Old fresh frozen film

Do you have a stock of old but fresh film stashed away in the back of your kitchen freezer?

Despite my wife's complaints, I have a nice supply of outdated film taking up a section of the ice box.

All rolls were purchased brand new and immediately chilled. Many are over 20 years old. Yes, they yield good results when thawed and exposed.

Here's what I have:
Kodak CL127 and CL620, dated 4/1988
Kodak GB126-24, dated 8/1998
Efke R21 127, dated 1/1989
Belgian (no name) B&W 620, no date

What's the oldest film you might have?

I have some Iford fp4 1988, froze since new, I discovered recently in the chest freezer. Unfortuanately, they are trash.

Mike

good old ferrania pan

It likely started out as 25 or 50 asa , but it is down to 12asa for me now. I still have 6 rolls left in my freezer. It dates to the mid 60's. The metal reels it is mounted on is the most charming thing. Getting the film onto the reel after it being wound up for 40 plus years is not so charming though. And the development time is long, something like 18 minutes in 1+1 d76 to get a good density.

It was at on time imported and sold as 3M in North America. I was given 14 rolls about 3 years ago. It had allegedly been frozen for decades.

At the moment, my oldest film is probably Super-XX 4x5" vintage 1981, courtesy of a member of this forum. I tested a couple of sheets, and it's a bit foggy, but it's still pretty nice film with beautiful tonal separation.

I've posted about a few adventures I've had with really old film here--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

As for paper, I have a box of 10x10" Haloid Industro grade 2 dated 1952, which is more like grade 1 at this point.

I have Pan F and Plus X from the mid 70's, 35mm in 100 foot rolls, just defrosted, no fog but loss of speed, about a stop. I shoot the Pan F at 12 the Plus X at 50.

Paul Howell said:

I have Pan F and Plus X from the mid 70's, 35mm in 100 foot rolls, just defrosted, no fog but loss of speed, about a stop. I shoot the Pan F at 12 the Plus X at 50.

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I also have anschcrome 100 and 200 from the late 60s or early 70s, I shot some of the 100 and developed in a GAF kit I found on E bay, some shift towards blue, but not bad, I found 2 more GAF kits and will shoot the 200 this spring.

I have some 3x4 glass plates - HP3 and Special Rapid Panchromatic P300 from the 1950s and some Kodak Tri X Film Packs 2x3 and 3x4 from the 60s. These will definitely need some anti fog agent when they are processed.

Gord

Old unexposed glass plates including Imperial plates. Old but usable.

I've had paper frozen for 30+ years, but not film - only refrigerated. The paper kept well (Kodak Panalure & Ektalure - now Forte). Film on the other hand, I believe, is more sensitive to cosmic radiation (passes through everything, including the earth, and us).

Early particle physics experiments were done with Ilford monochrome film for detecting telltale tracks of cosmic radiation, perhaps "neutrinos".

panastasia said:

I've had paper frozen for 30+ years, but not film - only refrigerated. The paper kept well (Kodak Panalure & Ektalure - now Forte). Film on the other hand, I believe, is more sensitive to cosmic radiation (passes through everything, including the earth, and us).

Early particle physics experiments were done with Ilford monochrome film for detecting telltale tracks of cosmic radiation, perhaps "neutrinos".

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High speed film such as Tri X seems to fair the worse, my Pan F and Plux X from the 70s has help up much better, even the Anscochrome 100 has held up. But I tired Trix X 4X5 that expired in 1949, total toast, as were several rolls of GAF 500 from the early 70's. Paper has a much lower speed than film and does hold up much better than film.

~ 40 KM 135-36, still just fine.

I'm currently working on two 100 sheet boxes of Plus-X Pan Professional in 4x5. It expired in Nov 1969, so I assume it's several years older than that. I had trouble with Leopard spot looking blotches. I then quit using stop bath altogether and the spots disappeared. So far, so good.

I have some super XX from 1991 that is plenty good with little base fog.

jd callow said:

I have some super XX from 1991 that is plenty good with little base fog.

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I think I've got some 8x10" from that same batch.

Same source as well?

Oh my where do I begin ok this is my list of stocks in my Freezers and Fridges which is old and out of date and my personal play toys hehehe

Agfa APX 25 120 (2002/10) -10 x Rolls
Agfa Ultra 50 120 (2002/08) - 8 x Rolls
Agfa ISU 35mm (JAN 1972) -10 x Rolls
Agfa IFF 35mm (JUL 1971) -10 x Rolls
Agfa IF 35mm (jan 1978) -10 x Rolls
Agfa DIA Direct 35mm (Jul 1981) - 10 x Rolls
Agfa SuperPan Press 620 (Jul 1939) - 5 x Rolls
Agfa Ultra 100 35mm ( 6/2005) - 200 x Rolls
Agfa RS 1000 35mm ( 11/1997) 478 x Rolls
Agfa RSX 50 35mm (3 /2005) 38 x Rolls
Agfa RSX 100 120 (6 /2006) 95 x Rolls
Agfa scala 35mm ( 7/2007) 20 x Rolls
Agfa Scala 120 ( 1/2007) 10 x Rolls
Agfa Scala 4x5" (1/2001) 38 x Sheets
Agfa APX 100 35mm (date unknown) 10 x Rolls

Polaroid polachrome 35mm instant ( sept 1998) 100ish Rolls
Polaroid Polapan 35mm instant (2002) 100ish Rolls
Polablue 35mm instant (oct 1989) 1 x Roll :-(
Polachrome 100 4x5" (date unknown) 10 x sheets

Kodak Tech Pan 120 (7/2004) 19 x Rolls
Kodak Tech Pan 35mm ( date unknown 2000ish) 9 x Rolls
Kodak tech Pan 4x5" 50 x sheets
Kodak HIE 35mm (2/2009) +800 x Rolls
kodak EIR 35mm (8/2008) 198 x Rolls
Kodak RPC 35mm (1990's) 2 x Rolls :-(
Kodak Kodalith 35mm (7/2003) 148 x Rolls
kodak Kodachrome PKR 120 (09/1994) 20 x Rolls
Kodak Super-xx 35mm (Apr 1946) 6 x Rolls
Kodak S0-339 Direct Positive Dupe Film 4x5" (06/1991) 97 x sheets
Kodak EPH 35mm (date unknown) 18 x Rolls
Kodak Pan Atomic X 4x5" (Dec 1972) 100 x sheets
kodak Super panchro-press Type B 4x5" (Dec 1953) 50x sheets
Kodak Plates various sizes and emulsions types (1960-80) about 100 plates.
Kodak VPS, VPH, VPL 120 (date unknown 90's) 100 odd rolls
Kodak PRT 120 (10/2000) 50 x Rolls

Konica Infrared 750nm 120 (Feb 1999) 18 x Rolls
konica infrared 750nm 35mm (Feb 1999) 11 x Rolls
Fuji Provia 1600 35mm (04/1996) 28 x Rolls
Scotch 1000 35mm (Mar / 1988) 2 x Rolls :-(
Scotch 400 35mm (Nov / 1987) 2 x Rolls :-(

hehehehe and I do have more, A lot more! but I wont bore you any further.

The oldest film I have is a kodachrome Roll which is dated something in the late 30's and also indicates a weird speed. I would need to find it to confirm its exact date.

~steve

Oldest I have is a box of 5x7 Eastman Nitrate Pan film, to be developed before 1934. Still not sure if I want to open it and try shooting with it or not.

I have 5 or 6 boxes of 1doz each 4x5 eastman nitrate film from france. Dev before 1947.
If your wondering, yes nitrate film does burn really fast when near heat. I had to try a bad sheet.
The film still holds a very faint image. It is very green and blotchy with mold.

These are in my rare & expired pile:
1 box of APX 25 4x5 25 sheet
1 box of APX 100 4x5 25 sheet
1 box of RS 50 4x5 50 sheet
1 roll of 14" x about 75' left of Kodalith Ortho type 3
5 boxes of Kodak EPN 4x5 50 sheet
1 box of Plus X 4x5 25 sheet
10 rolls of APX 400 120
5 rolls of APX 100 120
1 rolls of Konica IR 750 120
In my not terribly old but rare pile i have 1 500' roll of tech pan exp 1992.

Edit: I forgot the stash of Aerial film.

9.5"x125' Kodak Tri-x Aerographic Film #2403
9.5"x500' kodak Aerographic Direct Duplicating Film #2422
5"x350' kodak Aerographic duplicating RA 2425

I have some rare papers also.
About 250 or more sheets of Kodak Ektalure X paper in 11x14 and 16x20. Ektalure X has a beautiful pattern on it.
1 box of GAF Allura 16x20 50 sheet
1 box of Agfa Gevarto 16x20 50 sheet
2 boxes of 8.5x11 sterling pro rc contact paper 250 sheet

I think thats it for the rare stuff. I have lots of new also. I really like the ERA 4x5 film.
I want more...more film....more!!!

jd callow said:

Same source as well?

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Indeed.

You guys are le hardcore with your deep storage content.

By comparison, I have far less (and probably due to cost will continue to have less), and that which I have all dates back no earlier than 2000 -- except for three rolls of PKR 120 which likely come from the early 1990s. Sadly, I'll never get to try them out. Whenever I can find it, though, I stock up on frozen-stored Fujichrome RMS 100/1000, regardless whether it's 120/220 or 135. Time and again, there's something about that emulsion's properties which I really like. That it was only produced for a couple of years makes it a bit challenging to find, alas.

Nevertheless, since other mentioned having these in their freezer, I guess I am grateful to still have a few HIE and EIR supplies left, and with quite recent expiry dates at that (which means that discussion belongs to a thread on "Less-old fresh frozen film").