Creative uses for expired C41??

rwboyer · Apr 3, 2010

Anyone have any creative (non critical) ideas for what to do with expired C41 negative film. I mean really really expired - not just past the date. Oh and by creative I mean at least worth the processing cost.

I found a bunch of 35mm and 120 Kodak Portra 160VC and 400NC that has expiration dates of 2002 2004 and 2006. The hazards of traveling and moving way way too much stuff gets lost for years. On a brighter note I found a pristine old F3 Nikon in the same box that I hadn't seen in years.

RB

werra · Apr 3, 2010

160 should be ok to just shoot it. I use 100-200 film of that age routinely for snaps with glove-compartment XA. 400 could be dead though.

wildbill · Apr 3, 2010

that's not really expired. If it was frozen you should be good. I've been shooting slide film from the early 90's lately.

rwboyer · Apr 3, 2010

Storage was in the bottom of a box - varying conditions hot to cold.

RB

PhotoJim · Apr 3, 2010

Try one roll and see. You might be surprised.

You might want to halve the ISO to be sure that you have enough density in the shadows, in case it's fogged. C41 can take a stop of overexposure without any difficulty.

marylandphoto · Apr 3, 2010

I have 20 rolls of Kodacolor VR 200 with only 8 exposures per roll that expired in 2000. Needless to say, I'm at a loss at what to use them for.

nickandre · Apr 3, 2010

The 400 will have moderate background fog and speed loss. Use it to test cameras and shoot it at 160. The 160 will have less than half as much background fog and speed loss but will likely be fine for the typical hybrid scanning that minilabs give. Shoot it at 100 or 80 for fun.

You can try C41 reversal or some sort of lomography.

Rick A · Apr 3, 2010

I just shot a few rolls of Kodacolor that was sitting on a store shelf and was expired in 1998. Nice color shift to almost monochrome green. I'm sure if I printed color I couldmake some reasonable adjusted prints from it.

Athiril · Apr 4, 2010

'I mean really really expired - not just past the date.'

You mean just past the date, I would consider 2002 - 2006 vaguely expired, not expired or 'really expired' or 'really really expired'.

I've used 400 speed old 10 year stuff @ 800 and 1600 with pretty good results, didn't see any fog, but I used a first developer as opposed to straight in a colour developer.

John Shriver · Apr 8, 2010

Heck, we recently shot a 120 roll of Kodacolor II that expired in 1982, exposed at EI 50 (or maybe it was 25?), and had it processed at the local minilab. I won't call the color accurate, but it wasn't bad. I suppose it isn't really properly stabilized in a modern C-41 process, so it may fade...

chrism · Apr 8, 2010

You should look in to redscaling. Might be fun.

georgegrosu · Apr 9, 2010

I have same Fuji film (Real 100 / exp. 2001-1, Super 100 / exp. 2001-7, NPH 400 / exp. 2002-2). For the 100 ISO I do not worry. I did a test with NPH 400. Pentacon Six, Sonar 180/2.8. I developed the film in ECN 2 process in a Krocus. Films are stored in the refrigerator. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21121448@N06/4504327559/
George

mpirie · Apr 9, 2010

rwboyer said:
On a brighter note I found a pristine old F3 Nikon in the same box that I hadn't seen in years.

RB

Something tells me you suffer badly from GAS if you rediscovered an F3!

Mike

Creative uses for expired C41??

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