HP5+ Longevity

[hacked - sepiareverb]

I've just sleeved up some HP5+ from a very unscientific test. I set an unexposed roll of 135-36, in the black plastic film can, in my car for about two years. I live in northern Vermont, so air temperatures ranged from -20 to +98°F (about -28 to 36°C). With the car outside lots of freeze-thaw cycles and much higher temperatures on sunny days (black interior). Pulled it out of the car a week or so ago and shot it as I normally would, at ISO 400. Just ran it with three other rolls in my usual R09 Spezial. Other than the film having more curl than my fresh HP5, there is hardly any other noticeable effect upon visual inspection. Perhaps an extremely little bit of fog – but I can't be sure by eye – and perhaps an equally insignificant loss in contrast.

Going to shoot half a roll and rewind it to leave in the car for another year, to see what happens to latent image. I'll shoot the second half before developing.

 

[pentaxuser]

I have never tried your experiment but I have accidentally poured quite hot water into the dev tank in the washing cycle and it seemed to "weather the storm".

OK neither your experience nor my accident is scientifically valid but I think HP5+ is a very tough but forgiving film all round

pentaxuser

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

...OK neither your experience nor my accident is scientifically valid but I think HP5+ is a very tough but forgiving film all round...

Indeed. I once poured straight indicator stop into a developing can of APX25, only a black goo came back out. Don't think I'll try that on HP5...

 

[Ian Grant]

My experience with HP5+ in Turkey is it lasts well stored in the coolest part of our ground floor apartment, Summer temperatures go above 40ºC for a few days a year but the bottom drawer I store film in never goes above about 27/28ºC. However it does build up a higher base fog level faster with exposure to higher temperatures but this is over a period of time rather than when it's in my backpack while out shooting and that's usually in the temperature range your talking about. I don't leave film in the car unless it's in the shade.

Ian

 

[removed account4]

looking forward to your test results !
if you posted this in that thread i started ( and locked )
a handful of years ago, /] i think you gotten some cranky responses !

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

looking forward to your test results !
if you posted this in that thread i started ( and locked )
a handful of years ago, i think you gotten some cranky responses !

I still expect them!

 

[hdeyong]

To me, this is a "real life" test. This is a popular film that has been abused a bit to see what it will take. It's surprising what B&W film will stand up to.
I bought a darkroom setup with the inevitable partial roll of film in a loader, it turned out to be Plus-X, about 15 years old. It had been in the corner of a basement so the temperature swings weren't too bad, but 15 years is a long time.
I loaded it into cassettes and shot it, developed it in HC110, (adding 50% to the normal time), and except for a very small amount of fog, it was fine. Amazing.

 

[revdoc]

I recently developed some HP5+ that I exposed several years ago and stored in a cupboard subsequently. Stand developed in Rodinal 1+200 for 1 hour, the results look fine. There might be a little more base fog than usual; no other observable effects.

 

[Agulliver]

It's nice to see a "real world" test.

I don't think I have especially abused HP5+ but I can report that the old Kodak Tri-X, kept inside a bulk loader in a garage in the UK (garage temperatures fluctuate between about freezing and 30C) for 12 years resulted in a film that was still very good when shot at 400ASA and processed normally in ID-11 1+0. I simply forgot that I had it....put it in the garage in 2001, remembered in 2013 when I wanted to start bulk loading again and decided to give it a shot. I've had 12 good 36 exposure cassettes out of that Tri-X, the last finished just last month.

I've used well outdated FP4+ and had excellent results.

I am contemplating buying a 200 foot roll of motion picture HP5+ that my local camera shop has....stored in their cellar for "about 15 years". They say other thrifty photographers are using it with no complaints, and I can believe it. The cellar probably doesn't get too hot.

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

I have 5 rolls of Verichrome Pan in my darkroom right now that a friend found when cleaning out her parents house. All but one of them on a metal reel. Exposed long ago. I've found Verichrome to be a very forgiving film, I made some lovely negatives on a couple of rolls of 126 expired in the early 80s. Might get to this today.