FOUND - 20+Year Old Fuji Tungsten 64 Type II Roll of Film > What Now?

[DF]

Back in the day, I specifically shot cityscapes at night using tungsten films with a 30 magenta filter.
The skies were an exaggerated somewhat cartoonish blue, if clear not overcast, while lights coming from
buildings, signs, fountains, etc, could also be abit perked up but all in all the overall rendering was pleasant.
Now, I understand films this old should be tossed for obvious reasons, but I never shot tungsten for its intended purposes - indoor studio commercial work. I'd like to try, for old-time sake, give this roll a whirl of my SAME old scenario, 'just nowadays, the sodium-vapor lighting dotting the landscapes are gone, and in its place LED.
Is this all a waste of time?
The expiration date reads "2003-10" followed by some serial # "708604"
Oh, and of course, this roll HAS NOT been in the fridge but room temp the entire time.

 

[blee1996]

Your film is still pretty "young" in the grand scheme of expired film. I would probably put on a 85B filter on the lens, and go out shoot the roll. If you develop in E6, I would actually suggest original ISO 64. If you will cross-process in C41, then I would suggest lower ISO like 50 or even 25. It might produce something decent, good luck!

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

In its heyday, tungsten film has its enthusiastic fans. Take it out for a look-see in the evening 'blue hour' — tungsten film will accentuate the effect — even more interesting over a several hours long exposure (5-6 hours) to record star trails. Very abstract, dreamy landscapes can be achieved with sky and ocean.

As a general rule for E6 films, 1 to 1.5 stops additional compensation for each decade past, assuming the film has been stored in ideal conditions (deep frozen); Without that, it's a question of taking the risk, and learning from the results.

Exposure-wise, really no way to reliably tell until you expose a test roll, with attendant recorded notes, and use that as a springboard for adjustments to any other long-lost films of yore...

 

[loccdor]

Probably usable with some correction. Likely to have color shifts, Fuji slide tends to shift toward purple but this one might be different. The oldest usable slide film I've tried was Fuji Sensia expired 1996.

I would try ISO 50 as your starting point. I have not found 1 stop per decade to be accurate for E6.

Just some data points.

Sensia 100 1996: ISO 64-80
Sensia 100 2004: ISO 80
Sensia 100 2007: ISO 80
Sensia 400 2010: ISO 250
Ektachrome 100 EPN 220 2002: 40 (edges fogged due to oxidization)
Fuji slide early 90s: completely unusable faint images
Astia 2001: ISO 50-80
Velvia 2003: Unusable (blacks became reds, x-pro look)

 

[YoIaMoNwater]

Yea, don't apply the 1 stop per decade rule for E6, it doesn't work like that.

What I found with expired E6 film is that you would want to PULL the film. This means bracketing +0.5, +1, +1.5, etc. and then reduce the FD development time. I also found that adding iodide to the FD can help with reducing base fog. But if you have one roll of it, I would just shoot at box speed and hope for the best.

 

[perkeleellinen]

Recent 320T (exp 2006) that I have shot was a bit green and required 10cc magenta filtration alongside an 85 filter for daylight use.

 

[John Salim]

Shoot at the rated ISO, process normally and keep your fingers crossed !
Like YolaMoNwater said, don't under-rate transparency film due to old age.
( though it's advantageous to use that technique for all old negative films ).

John S

 

[pentaxuser]

Just out of curiosity, had we all said it was a "waste of time" would you bin the film? All anyone can say with any accuracy is; "Give it a try even if the odds favour failure, if you feel it is worth the effort"

pentaxuser

 

[MattKing]

I personally would "bin" the film if I needed it to do anything particular, and didn't want to risk the not inconsequential cost of having E6 film developed now.
And I personally would use it if I felt like being playful with it, and was willing to risk the expense.

 

[BrianShaw]

I put old film (and old film boxes) on a shelf to admire as a curio.

 

[blee1996]

I do my own color processing (E6/C41/ECN-2), thus the cost is low enough that I'm willing to experiment with any expired film. I especially like it when I have a quantity of them, so I can do color checker calibration and get most out of the same batch.

On the other hand I agree that single roll of expired film is always a crap shoot, and I will not risk it for important occasions.

 

[DF]

Let me reiterate these will be taken at night of city buildings/scapes/skylines at a distance - so I'm not sure if "color" is where the major change (color "shift") would be unlike if this was a regular daylight E-6 film.
Am I making sense?
My trustworthy Minolta X-700's had a remarkable ability to meter acurately for these kinds of scenes If I simply opened the aperature all the way > 1.7 with the 50, and say, 2.8 with the 35, 3 - roughly 4 seconds long.

 

[BrianShaw]

You sound confident; go for it!

 

[DF]

You sound confident; go for it!

It would be a trip back to the 90's if I did all again.
Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end....

 

[Taylor K Nankervis]

It would be a trip back to the 90's if I did all again.
Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end....

I see what you did there!

That last sentence is word-for-word from Welsh songbird Mary Hopkins' memorable 1969 hit, Those were the days (my friend).

Yes, I'm that old, and I still sing it!