I still am 100% confident that as long as unexposed film is kept at reasonably dry and tempered room temperature, it will keep just fine without being refrigerated until its expiration date. I am shooting my last two rolls of Ilford Pan 400 that expired in July 2015, and I see no difference between the new rolls and the older ones in my resulting prints.
Conversely, I was recently given some expired black and white film, about 5-10 years past date, and they yielded horribly fogged, grainy results with altered tonality. All 35mm, Delta 400, TMax 400, and Tri-X 400. The TMax 100 was normal; this seems to be a particularly robust film.
Color film I might take more precautions with, but at the same time I've used one year expired Portra that I never stored in anything but my relatively cool basement, with zero problems. I'm sure that color shifts can be measured, but I also don't really care that much, so I'm the wrong person to advise on that.
I freeze film when I buy large quantities and when it will be used well after its expiry date. I wouldn't expect to see any difference between a film that expired a year ago with a fresh film either. I'm talking about films that are 10 years and beyond their best before date.
Do they respond to exposure with the same contrast and spectral sensitivity?
Just out of curiosity, why buy that much film? Do you shoot a special format that isn't normally available? Afraid of running out? Just curious. I never have more than 50 rolls of film of 35mm and 120 respectively, and not more than 50 sheets of 5x7. When I'm half empty I order some more. Always fresh for the shots that count (the old stuff is film that was given to me).
Easy.
The moment (if) you hear about discontinuation, the film can be hard to get hold of very quickly.
Fuji has a reputation of announcing discontinuation after the fact (that is, when the final batches are in the stores and half sold out already).
The current trend is that prices seem to go up. Buying larger quantities so you can shoot for a long time, prevents you from having to get "new film to new prices" every other month.
The ability to have several different films available. I have many different c-41, E6 and B&W films in my freezer, sometimes I like to shoot this film, other times another type of film. (different devs, different looks).
Also, 50 rolls of just about anything (in my case) will last me a very very long time, and that's just about what I did, I bought 20-50 rolls of many different films and those are all stored in my freezer.
Last week, I was out shooting Fuji Reala in 120, wonderful film, the week before that I shot 2 rolls of Efke 25, which was ok/fun/different
Easy.
The moment (if) you hear about discontinuation, the film can be hard to get hold of very quickly.
Fuji has a reputation of announcing discontinuation after the fact (that is, when the final batches are in the stores and half sold out already).
The current trend is that prices seem to go up. Buying larger quantities so you can shoot for a long time, prevents you from having to get "new film to new prices" every other month.
The ability to have several different films available. I have many different c-41, E6 and B&W films in my freezer, sometimes I like to shoot this film, other times another type of film. (different devs, different looks).
Also, 50 rolls of just about anything (in my case) will last me a very very long time, and that's just about what I did, I bought 20-50 rolls of many different films and those are all stored in my freezer.
Last week, I was out shooting Fuji Reala in 120, wonderful film, the week before that I shot 2 rolls of Efke 25, which was ok/fun/different
What's even more tragic is it was almost impossible to get a bad print from that film in my minilab, it was a pleasure to print and shoot.I just bought 4 rolls of expired Reala film. God, I just love the colors and sharpness of this film. Such a tragic loss.
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