C-41 Bulletproof?

ericdan · Sep 8, 2015

I recently shot a roll of Superia Venus 400 has been sitting on a shop shelf in the sun for years.
The film expired March 2011 and the packaging was bleached white from the sun.
I shot the roll 2 stops overexposed and was surprised when it came back from the lab.

I couldn't see any degradation at all. No color shift, no weird grain. Looked just like a fresh roll of superia from the fridge.
This really made me think, maybe I should make room in my fridge and store a lot more film now that Fuji prices are going up.

Richard S. (rich815) · Sep 8, 2015

So this one roll disproves what most have thought for years?

gone · Sep 8, 2015

I wish I had experienced this sort of thing, but not only have I had all the issues you described from old, poorly kept C41 film, I have also had my negs fade because they are dye based and not silver like true B&W films. True, the negs that I experienced fading with were poorly kept, but any dye based film has it's days numbered no matter how it's stored. It's just the nature of the beast.

Were you looking at the prints or negs? Labs use machines that will auto correct machine made prints from what is on the neg. I had to tell processors to switch that function off when they processed my C41 films because I was unable to see what was really going on w/ my cameras, exposure, etc when they did auto correction. Not all labs would do that for me, but most would.

removed account4 · Sep 8, 2015

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
So this one roll disproves what most have thought for years?

hi richard

i've had similar experiences, 5 yeasr expired superia 400 and 800
not on a sunny shelf but in a kitchen cabinet ... shot maybe 1 stop over
dropped off, fuji processed it and prints returned .. negatives looked fine, prints looked fine.

and with b/w the only time i have had troubles is with expired cn400 i've never bought that film since
xp2super OTOH ive shot drawer stored expired, looked perfect...

ericdan · Sep 8, 2015

To be fair I only looked at scans. Haven't enlarged any yet. But even if the scanner autocorrected. It must've done a damn good job doing so.

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Xmas · Sep 8, 2015

ericdan said:
To be fair I only looked at scans. Haven't enlarged any yet. But even if the scanner autocorrected. It must've done a damn good job doing so.

Sent from Tapatalk

Consumer c41 is very good with temperature.
Humidity is much worse fresh silica gel multiple zip lock bags 5C fridge is as low as Id go.

removed account4 · Sep 8, 2015

according to mr bill and his company's hot box tests
color films are pretty good even with excessive temperatures
beyond what humans feel comfortable

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) ...

MattKing · Sep 8, 2015

The problem isn't with quality degradation.

It is with inconsistent quality degradation.

In addition, it is possible that most of the damage was done to the outer box.

Sirius Glass · Sep 8, 2015

You got lucky. Some times you will not be so lucky.

markbarendt · Sep 8, 2015

ericdan said:
I recently shot a roll of Superia Venus 400 has been sitting on a shop shelf in the sun for years.
The film expired March 2011 and the packaging was bleached white from the sun.
I shot the roll 2 stops overexposed and was surprised when it came back from the lab.

I couldn't see any degradation at all. No color shift, no weird grain. Looked just like a fresh roll of superia from the fridge.
This really made me think, maybe I should make room in my fridge and store a lot more film now that Fuji prices are going up.

No surprise as far as I'm concerned.

C-41 Bulletproof?

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