20 year old 120 T-Max 100???

Is this film any good still? I have seen posts from people that have used film much older then 20 years and it still worked. I am tempted to use it but the thought of spending time at some location seeing a great composition and using film that is bad would be rather upsetting.

My personal experience is that T-grain films do not age well.
25 year old Tri-X; no problem (very slight fog), 22 y.o. Agfapan100; looked like it had been purchased yesterday.
12 year old T-Max 100 and 400; printatable but heavy fogging.
OTOH; 20 y.o. Agfapan 400; terrible fogging, albit still printable.
20 year old FP4 and HP5, very slight fog -- no problem.

All films were exposed fresh, then stored (a.k.a. forgotten in various drawers) until developed in november '06

-- MW

IF your film is still in its sealed foil wrapper, (SHEET OR ROLL) then it has a fairly good chance of being good, or at least usable.

For any older film, whether processing in trays, deep tanks or roll film tanks, I highly recommend a 4 minute water presoak before going to developer, as this helps the older dried out gelatin swell and become receptive to the developer more evenly. Otherwise you may find that you get denser edges and lighter middle to the development.

I am currently going through a 100 sheet box of Tmax 100 4x5" film. This box was bought in 1987 with an expiry date of 1991. Previously I went through a box which was exactly one year older.

I have very little fog, in fact it's virtually undetectable in clear parts of the negatives.

My current postcard print which has done the rounds, is from the 1991 expiry box. Most people appear to be commenting on the excellent contrast and tonal range.

I would suggest that you do a test on some film, see just what it takes for you to get what you are looking for in a negative, and go from there.

Bad storage may have affected the film, but in my personal experience Tmax 100 sheet film has fared far better than HP5 sheet film. Both films have been in my refrigerator from new, I started using them last year when I picked up a 4x5" camera.

Mick.

Magnus W said:

25 year old Tri-X; no problem (very slight fog), 22 y.o. Agfapan100; looked like it had been purchased yesterday.


All films were exposed fresh, then stored (a.k.a. forgotten in various drawers) until developed in november '06

-- MW

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Glad to hear this. My experiences with Tri-X are similar. The stuff keeps on giving. I have rolls of 35mm dated 1994, never refrigerated, it shoots fine. I went through 50 rolls of Tri-x 120 dated early 2000-2001, no issues there.

I have 400 sheets of APX100 on the border of fresh (expire this year) but refrigerated since new. I look forward to several years of decent shooting with this film.

tim in san jose