Expiration date on "fresh" Plus-X

pschauss · Aug 1, 2006

I note one of the vendors on Ebay advertises fresh Plus-X with an expiration date of 2007, but at the same time lists fresh APX-100 with a date of 2010. Does the Kodak film have a shorter shelf life or is he stretching the definition of "fresh"?

BrianShaw · Aug 1, 2006

Both seem fresh to me. It isn't 2007 (or 2010) yet.

JLP · Aug 1, 2006

Believe that some of the ebay sellers advertising fresh film have a very "loose" definition of honesty.
Can't answer the question about the Plus-X versus APX100 data but i would avoid those sellers calling film fresh when it is close to expiration dates.

jan

jim appleyard · Aug 1, 2006

Another thing you can look for on ebay is the sellers feedback rating. Personally, I buy from sellers who are as close to 100% as possible. Bad customer relations will catch up to bad buyers and sellers.

tim atherton · Aug 1, 2006

What kind of Plus-X are you talking about? - some has been discontinued, so it may well be the "freshest" there is.... (of that particular size)

Lee Shively · Aug 1, 2006

It's still considered fresh film, as long as the expiration date hasn't passed. If you buy it, freeze it and thaw it only as needed, you'll be able to use it many years down the road.

JLP · Aug 1, 2006

How can it be "fresh" if close to expiration date? Production date would be several years prior with an unknow method of storage in between!

PhotoJim · Aug 1, 2006

It depends on how you define "fresh".

If you mean "fresh" as in, just came out of the factory and it's still warm, then even the Agfa film with the 2010 date is stale.

If you mean "fresh" as in, it's well before its expiry date, then both of these films are fresh.

I agree that the storage is an issue - this is why I never buy film from eBay. (I might buy it there if it were the only way to get some obscure film - I've been tempted to get some Lucky black and white film, for example - but it seems a big risk to take for important film. That's what my local dealer and large mail order places like J&C, Freestyle and B&H are for (if you're in North America).

copake_ham · Aug 1, 2006

I've always equated "fresh" with "unexpired" figuring the expiration dates is the equivalent of a "sell by date" on a gallon of milk.

I think an honest trader on eBay should state the expiry date in the text of the listing. But so long as it is "unexpired" I have no problem with them using "fresh" in the header of the listing. I have seen some of the better sellers use the phrase "close dated" or something similar to note that the expiry date is near.

BTW, although I live in NYC - I've gotten some good "close dated" deals from Zeff Photo (of course, I have no connection to them) up in the Boston area.

As a Yankees fan, I hate to admit that there is indeed one decent thing in Beantown - but there you have it - their only saving grace!

BrianShaw · Aug 1, 2006

copake_ham said:
I've always equated "fresh" with "unexpired" figuring the expiration dates is the equivalent of a "sell by date" on a gallon of milk.

I think an honest trader on eBay should state the expiry date in the text of the listing. But so long as it is "unexpired" I have no problem with them using "fresh" in the header of the listing. I have seen some of the better sellers use the phrase "close dated" or something similar to note that the expiry date is near.

BTW, although I live in NYC - I've gotten some good "close dated" deals from Zeff Photo (of course, I have no connection to them) up in the Boston area.

As a Yankees fan, I hate to admit that there is indeed one decent thing in Beantown - but there you have it - their only saving grace!

You're quite right about the freshness issue, George... but I'll never accept that "one decent thing in Beantown... their only saving grace" crack as holding any validity at all. Watch it, bub... you're skating on thin ice!

Respectfully,
Beantown Brian (ex)

pschauss · Aug 1, 2006

So if I have a 100 foot roll of Plus-X with an expiration date of 02/2007, when would it have been manufactured?

Given that it is the new emulsion which Kodak introduced in 2003 (?) the 02/2007 film could not be more than about 3 1/2 years old.

JLP · Aug 1, 2006

Ok, i accept that we all have different opinions about what fresh means but when the expiration date is closer than the production date i find it hard to use the word fresh.
The Plus-x in discussion could be 3 years old have only a few months left not considering many years of freezer storage. That would be "within dates"

Let's look at another example then. This link is to "new" film (expired in 2005)
Well i haven't seen any so far selling used film!

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Rolls-Fuji-N...18QQihZ017QQcategoryZ4204QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or this one, Fresh 2005
http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Rolls-Fuji-N...97QQihZ017QQcategoryZ4204QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There's a lot of those and to believe that a seller with this type of add actually stored the film frozen if promissed in the ad? Well that is of course up the buyer to believe but i don't.l

Ronald Moravec · Aug 4, 2006

Agfa has a longer shelf life because of stabilizers in the emulsion. About 4 years.

Kodak has told me 2 years on slow film, less on faster film. The most you will find then is Aug 2008 on Plus X. One year on IR film.

BradS · Aug 4, 2006

I think Kodak are a little conservative on their expiration dates too.

Petzi · Aug 4, 2006

Some photo scientist told me that the keeping properties of film depend a great deal on the purity of the raw materials used. Agfa was definitely top notch in this regard, with the advantage of being located in the Bayer chemical park...

Expiration date on "fresh" Plus-X

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