Expire Date From Cartridge?

[bvy]

Here's a somewhat naive question: Is there any way to determing the expiration date of film just from looking at the cartridge? I have a roll of Kodacolor Gold 100 35mm film from a toy camera I picked up in a thrift store. The camera can be ten or twenty years old or more. The film doesn't look that old, but I'm still curious. Thanks.

 

[nickandre]

I don't believe so. Shoot it and/or develop it and you can probably determine the approximate age.

 

[bob100684]

you can get a general idea depending on the canister.... here for example http://www.batteriesandbutter.com/Merchant2/p/L/GC135-36BULK.jpg notice above "36 exp" there is an 8? That's the film's generation number. Then you can poke around on the internet.

 

[bvy]

Thanks. Mine has a 2 there.

Also on the cartridge: GA 24 100/21"

 

[bob100684]

Thanks. Mine has a 2 there.

Also on the cartridge: GA 24 100/21"

very old. It's currently generation either 7 or 8....my guess, early 90's.


from here http://photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00ChKt

"Scott Pickering "25 ASA" , Jun 30, 2005; 12:59 a.m.

More checking. Gold 100-2 came out in '88, while version 6 came out in '98."

 

[Alex Bishop-Thorpe]

I've developed some Third Generation Kodak Gold and it came out fine, it's well worth some experimenting.

 

[bvy]

Very cool. Thanks for the response. And Bob, thanks for the legwork. I ended up shooting the rest of the roll -- I think. It seems the film was wound into the camera incorrectly (or the winding mechanism is broken -- or both) and the film advance kept forwarding and locking with no resistance when the end of the roll was reached. The counter was useless. I'll get it developed this week and try to report back...