Expired 35mm old T-max 400

[Thanasis]

Hi,

A co-worker just handed me 10 rolls of 35mm the old Tmax 400 TMY which expired in May 2000. It was kept in the dark although not necessarily refrigerated. I plan to do test on the first one or two rolls but is there anything I should know about this type of expired film before I start testing it? I have heard that expired b&w film usually suffers from speed loss and also from fogging. What should I be looking for in this long-expired film?

Thanks and regards,
Thanasis.

 

[Konical]

Good Evening, Thanasis,

It's certainly worth a try. I recently processed some TMY, stored at room temperature, which dated from the early 1990's; it showed some fogging and loss of speed, enough to make it questionable for most purposes, but not so much that reasonably acceptable prints would have been impossible, given some exposure and processing adjustments. I'd start with whatever E. I. you normally use for TMY and process normally. Shoot 15-20 frames for the test; that should give you a good idea about any adjustments you may need to make.

Konical

 

[canuhead]

I wouldn't worry about it if it was anything like my ten year old 120 Tmax. Couldn't really see any additional bf and it looked fine to my eyes. This stuff was stored room temp in a house and souped in Rodinal. ymmv of course.

 

[fschifano]

Rodinal would tend to give less base fog, but that's at the cost of some film speed.

 

[Thanasis]

Thanks for all your responses so far. Frank, I might try a roll at 200 ISO in Rodinal. Anyone have any suggested times for this older version of Tmax 400 in 35mm?

Regards,
Thanasis.

 

[nworth]

They are probably all right. I recently processed a batch of TMY that was about that old and had not been refrigerated. There was some overall fog, and maybe a slight increase in graininess, but the negatives had good gradation and were quite printable. I used D-76 (1+1) for most of it and Rodinal 1+99 for one roll. Both worked.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I kinda am going with the flow here as well. Just shoot it. You shouldn't notice much falloff unless it was kept on the dash for ten years.Shoot a roll and check it if you must but if you keep from underexposing TOO much you should be alright. I think. Maybe.