Old HP5

[D Wood]

Hellos - Was curious if anyone has experience with using old expired HP5.. Im talkin 7+ years out-dated and freezer stored.. How did your film look? Thanks, dw

 

[jimjm]

I recently shot some expired 35mm HP5 (not HP5+) which dated it back to at least 1989. I believe it had been frozen most of that time, but can't be sure.
Shot it at 200 and gave it a bit of extra development time in D76 1:1. I didn't take any special measures as I wasn't expecting much from the roll.
There was a lot of base fog, but several of the images turned out very nicely. I like the grittier look that resulted. My printing times in the darkroom were significantly longer than usual.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'm using 4x5 HP5 that expired in 2007. Freezer stored. They have a wee bit of extra b+f, but still look fantastic. Developed in D-23, or Xtol, the b+f is slightly less, compared to Pyrocat-HD. I also developed a few 8x10 sheets that I shot back in '09. They look fantastic. These were stored in a cupboard, where summer temperatures reached 26 C.

 

[D Wood]

Thanks guys! my same experience. ..but I developed the sheets as I normally do. I have an almost full box of HP5 810 expired 10/12, deep freeze kept. The fog is very bad, almost unusable. Its heartbreaking, especially that this film is now 180$ a box.. :-( dw

 

[ic-racer]

I have HP5 from the 1980s. Last checked dmin was about 0.65. I don't use the film, it is 72 exposure film, preserved for its collector appeal.

I'm not surprised if yours is fogged bad, 400 film goes bad quickly. You can use it when it is fogged, but it is not 400 any more.

I have some HP5 16mm single perf for my 16mm still camera from 2003 that I was going to throw out because fresh 16mm film is available from other sources, but maybe I'll check it to see if it is useable.

 

[Agulliver]

7 years expired is not old for HP5+

I've shot 25 year old HP5+ in recent years which was stored in a basement.

If HP5+ is exhibiting "very bad" fog after 7 years in a freezer, something is very wrong.

 

[D Wood]

Yes.. I agree.. Its not like I can contact Ilford at this point.. :-((

ps - Just finished testing all my 810 films in the freezer. All good, some are 2009. I am at a loss as to why this box of HP5 went bad..

7 years expired is not old for HP5+

I've shot 25 year old HP5+ in recent years which was stored in a basement.

If HP5+ is exhibiting "very bad" fog after 7 years in a freezer, something is very wrong.

 

[Agulliver]

You could contact Ilford to find out if yours was a bad batch that they're aware of. I've contacted them regarding 1970s FP4 I was shooting in 2019 and they were most helpful, intrigued even.