Expired tri-x- what to expect?

[pbromaghin]

A local shop has 100' of expired (2008) tri-x for $25.00. It's been sitting on the store display shelf in relatively constant 70-75 fahrenheit all that time. If I were to purchase it, about what kind of weirdness should I expect of it? I would shoot a couple short rolls at different ratings, but any testing ideas would also be appreciated. Sitting right next to it, they also have a reel of Tmax 100 expired around 2006 for $40. I don't know if I want to go that far back, though. Any suggestions?

 

[Tom1956]

I'd rate it about ASA 250 and give it the standard developer treatment. Might work just fine. Just get out there and shoot it all up--it's not getting any younger.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

The TMax will hold up very well and for a long time. Tri-X doesn't always age gracefully, and will start fogging pretty early on.
Of course there are never any guarantees.
I usually shoot fresh Tri-X at 200 in normal contrast; if I was forced to shoot expired Tri-X I'd probably shoot at 100 and develop as normal.

Your mileage may vary, as will your luck with expired film.

 

[winger]

I've been shooting some questionably stored Tri-X in 4x5 that expired in about 1996. It's definitely fogged, but usable. The TMax 100 may have actually aged better since it's a lower ISO anyway.

 

[removed account4]

i bought 2000 sheets of expired tri x 5x7 film 13 years ago for about 1¢/sheet.
it was ambient temperature stored ( and still is )
some of it was from the early mid 1990s ... and it is still OK.
expose it at about 200 and use a developer that doesn't promote fog
something like dektol or ansco 130 would work great.

have fun !

john
your own film may vary from mine though ...

 

[Peter Schrager]

I have been using trix that i purchased in the mid nineties....i expose at asa 240 and develop either in pyro or xtol...works just fine....

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[Peter Schrager]

To my knowledge no one i know stashes tmax100...so have never heard any issues...

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[Gerald C Koch]

With expired film the following conditions will be experienced in greater or lesser degree. Depends on the age of the film and the storage conditions.

o Reduced speed.
o Reduced contrast.
o Fog.

 

[dorff]

I met this redhead. She wasn't the prettiest girl in town nor exactly any spring chicken. But boy -- well, you get the idea. You'll never now about that roll of film until you give it a whirl. What did the man say -- you never hit home runs if you never go up to bat. I'd try developing it in HC-110 for starters.

Glad to hear you got on well with the local good-time girl . +1 for the HC-110. Don't use Rodinal.

As others have said, rate it at 320, 250, 200 and see how it goes. I would roll very short test rolls, 6 exposures each, and just do a bit of testing. Two or three rolls later, and you should have a good understanding of where you are heading with exposure and development. My personal aim would be to adapt the speed, and use the normal developing time. That should give you very little to no increase in grain, and the best compromise in terms of contrast and fog. Expired film can be a bit of a gamble, but at least you get a whole roll that should be aged homogeneously. So whatever you determine via experimentation should apply to the whole roll, provided you use it up fairly soon.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I recently traded some 5x7 film for 120 film, and this person gave me, in addition to the fresh film I requested, some expired Tri-X. It's dated with 2007 expiration. Has been stored in room temperature.
I will shoot one of those rolls, and a fresh roll, develop in the same can, and compare with contact prints side by side.
It might take me a little while, but I'm interested to see what I will find.

 

[pbromaghin]

Part of why I'm asking is that I have a reel of tmax 100, expired for about a year, that sat on a store shelf and looks just fine. I also have some refrigerator-stored expired Portra NC (both 160 and 400) of which I have developed only one roll that looked just awful.

 

[istillshootfilm]

My 2 cents seems to be the same as everyone else here: I would recommend buying it at that price and doing a quick test roll to see how it's performing. You could then adapt what you shoot if it's expired enough to seriously change the texture.

 

[Rick A]

I've been shooting some 120 TriX expired in 1980, some fog, but sweet none the less.

 

[dorff]

Part of why I'm asking is that I have a reel of tmax 100, expired for about a year, that sat on a store shelf and looks just fine. I also have some refrigerator-stored expired Portra NC (both 160 and 400) of which I have developed only one roll that looked just awful.

I have shot TMax 100 expired mid-90's last year, and the speed hasn't dropped much. PanF from the same era I had to rate at 16-20, and it was fogged beyond practical use. Even so, I have managed to eek a few images out of it. Given the effort involved, I would not easily use such old film, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the TMax.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I have shot TMax 100 expired mid-90's last year, and the speed hasn't dropped much. PanF from the same era I had to rate at 16-20, and it was fogged beyond practical use. Even so, I have managed to eek a few images out of it. Given the effort involved, I would not easily use such old film, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the TMax.

A couple of years ago a friend sold me 100 rolls of TMax 100 that expired in 1996. They were perfect, for all practical reasons, and gave me a few months worth of photography pleasure without issue. It seems that this particular film stores very well.
Tri-X I've had less than satisfying experiences with. I remember back in 2004 when I bought about 40 rolls of 35mm Tri-X that had expires just a couple of years earlier. It had markedly higher fog levels, and had lost some speed because of it. I ended up with negatives that were very dense and difficult to print.

Expired film really is a hit and miss business, and as long as one is prepared to accept a certain level of chance at failure and disappointment, it's OK. But when one relies on the results to be perfect, it's best to buy a large batch of fresh film and test it first. That's just the gist of it. Beyond expiration date there are no guarantees.

I've lost far too many important photographs due to using questionable film, and would never point blank recommend using expired film.

 

[Truzi]

Definitely test, but it probably won't be too bad. Last year I shot a roll of TriX 400 that expired in 2002 and was of unknown history. I exposed it at 200.
It was over-exposed. I have a couple left and will probably stick with box speed.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

That's just it, though. You can never tell before testing. Some people enjoy the jeopardy of not knowing, and others think it's a waste of their time to not know what to expect.

All I can say is that I loathe going back to early negatives to print, where I used all sorts of different films, some expired and others not. They are very inconsistent, to say the least. It's a pain in the a$$ to me, because every print requires a lot more attention than I'd like to give them, and creating a print that looks consistent with prints from newer negatives is almost impossible.