Old film: clip test vs bracketing

perkeleellinen · Mar 18, 2021

Hello All,

I have four rolls of slide film of unknown providence. I accept shooting them is a risk and I'm not going to photograph my son's wedding or a Martian landing with them.

My F5 allows bracketing '0' '0.5' '1' and with the fast motor drive I can do this in a short 3 shot burst in half a second. Would asking the lab for a clip test also help?

I suppose I'm asking, bracketing can help mitigate the ageing affect of film but does processing also help? If my 1 stop over exposure isn't enough, will push processing help?

Lastly, you need to know I shoot slides to project.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 18, 2021

Are you shooting street shots or landscape? Bracketing more for landscape use.

YoIaMoNwater · Mar 18, 2021

Overexposing for expired slide film doesn't help at all. Your best bet is to expose them at box speed and hope you can get an image. Recently, I've shot two rolls of very old Ektachrome 100 Plus (expired 1991) and Ektachrome 200 (expired 2000) that I got from Ebay (storage condition was unknown), the former had way too much base fog which was expected for very expired slides whereas the latter had very minor fogging (the slides look just a tad undersaturated but hardly noticeable). Shooting expired slides with unknown storage condition is like Russian Roulette, you really don't know what you get until the end.

ic-racer · Mar 18, 2021

I saw one place on the internet showing about $25 to process E-6 and mount. I'd probably use fresh film, unless you plan on processing and mounting them yourself.

perkeleellinen · Mar 19, 2021

The lab I use processes a roll for £5 and I mount them myself.

Thanks for the tip, Yola. Still wondering is a clip test is worthwhile. It's getting a projectable image I'm most interested in - increased grain or colour casts can be exploited artistically.

Rudeofus · Mar 19, 2021

perkeleellinen said:
Still wondering is a clip test is worthwhile. It's getting a projectable image I'm most interested in - increased grain or colour casts can be exploited artistically.

When I got my medium format camera, I used some very old, expired slide film to practice handling. While my handling seemed to be ok (artistic skills - or better: lack thereof - aside), the resulting slides were close to useless. They had a strong red cast, and contrast was very low. If I had overexposed these slides, that red cast may have turned white - together with all other subject matter. If you want more than slides, which look artistic and recognizable after scanning and post processing, you will probably have to experiment with your stash. Be prepared to mix additional ingredients into your developer and to adjust development times to compensate fog and boost contrast. Unless you have many rolls and lots of time at your hands, it may well turn into a complete waste of time.

There are some guides, how to process very old film here and here. See for yourself, whether you like the results.

Don_ih · Mar 19, 2021

You have 4 rolls of "unknown provenance" - you should shoot one at box speed and get it processed normally. If it turns out good, use the other three the same way. And it if turns out bad, adjust your iso and cross process the other three.

perkeleellinen · Mar 19, 2021

Don, that is probably the best bet, I think. These films are approx ten years old so not ancient but I am concious that slide films tend to age badly.

gone · Mar 19, 2021

What Don said, but why not cover all the bases? I'd shoot half at box speed (or whatever ISO you would normally shoot that particular film at), and shoot the other half at various exposures and take notes. Just to see. A clip test isn't necessary if you have the developed shots in front of you.

Pieter12 · Mar 19, 2021

Are you just curious and want to experiment? I would forget about the expired film unless it is an exotic emulsion. Toss it and use fresh film--are your photos such that you really don't care how they come out?

perkeleellinen · Mar 20, 2021

I get what you're saying Pieter and I don't normally waste energy on crap shots. Last year I bought a bunch of 320T from Matt on here and it was stored well and works. I love that film and thought I'd risk an ebay purchase of a few extra rolls. I accept the risk in this and I'm just curious if I can keep the love going.

perkeleellinen · Oct 30, 2021

Success, these were shot at box speed in daylight. First with a Cokin 85b, then a Hoya Type A to daylight filter, then a Wratten gel over the flash to see what that effect would look like with the cooler background. Pleased these came out as 320T is my favourite slide film and nice that the daylight experiments yielded results too:

YoIaMoNwater · Oct 31, 2021

Hey, these came out nicely. Glad you were able to get something out of them.

mohmad khatab · Oct 31, 2021

perkeleellinen said:
Success, these were shot at box speed in daylight. First with a Cokin 85b, then a Hoya Type A to daylight filter, then a Wratten gel over the flash to see what that effect would look like with the cooler background. Pleased these came out as 320T is my favourite slide film and nice that the daylight experiments yielded results too:

View attachment 289515

View attachment 289516

View attachment 289517

This is very cool, it seems that these films were well preserved,
My greetings

Old film: clip test vs bracketing

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