Best way to go about shooting expired Velvia 50

I just bought about 20 rolls of Velvia 50 in 35mm. It's been cold-stored and I was told by the seller that some of the rolls he's shot came out fine, so I'm not too worried. The expiry dates are from 1999 to about 2013 IIRC. Most of them are ~2010 so the first roll I shoot will be from that batch and I want to use that first roll to do some testing.

I will be shooting at box speed. I also want to bracket my shots for testing purposes. I'm planning to do 1/2 stop above and below. Is this fine, or should I do less than half-stops (or more)?

I'm also planning to have them processed normally, as I don't want to introduce too many variables at once.

Assuming my Velvia is *mostly* fine, but may have experienced some color changes, what sort of color cast would I expect, and what correcting filters should I consider?

Can anyone recommend good E-6 labs? I generally use Memphis Film Lab for my C-41 film but I've never shot slides before.

I am open to processing myself but I've never processed color film of any kind at home before.

Any additional advice is welcome.

Oh, also, does anyone have metering recommendations for this film? I don't have any cameras that do evaluative matrix metering, I'll instead be using a camera with a center-weighted metering system.

You don't want to over-expose, because that washes out the highlights.
I'd recommend bracketing with 1/3 stop or 1/2 stop increments.
EI 50, 64, 80.
Any color cast will probably go toward magenta.
Best to shoot a test roll & evaluate.
Good luck!

AnselMortensen said:

You don't want to over-expose, because that washes out the highlights.
I'd recommend bracketing with 1/3 stop or 1/2 stop increments.
EI 50, 64, 80.
Any color cast will probably go toward magenta.
Best to shoot a test roll & evaluate.
Good luck!

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No box speed at all?

Box speed is EI 50.

For every decade beyond expiry, the film will lose its original speed and contrast, with a palette that is more unnatural and potentially grainier. I believe 26 years is really pushing the envelope.

What constitutes 'cold storage', beside proven deep frozen storage over all those years?

I would bet the film isn't going to be textbook Velvia 50 beauty. But experimentation is a great teacher!

You will need to expose at various compensatory speeds (and take careful notes of what you are doing so you can made valid judgements when assessing the slides on the lightbox). Start with 50, then EI40, EI32 (my bet is EI40 will be the best); then EI64 and EI80. These adjustments can be made by switching the ISO on the camera's dial, but again, keep track of what you are doing. Don't add any exposure compensation through the camera until you have seen at least one roll that follows the above methodology. There will likely be a heavy purplish cast and colour shift — you will not know for certain until the results come back.

Velvia 50 requires care with exposure even with cameras that have onboard matrix/evaluative metering. CWA metering will work if the conditions you are shooting do not present extremes of contrast (again, bright light, deep shadows etc.) Even then, dexterity of 'reading' the scene and adjusting the suggested exposure pays dividends.

Shoot it at either 50 or 40. If it needs more exposure, it's probably toast.

If the expiry dates range from 1999 to 2013, it may be hard to get consistent results. It's easier to test a film batch if it's all the same date.

I've shot expired Velvia 50 where the black disappeared and turned to red. I've also shot some that had completely perfect results. It's all down to the true storage of it and how much you can trust the description.

Overall, had much better luck with expired Sensia (as old as 1996) compared to expired Velvia.

AnselMortensen said:

Box speed is EI 50.

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My mistake, I think I just had a brain fart.

Taylor Nankervis said:

For every decade beyond expiry, the film will lose its original speed and contrast, with a palette that is more unnatural and potentially grainier. I believe 26 years is really pushing the envelope.

What constitutes 'cold storage', beside proven deep frozen storage over all those years?

I would bet the film isn't going to be textbook Velvia 50 beauty. But experimentation is a great teacher!

You will need to expose at various compensatory speeds (and take careful notes of what you are doing so you can made valid judgements when assessing the slides on the lightbox). Start with 50, then EI40, EI32 (my bet is EI40 will be the best); then EI64 and EI80. These adjustments can be made by switching the ISO on the camera's dial, but again, keep track of what you are doing. Don't add any exposure compensation through the camera until you have seen at least one roll that follows the above methodology. There will likely be a heavy purplish cast and colour shift — you will not know for certain until the results come back.

Velvia 50 requires care with exposure even with cameras that have onboard matrix/evaluative metering. CWA metering will work if the conditions you are shooting do not present extremes of contrast (again, bright light, deep shadows etc.) Even then, dexterity of 'reading' the scene and adjusting the suggested exposure pays dividends.

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Seller says they were kept in the freezer. I'm expecting some degradation but something still fairly usable. I'm planning to shoot low contrast scenes, I haven't used slide film before but I know enough not to use it for high-contrast lighting.

My experience is similar to @loccdor , it can vary a lot due to age and storage. But I will still bracket both plus and minus ISO in half stop increments.

Color cast is mostly magenta. But the worst samples come out very dark and weird.

blee1996 said:

My experience is similar to @loccdor , it can vary a lot due to age and storage. But I will still bracket both plus and minus ISO in half stop increments.

Color cast is mostly magenta. But the worst samples come out very dark and weird.

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have you ever successfully used color correcting filters to improve the magenta cast?

Not really, I just leave it as is for the expired film look.

Minolta93 said:

My mistake, I think I just had a brain fart.

Seller says they were kept in the freezer. I'm expecting some degradation but something still fairly usable. I'm planning to shoot low contrast scenes, I haven't used slide film before but I know enough not to use it for high-contrast lighting.

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You'll have to put more than a modicum of faith in what the seller tells you — touch-wood and hope for the best.
The film could potentially also be affected by humidity over such a long time, particularly in 'wet' freezers that do not defrost (aka 'dry' or 'frost-free').

I would expect the results to be 'useable', but perhaps not so easy to scan and print. What is your end-use for the processed film? Whatever you come back with, please post the results here on Photrio — even the most experienced E6 users here probably don't have so much exposure (ooops, I have punned...) to film that has expired more than two decades ago. If we have changed so much in that time, just imagine the film! Oh, never mind...

Taylor Nankervis said:

You'll have to put more than a modicum of faith in what the seller tells you — touch-wood and hope for the best.
The film could potentially also be affected by humidity over such a long time, particularly in 'wet' freezers that do not defrost (aka 'dry' or 'frost-free').

I would expect the results to be 'useable', but perhaps not so easy to scan and print. What is your end-use for the processed film? Whatever you come back with, please post the results here on Photrio — even the most experienced E6 users here probably don't have so much exposure (ooops, I have punned...) to film that has expired more than two decades ago. If we have changed so much in that time, just imagine the film! Oh, never mind...

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It's just for fun, but I still want some pictures that are worth looking at which is why I'm willing to do some testing instead of just going out and shooting it without being careful about it.

These films are absolutely unpredictable when they age. Sometimes they lose almost no speed, other times they do. Sometimes, although rarely, they lose speed, more than a stop, but they have no base fog. In 15 years I don't expect the speed to have changed significantly.
Find a place with low dynamics - without big differences in light and dark. Not in the shade. That way the average metering will do its job without deceiving you.
Make a bracketing through 1/3 stop. I would recommend pulling the process by about 1/2 stop. You just have to find a lab that agrees to such processing. Pulling will slightly increase the dynamics and possibly improve the situation slightly if there is a slight fog present.

I have a few rolls of velvia 50 from 06 that i got for free. they are the only ones i have used that had color casts. I was going to toss them after I developed them but thought i would try scanning one frame to see what happened (I project my slides). a quick scan and a simple auto correct and the shot was pretty close to normal. I would shoot the film at 40, which is what I rate the original RVP at and then go from there.

I've taken possession of the film and will be sorting it into batches based on expiration date later today.

Would any of you believe me if the best results were where I shot the film at EI 32??

I shot through a roll and sent it for developing a few weeks ago, and I just got the results back. I've noticed no strong color cast, but most of my photos came out underexposed, whether I used my camera's meter, or whether I shot manually using readings from an external light meter.

I misplaced my notebook where I wrote down the exposures, but I remember a few sequences where I shot 32, 40, 50, 64, and then 80.



The first image is at 80, and is the darkest one.



The second is at 32 and it is by far the lightest. In hindsight maybe the dark water was throwing off my metering, so I should have exposed more for this scene anyway, but to me it is the best looking one. There still seems to be a loss of contrast for this film. I think this particular one expired in 2010 or 2013, but I can't verify that right now.

There is a blue cast to the ones that were exposed less, and a slight magenta cast to the one shot at 32. It's noticeable, and enough not to use this for something where color accuracy matters, but I think it's pleasant and doesn't ruin the image.

I can post more later. I don't have a light table but I can post comparisons of the cut strips in front of a single light source in the same photo as well.



And here's a bonus, the last photo I snapped off at rough eyeballed settings. It's obviously overexposed with blown highlights, but other than the bright areas, everything else looks good. As far as I can recall, the color of the light looked about the way it does in the photo, there's no overall color cast, and it's not very grainy.

Based on this my preliminary assumption would be that I should actually err on the side of overexposure for the next few rolls, at least the ones with the same expiry, although that goes against the typical advice for shooting expired slide film.

Minolta93 said:

.......

I am open to processing myself but I've never processed color film of any kind at home before.

Any additional advice is welcome.

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E6 processing is not difficult but it does require a little investment in water baths and accurate temperature control (+/- 0.5degC) ... and following the instructions to the letter.

If you're looking for a new challenge this winter, I would recommended trying it. For Fujifilm, start with one extra minute first developer time, there's an element of experimentation for the first development time. Most importantly, get the temperatures spot on.

It's incredibly rewarding compared to processing negatives, as when you are finished you see these beautiful little jewels as you take the film off the spiral.