Just got some Fujichrome 100 slide film that expired in 2008. What to expect?

[-persimmon-tree-]

I know that it was stored in a place with pretty substantial temperature fluctuations, I just got it (among other films) from a guy who has had them in storage with no use for them and gave it all to me when he found out I like photography. I know that slide film apparently degrades pretty quickly. Would it be worth it to even try to shoot a roll? Additionally, if I see some results from one roll, would that accurately inform what I may expect from the next roll? I've never shot slide film of any kind before.

 

[MattKing]

If it was Kodak slide film, I would expect a magenta cast. The Fuji users can chime in with their experience.
Which film exactly - I believe there has been more than one type that could be described as "Fujichrome 100". Perhaps you could share a photo of the box or the cassette.

 

[Paul Howell]

If you are up to the expense of a experiment why not. I bought a 50 foot roll of GAF that had been frozen for 35 years for $5.00 U.S., I found a couple of GAF chemistry kits on Ebay, got useable images with really strange colors. I only processed a few rolls as the second chemistry kit the packets of liquid were all dried up. GAF used the Anscochrome films and chemistry, similar to E4, so with E 6 you might get a result. Roll of the dice.

 

[Sanug]

Fujichrome is quite stable. I would give it a try.

 

[blee1996]

It all depends on storage condition, so there is no general rule of thumb. I would probably just experiment with different ISO settings, and develop with standard E6 development time/temperature. And see how things go.

I'm currently using some Fujichrome Astia 100F (expired 2006-09), and I can shoot at box speed of ISO 100 and get consistently good results.

On the other hand, I have a batch of Fujichrome Velvia 50 (expired 2006-04) that seems to be way too dark when shot at ISO 50. And there is also a magenta color shift.

 

[lamerko]

Try cross-developing it with ECN-2 or C-41 chemistry. Usually age/heat fog comes out as a blue or green mask. If it is not too dense, you can get quite good and color balanced images. And if you get a negative with a clear base, try E-6 processing.

 

[loccdor]

You'd get better answers if you were specific about the film. I've found Sensia 100 holds up great and I've never had a bad batch going as expired as 1996. Provia is okay but not quite as stable. Velvia has been the least stable for me unless it's been frozen. Astia was pretty darn good. Actual "Fujichrome 100D" from around 1995 was unusable, couldn't render black as anything darker than a light green.

I wouldn't say that slide film degrades faster/worse than color negative, I've actually found it to retain film speed a little better on average. And I've seen that Fuji does tend to hold up better than Kodak as a general rule. But not always.

I think it's more that with slide, people are looking for perfect unadjusted results. But if you treat slide as an adjustable medium like color negative, you can pull out usable pictures. For example, this slide immediately below is almost completely pink-purple to your eye in real life, and you can't see any deep blacks on it. But adjusted, you get a pretty full range of color (though a bright vignette effect on the edges). It's 2004 expired Kodak Ektachrome EPN 100, unknown storage conditions but probably somewhat heat exposed. The film speed dropped from 100 to around 40.

Now, here is the 1996 expired Sensia 100. It has a purple cast which is easily removed, but for this shot I found it added something and I kept most of it in. The film speed on this didn't drop at all, you can still shoot it at box. And I don't think it was frozen.

Do a few tests of the first roll at +1/3 and some at +1 1/3 too. That should be enough to inform how you can use the rest of the batch.

 

[blee1996]

Try cross-developing it with ECN-2 or C-41 chemistry. Usually age/heat fog comes out as a blue or green mask. If it is not too dense, you can get quite good and color balanced images. And if you get a negative with a clear base, try E-6 processing.

+1 on that: if the E6 does not give you good results you can try cross-processing for artistic expression. I have a small stash of long-expired Kodak Elitechrome specially dedicated to C41 cross processing.

 

[-persimmon-tree-]

Thanks everyone for the help! I am gonna try a roll as an experiment and note down how I was metering so I can analyze the results later on.

 

[Sanug]

My suggestion: Do a test roll at box speed. Do not overexposure. Development in standard E6 process. Probably the results will be okay, however with some minor colour cast. But it will depend on the storage.