer from age. It wasn't affected by intense heat either. Unfortunately, we don't have K14 anymore and I digressed. As for E6 film, I've seen it start to shift if it wasn't properly stored, so I wouldnt take a risk on expired film unless I *knew* it had been refrigerated or frozen. Of course these days with a scanner and post processing you can recover shifted colors but that is just more time in front of a computer and less time shooting.

Phil Forrest
 
I just had some long expired (but frozen) Provia processed. Looks very good on the light table, but I'll see further when I get around to scanning.

I've had decent experience with expired E100VS as well.

Basically all of my slide film is out of date at this point, I think it's holding up well though if kept frozen. Any slight shifts (if at all) could be easily corrected in LR or PS, assuming the end result would be digital scans.

That's my take anyway.
 
Phil,

Great advice... and I have seen some mighty fine images in expired slide film lately but I have no idea how long-expired I can go... it looks promising if frozen, as you mentioned!:)
 
gnuyork said:
I just had some long expired (but frozen) Provia processed. Looks very good on the light table, but I'll see further when I get around to scanning.

I've had decent experience with expired E100VS as well.

Basically all of my slide film is out of date at this point, I think it's holding up well though if kept frozen. Any slight shifts (if at all) could be easily corrected in LR or PS, assuming the end result would be digital scans.

That's my take anyway.
Click to expand...

Actually, having seen your own results is what has me thinking about using expired film. Very nice, IMO!!!

Thanks!:)
 
That is double run 8mm motion picture film.
The cheapest way to shoot black and white reversal film are to use TriX motion picture reversal film and have it processed as reversal. It's about the same cost as 5222.

Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
That is double run 8mm motion picture film.
The cheapest way to shoot black and white reversal film are to use TriX motion picture reversal film and have it processed as reversal. It's about the same cost as 5222.

Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

Yes,thanks, 8mm film, but i am wondering if it is available in 35mm. I must check it out.

There seems to be other options besides Kodak and Fuji but I haven't had time to research it.

I will be away for awhile taking care of my daily work and will check in. I need the rest anyway as my injured arm is too painful to type anymore anyway. Thanks for the comments so far!
 
A friend gave me 10 rolls of Ektachrome 200 (120) which he poorly stored and expired 2003. I shot the first roll and it is fine (now they are in my fridge):

Ektachrome 200 expired by John Carter, on Flickr

He also gave me some Velvia 50 (35mm) and it had no date but it was bad so that didn't work. He gave me some C-41 Fujifilm too. it was bad.

The Kodak Portra expired film from him has been good.

So for me I'll take a chance on Kodak expired film but really need to know the history of Fujifilm.

Looking at B&H there doesn't seem to be much out there right now. I'm set for a while with my own supply of fridge stored E-6, but who knows the future.
 
charjohncarter said:
A friend gave me 10 rolls of Ektachrome 200 (120) which he poorly stored and expired 2003. I shot the first roll and it is fine (now they are in my fridge):
Ektachrome 200 expired by John Carter, on Flickr

He also gave me some Velvia 50 (35mm) and it had no date but it was bad so that didn't work. He gave me some C-41 Fujifilm too. it was bad.

The Kodak Portra expired film from him has been good.

So for me I'll take a chance on Kodak expired film but really need to know the history of Fujifilm.

Looking at B&H there doesn't seem to be much out there right now. I'm set for a while with my own supply of fridge stored E-6, but who knows the future.
Click to expand...

Wow, that really is nice! I have seen good results from Agfa as well with over 10 years expired. Thanks, John.:)
 
black and white slides are really easy to do if you are used to mixing your own developers from scratch. as for color, people seem to be charging the sun and moon for expired slide film, its actually cheaper to buy fresh film. samy's now has the lowest prices on 120 velvia 50 and provia. BH just raised their prices again. they seem to be doing that often. testing the waters to see how high they can charge. they are now the most expensive on most films of the major internet retailers.
 
I need to correct what I said above. TriX isn't available as 35mm reversal film anymore.
Sorry about that.
Phil Forrest
 
In my (admittedly limited) experience with expired slide film I've found that anything faster than 100 is definitely a gamble. I've had pretty poor results with 400 that was only a few years expired and not poorly stored. On the other hand, well stored 100 and 50 (Velvia and Provia) tended to behave pretty well up until about five years. I'm not talking about refrigeration here; just avoiding extreme heat and humidity. After five years, all bets are off. I had rolls that were from the same batch shift differently despite identical storage. I don't even try with anything that's over five years old if it was kept at room temperature anymore.

Now if it was frozen.... well, I imagine it would probably last quite a long time but that's only a guess.
 
I've had a fine experience with older Provia 100 and Velvia 100. Velvia 50 on the other hand, proved to be not so successful. Some investigating found many others who had no issues with the 100 speed E6 films, but who found Velvia 50 to be much more sensitive to age/temperature/etc.
 
My frozen Provia (recently developed) is from the 90s, fyi. Also my first time shooting Provia, but it looks just like very much like the scene I was shooting.

I have a lot of Velvia 50 left... I sure hope it's still good.
 
It's probably helpful for those commenting about "Velvia 50" to clarify exactly which film they're referring to, so that readers can weigh up their options on the basis of accurate information. "Velvia 50" technically means RVP 50, the revised film Fuji re-introduced in, I think, 2008 from memory.

Prior to that Fuji manufactured RVP, an ISO 50 film known simply as "Velvia", or "Velvia for Professionals", to give it its long title shown on the original packaging. RVP wasn't ever called "Velvia 50", because there was no need to. While it was current, there was only one type of Velvia: RVP 100 and RVP 100F had yet to be introduced. When the revised Velvia range was introduced, the ISO 50 version was then named "Velvia 50" (RVP 50), in order to distinguish it from the new Velvia 100 and 100F Fujichromes.

I can't speak to the keeping qualities of Velvia 50. But I was gifted a 100 foot roll of Velvia some years ago, which promptly went straight into my freezer in its bulk loader and is spooled as desired. It continues to perform well.
Cheers,
Brett
 
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