Old 120 films found

In addition to the (now) 11 rolls of Efke I mentioned in another thread, I found many more rolls, the vast majority being B&W. The other B&W films I found (with process-before dates):

• Kodak VP 120 - ISO 125 (11/1997 and 12/1997)
• Kodak TXP 120 - ISO 320 (01/1999)
• Kodak PXP 120 - ISO 125 (01/1998)
• Foma Fomapan 100 - ISO 100 (05/1996)
• Fujifilm Neopan 400PR - ISO 400 (01/1997)

The following films were only in the foil wrappers, without any process-by dates on them:

• Arista (Freestyle, pre-EDU line - plain white wrappers) - ISO ("ASA" on wrappers) 125 and 400
• Ilford FP4
• Ilford XP2

Where the above films are noticeably older than the Efke films previously mentioned, would there be a chance that any of these (at least the ISO 100 and 125 films) would still be good today? Please note, I do not know if any of the above films had been exposed to heat in the summer. Also, since Verichrome Pan has been discontinued by Kodak, would a lab still be able to process it, or other discontinued films, if any of the others above have also been discontinued?

They can all be used and developed.The slower speed films will look better than the faster ones.You yourself can develop any of these films easily or send them to a lab(but where's the fun in that?)Rate them at half their original speed for starters,work from there.

I do not develop my own.

The local places that previously processed 120, no longer do so or have gone out of business, so mailing to a lab is my only option. There is one lab that is less than 50 miles from here, so mailing and receiving would be only one day apart.

I shot 20+ year old Ektar 25 at rated speed and dropped it off at Walgreens for development and they were fine.

I recently found some old (20 yrs +) exposed rolls of Verichrome and Tri X. I developed them in Xtol with pretty fair results, although I find from previous experience that HC 110 Dil B is the best for developing old exposed film with minimal fog. This might be an excellent opportunity to try developing at home yourself. You can probably set up to process B&W negatives for under $100 including thermometers, changing bag and developing tanks. Although I have a full darkroom with enlargers, I find that scanning my negs myself gives me excellent quality with maximum convenience.

I just used and developed some Agfa Superpan from 1984. It worked fine. Very nice tones and velvety grain. I used HC-110 diluted 1+19. A little foggy but nice.

That TXP and Verichrome Pan should work great.

I tested for a friend a few rolls of FP4+ that expired in 1997. It had 1/3 stop extra base fog, but otherwise was fine.

Peter Gomena

I have some VP120 of about that age. It has been refrigerated for most of that time. I used a couple of rolls about a year ago, and they still worked, but a bit of fog was beginning to appear and the quality was not as good as when it was new. About time to toss them, but I still may shoot the last couple of rolls.

It's now obvious that lots more older films are coming out fine. So can these develop-by dates be (more or less) taken with a grain of salt?

The Verichrome Pan film, I think, was one of the best B&W's that Kodak came out with. It's unfortunate that they discontinued it, it was one of their older films as well.

There is no such thing as expired black and white film LOL. I shoot 20 year old stuff all the time in 120 with good results. I just shoot it at box speed. Oldest roll I've ever shot was just about a week ago actually...some Tri-X 320 that expired in 1976! I was two years old when it went out of date. I ran it through a Brownie Hawkeye. It worked better than I thought it would. It's definitely fogged, but I should be able to print from it I think. I just develop all this stuff in my usual divided D-76.

I guess they shouldn't put dates on them, then.

After I shoot a few rolls, I'll find out how they were.

I found a 12th roll of Efke 120 and (surprise!) one roll of Efke 127, so now I can use the 70-year old Kodak Baby Brownie Special again.