Konica VX400 and R-100 - worth messing with?

I just received:
- four rolls of Konica Color VX400 negative film, expired 02-2007, and
- two rolls of Konica Chrome R-100 slide film, expired 03-2002.

I am told the film "has been in the refrigerator since new" - and I am pretty sure "new" means never been sold to a retail customer because I got it from a former Konica dealer. If I shoot the film, it will be digitized (no darkroom printing).

I don't usually mess around with expired color film, so my question is this, Is the possibility that these films might produce halfway-decent results great enough to justify the time and expense of finding out? Or should I just toss them and save myself the aggravation?

By "halfway decent" I mean not too weird. I don't require accurate color, but I do want pleasing colors, and for me, that means no wild color shifts or bizzare color casts. When using modern, in-date films like Portra and Ektar, I do an OK job with color negative inversion using the Negative Lab Pro plug-in for Lightroom but sometimes that can be a struggle. And I had 2 rolls of Fuji slide film that developed and scanned pretty good after 10 years in the freezer. But these Konica films are more than 10 years old and, as far as I know, were not frozen, so...?

After doing a little bit of online reading, it sounds like these films might have been somewhat ordinary when new(?) And I am pretty sure being 17-21 years out-of-date has not made them any better.

If I decide to try them, should I shoot at one-half of rated ISO -- or something else? Processing will be done by a commercial lab.

If you don't plan to use them, put them on Ebay. Use the profits for some fresh film.

AnselMortensen said:

If you don't plan to use them, put them on Ebay. Use the profits for some fresh film.

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I assumed expired color film would not be worth much, but after checking some prices on eBay, it looks like your idea is a good one.

There was a thread last month about this topic: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/expired-color-film.200316/

I generally am in the line of the discussion, and even more so given the effort. People are also paying crazy amounts for old film. I would however be curious about films that aren't anymore available (Agfa, Konica, etc) and recently was thinking that I would have liked to test one of these Konica films!
My only positive experience was from Astia 120 exp 2006, developed 2020 but always frozen. Perhaps you can do something toy camera or more experimental with it.

Prest_400 said:

There was a thread last month about this topic: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/expired-color-film.200316/

I generally am in the line of the discussion, and even more so given the effort. People are also paying crazy amounts for old film. I would however be curious about films that aren't anymore available (Agfa, Konica, etc) and recently was thinking that I would have liked to test one of these Konica films!
My only positive experience was from Astia 120 exp 2006, developed 2020 but always frozen. Perhaps you can do something toy camera or more experimental with it.

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I also had a positive experience with some Fuji Astia. Mine was 135, frozen in 2010, thawed and shot in 2019 <results here> For me, this is the most painful possibility that arises from shooting discontinued film - what if I really like it?

Thanks for reminding me about that previous thread. I think I might have skimmed throught it, but at the time I did not have any reason to pay close attention because I am not really that interested in color negative film right now. I do enjoy color photography, but I tend to prefer digital for that.

There may have been a time in my life when I would have been delighted to do the experiment just to see what happens, but I guess my spark of curiosity has gone out. Or maybe it's just that I have less time to waste now. For the past few years I have been concentrating on trying to find my one-true-b&w-film, with the intention of shooting only that for a year or two. With that goal in mind, color film is something of a distraction for me.

So, I am beginning to think this expired color film may be worth more to someone else than it is to me, and I should just put the whole lot up for sale on eBay. In early 2020, I bought 5 rolls of Portra 160 - of which I still have 2 rolls left. That lot has since expired (12-2021. I think I will bundle the Portra in with the Konica film, for sale. It is kind of a relief for me really, to be released from the obligation of shooting this color negative film, which I just don't care that much about.

But the thought of making money from hobby - as opposed to spending it - is going to take some getting used to. ;-)

I bought some Konica 160, it was their version of Porta, it had been frozen, all fogged.

I still have 120 and 35mm KONICA VX 400 Super left dated 2005 -- it works well at 250 ASA No Problemo !

pentaxpete said:

I still have 120 and 35mm KONICA VX 400 Super left dated 2005 -- it works well at 250 ASA No Problemo !

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Thanks for your reply. It is a moot point now, because I just listed the lot for sale on <eBay> :-(

After some searching, just now I was able to find some of your photos taken with the Konica VX 400 film, and they do look very nice! If I had seen those before, I might have decided to keep the film. But I do notice you say your film has been kept frozen, while I am told mine was only refrigerated. Up until I saw yours, what few examples I was able to find looked rather dull. I guess I should have searched harder, before deciding what to do with the film.

If I understand correctly, you are doing your C-41 processing at home, correct? Do you do anything different when processing the expired Konica film compared to in-date film?

BTW, I have been enjoying looking at your recent photos taken in Herfordshire.

Hallo from a SUNNY Brentwood for once -- YES FOLKS the SUN finally appeared ! Well when I process outdated KONICA VX400 I did not increase the development time when the C41 Developer was FRESH but as rolls go through I start increasing and adding a little of the Replenisher Strength keeping an Eye on the Quality . When Dev Time gets to 5 mins 30 seconds i throw it .