Expired Tri-X and heat, if it ever happens to you and you’re wondering

[Juan Valdenebro]

As a relative was coming here from LA in December 2019, I bought online (mid 2019) two cans of tri-x from Freestyle, sold as short date special: that was some months before exp. date.

She received my film and she was coming soon, so I didn’t bother asking her to freeze it. But then she delayed her trip for three months, as requested by buyers (she was selling one of her houses here), to the end of March. Then came covid and she could not fly.

A friend of a friend of a friend -stuck in Houston since covid- then found a way to fly back here some time after that, so he received my film and flew here with it, but he reached his hometown and disappeared. More than a year after that (!) the guy called the friend of the friend of my friend saying he had to live with his mother unexpectedly in a hut in a very small village. He asked for someone to pick my film in that hot lost place.

I payed someone to rescue it. My Tri-X spent -shortly after expiring- a year and a half at 30+ degrees Celsius. I was wondering how bat it had gone.

Finally: it has no extra fog (to my surprise), and it lost two thirds of a stop. No change in grain. I tested it and I can develop it normally with that bit of more light. In the end I’m not doing that: I prefer to use it just as usual and I’m developing it a 15% longer: 400 in D-76 and 1000 in Microphen, and my film works perfectly in both: I just print it with half a grade lower contrast filter.

I’m surprised at how good that film is. Just as if nothing happened.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Tri-X is legendary for many reasons. Being able to take it places like Guatemala, Congo, or Viet Nam, and possibly have to store it for many months (even after exposure) and still get good results when you can finally process it is one of those reasons.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

As a relative was coming here from LA in December 2019, I bought online (mid 2019) two cans of tri-x from Freestyle, sold as short date special: that was some months before exp. date.

She received my film and she was coming soon, so I didn’t bother asking her to freeze it. But then she delayed her trip for three months, as requested by buyers (she was selling one of her houses here), to the end of March. Then came covid and she could not fly.

A friend of a friend of a friend -stuck in Houston since covid- then found a way to fly back here some time after that, so he received my film and flew here with it, but he reached his hometown and disappeared. More than a year after that (!) the guy called the friend of the friend of my friend saying he had to live with his mother unexpectedly in a hut in a very small village. He asked for someone to pick my film in that hot lost place.

I payed someone to rescue it. My Tri-X spent -shortly after expiring- a year and a half at 30+ degrees Celsius. I was wondering how bat it had gone.

Finally: it has no extra fog (to my surprise), and it lost two thirds of a stop. No change in grain. I tested it and I can develop it normally with that bit of more light. In the end I’m not doing that: I prefer to use it just as usual and I’m developing it a 15% longer: 400 in D-76 and 1000 in Microphen, and my film works perfectly in both: I just print it with half a grade lower contrast filter.

I’m surprised at how good that film is. Just as if nothing happened.

There was one flight with possibly X-ray in that sequence. You got lucky indeed.

 

[MattKing]

It is not an "expiry date".
It is a "develop before" date (with the additional terms, implied or stated, "for best results").
Understanding that is important to understanding many things with film.
With fresh milk, not so much .
I'm glad, but not surprised, that your Tri-X survived so well.

 

[Donald Qualls]

With fresh milk, not so much .

I've drunk milk many times that was up to about a week past "sell by" date -- as long as it's been kept at or below 40F the whole time, it's fine (though I tend to sniff very carefully if it's more than a week past date).

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've drunk milk many times that was up to about a week past "sell by" date -- as long as it's been kept at or below 40F the whole time, it's fine (though I tend to sniff very carefully if it's more than a week past date).

I generally will not drink milk any more because I am black toast intolerant.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I generally will not drink milk any more because I am black toast intolerant.

Okay, but that has nothing to do with the freshness (or lack thereof) of the milk.

 

[AZD]

When I started getting back into photography in 2019 my first roll was TXP 320 that had expired in 2004 and spent at least 6 years in an attic. The second was a similarly dated roll of 35mm TX. Two extra stops for good measure and both turned out pretty well. A third already exposed mystery roll contained pictures from 2008 I had forgotten about, some interesting things and places that no longer exist. Tri-X is nearly indestructible.

As an unplanned comparison test, I also had two rolls of HP5+ from the same era, stored in the same awful conditions. It fared just as well, if not a little better.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

There was one flight with possibly X-ray in that sequence. You got lucky indeed.

Thank you, Ralph.
I was really worried about the new CT scanners, but I was never able to even talk with the guy once.
Good luck as you said.
Have a nice day.