What to use first - New or Old Film?

Pete B

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I have 100ft of Neopan 400 and 200ft of HP5+ in the freezer. They're about 3+ years old. I've just bought 400ft of Ilford Delta. I'm having a B+W year 2018, but which should I shoot first? Fresh or old?
Pete
 
Thanks. I've just had a look and my Neopan expired 2011 :eek:
The HP5 expires in Feb 2018, so that's good for a while. I'd best start looking at Neopan400 recipes :D.
Pete
 
Freezing the film retards aging. I bought hundreds of rolls, bought a large chest freezer and froze it about 8 years ago. It's just as fresh today as it was the day I bought it.

If your film has been frozen since before it's expiration date you have nothing to worry about.

High speed films will age even frozen but at a slower rate. Neopan 1600 and Ilford 3200 will age even frozen. 400 speed films can remain fresh for a couple of decades if frozen.
 
I would consider what I'm shooting. If it's just around town, I'd shoot older film. If I were traveling, I'd shoot the new stuff.
 
New stuff first, especially if the old has been frozen.
My logic is that the old stuff is already old, but the new stuff is new. If you shoot the old stuff first, by the time you get around to shooting the new stuff it'll be old too so you'll never shoot new film.
 
Start with film which is best for pushing. We are in the dark times until March.
I use HP5+ as 1600, 3200 film for this time and after March it is Kentmere 400 as 200 film.
How good is Neopan 400 from 2011 for pushing... Must be still good as ISO200 film for sure.
 
If you have any questions about your film being good, shoot a few frames, clip them out and run them. See for yourself.
 
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