Expired: Fujichrome, Ektachrome, Vericolor III

[Krzys]

Fujichrome Professional 100 e6 - 1990
Ektarchrome 100 e6 - 2000
Vericolor III c41 - 2000

What speed should I rate these films at? They were not refrigerated when I got them.

 

[PhotoJim]

Try the Vericolor at 50... and process a roll.

As for the chrome films... shooting at a lower EI is problematic because you have to adjust the processing and that will cause colour shifts. Not sure what to recommend here. If it's not been refrigerated, I wouldn't bother shooting chrome film unless you know it was frozen most of its life.

 

[Anon Ymous]

... Not sure what to recommend here...

I'd recommend getting fresh film

Seriously, you don't know what to expect with color material, shifts are possible. Expired color stuff is fine for lomo style photography and nothing more than that. Expired (slow to medium speed) BW is a totally different thing.

 

[Krzys]

With the chrome can I just over expose the film a few stops to compensate? Is it worth shooting a test roll or will results vary?

 

[nickandre]

Run a test roll, process it standardly. Bracket at normal EI and up to 4 or 5 stops under. You'll likely have speed loss and background fog, so your blacks won't be entirely black.

 

[PhotoJim]

With the chrome can I just over expose the film a few stops to compensate? Is it worth shooting a test roll or will results vary?

You can overexpose, but then you'd have to change the processing time to make up for that overexposure. Essentially the base fog on the film will make you lose shadow detail. You can compensate for that on print films, but not on chrome films unless you are only planning to scan and not project. (For the purposes of this site, scanning's not on the table anyway.)

By all means try a roll... just don't expect much.

I just shot a roll of Kodak Extra Color 100 (amateur version of E100VS) that expired in 2003. I got terrific results out of it. However, it was refrigerated for much of its life and spent the last three years in my deep freeze, so it was quite well stored.