Old color paper - still good?

[Jim Graves]

I've found a lot of forum info on dated B&W paper ... but very little on color. With the enlarger I just got came a bunch of Kodak Ektacolor Edge 8 [RA-4] ... (16x20, 11x14, 8x10) of unknown age and storage. The boxes are intact (1 of the 11x14 boxes is unopened.) I don't print color but it seems a shame to toss what I would estimate is 75 16x20, 75 11x14, and 175 8x10 still in their boxes and black plastic bags if there is any chance someone could use it.

 

[nickandre]

ummm, color can = bad news bears if old. If the boxes look tattered then you probably shouldn't expect too much. Try it though, it's not like butchering film.

 

[Mike Wilde]

my take on old ra-4 paper

My experience is that if it is older, or has not been cool stored, it will loose red sensitivity. You will dial more yellow and magenta into it than you ever have before tocompensate. It can still be used.

Once really old, it will start to loose vitality in the colours, and may even take on an overall yellow stain. Ektaprint/2 does this for sure, but that paper is definitely 'quite old' by now (though I still have some for things like clean out sheets in my roller transport processor)