Gold 100 Shelf Life?

takilmaboxer · Sep 30, 2018

I recently purchased a Pentax ME Super at an estate sale. In the bag with the camera were three rolls of Kodak Gold 100 (used to be my favorite color film), unopened in the boxes, ex. date 2004. This has probably been asked before, so perhaps someone could direct me to an old thread.The filml was stored in a closet in a heated/air conditioned house. How will it have deteriorated over all these years; could it still produce usable negatives?

Sirius Glass · Sep 30, 2018

What was in the past is uncontrollable. I store all my unopened film in the freezer and opened film in a ZipLok bag in the refrigerator. Always let film come to room temperature before opening, loading and developing. You should test one of the rolls and see what condition the film is in.

railwayman3 · Sep 30, 2018

As Sirius says, the only definite answer is to test one of the rolls. It may well be OK....I recently used a chaepy disposable 35mm camera, outdated 2002, which someone gave me, and which has been kept in ordinary UK domestic conditions, and the results were fine.

Svenedin · Sep 30, 2018

Somewhat ridiculous question. 14 year out of date colour film. Can only try it. Might be acceptable, might not.

Ten301 · Sep 30, 2018

Svenedin said:
Somewhat ridiculous question. 14 year out of date colour film. Can only try it. Might be acceptable, might not.

The OP only wanted some guidance. Perhaps he is relatively new to film photography? There are no "ridiculous" questions, however, everyone is correct in that the only way to find out is to try a roll. What you do have in your favor is that it is a relative slow film at 100 ISO. Faster films are more sensitive and susceptible to the cumulative effects of gamma radiation. As your film has likely slowed (become less light sensitive) over time, I would try exposing at ISO 25-50 instead of 100 to compensate.

BAC1967 · Sep 30, 2018

I’ve had a lot of luck with expired Kodak Gold. I would shoot it at 50 ISO. This was expired Gold 200 shot at 100:

Rachael & Vera in the Sun by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 30, 2018

BAC1967 said:
I’ve had a lot of luck with expired Kodak Gold. I would shoot it at 50 ISO. This was expired Gold 200 shot at 100:

Rachael & Vera in the Sun by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

I might be wrong, but I am trying to remember what these dogs are, with the curly tails and no bark... Got it!... African Basenji!

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 30, 2018

takilmaboxer said:
I recently purchased a Pentax ME Super at an estate sale. In the bag with the camera were three rolls of Kodak Gold 100 (used to be my favorite color film), unopened in the boxes, ex. date 2004. This has probably been asked before, so perhaps someone could direct me to an old thread.The filml was stored in a closet in a heated/air conditioned house. How will it have deteriorated over all these years; could it still produce usable negatives?

One this is certain, it will not longer be an ISO 100 film. After such a long period film will lose its native speed, and that's why you need to actively experiment rather than seek and accept any one written answer as to what it will be like.

Start a simple experiment thusly: Begin the shoot with ISO 100. Next, switch your ISO dial to 80, then progressively 64, 50 [likely] and 40: record all of these steps so you can assess the result when the negatives come back. My best estimate is the film will be closer to EI50 in speed, possibly less than that if it has experienced a wide variety of storage conditions. You will not have any control over any casts that may have emerged over time.

MattKing · Sep 30, 2018

You are most likely to have problems with colour fidelity, if you have any problems.
The aging process affects the sensitivity to different colours in different ways, including the respective contrasts of the different parts of the emulsions. This can lead to strong colour casts and almost irreparable crossover.
Grain may be increased, and sensitivity decreased as well.
Or maybe the film will behave quite well.
But here is an interesting question for you - what if you get non-standard results that appeal to you? It is not as if you can easily go out and buy more film just like this .
Go ahead and have some fun with the film - just don't use it for something important.

tezzasmall · Oct 1, 2018

Kodak Gold film brings back good memories for me. I shot loads of it = on holidays, under harsh sunshine, alongside a few weddings and they all came back great. I only do self processed BW film now, but if I needed a colour print film it would be Gold!

As people have said, try it at a few different speeds but NOT on anything too important. It's probably got a bit of speed loss and may even have a colour cast or two, but I'm sure it will pull through and give you some great prints = I have that much confidence in the film. LOL.

Terry S

TonyB65 · Oct 1, 2018

I wouldn't pin your hopes too high on it, I have a load of expired gold, nearly 10 years old, after shooting one roll of it I found out it was grainy as hell. Definitely don't shoot anything important with it. I shot it a stop over and I'll do some more tests but I'm not hopeful of it being worth using.

Gold 100 Shelf Life?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency