1999 Kodak E200 frozen

[B&Wpositive]

I have a couple rolls of Kodak E200 I acquired as part of a large bag of always frozen film from ebay, dated 9/1999 #0062, and marked "sample" (Kodak gave away samples when it was new).

I've shot some other film from that bag, and had mixed results. Most of it was good, but the old 1990s Kodak Ektachrome Elite (not Elitechrome or even Elite II, but even older) had shifted colors (toward magenta).

My question: is the frozen 1999 E200 likely to be good? I can shoot a roll and if the colors come out poorly just convert to b&w after scanning, so it's not a big deal. The only previous experience I had with E200 off ebay was poor - it was only a year or two out of date, but heavily degraded speed and magenta color (so I am relegating it to cross processing).

Also, should I run this E200 at ISO 200 or EI 160 considering its age? Or is this film destined for cross processing? ISO 200 film doesn't exactly keep well over a decade, even when frozen, right?

 

[HerrBremerhaven]

It depends upon how it was frozen. Simple refrigeration, rather than freezing, might have been a better choice, unlike with B/W film. The oldest E200 I shot was two years out of date, and refrigerated. I ended up pushing that to ISO 800, and the results were perhaps a little warmer than usual, though not glaringly obvious. However, if the film you got had not been cold stored, then it will shift much more magenta over time; it is only good for about one year past expiration when not cold stored.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography

 

[eworkman]

Since it it a reversal film, shoot it at 300-400- If it's good it will be dense, If it's going bad it has a better chance of holding the highlights- you said you were gonna scan anyways

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

For what it's worth, I have some refrigerator stored E200 that expired in 2000, and it processes just fine. But I notice the slight warming too that HerrB is talking about. Probably not the best choice for absolute color fidelity, but it makes nice frames on the fall foliage around here.

- Thomas

 

[nworth]

E200 frozen since 1999 should be just fine - about the same as new. Just thaw it in its containers for half a day.