I've read countless posts on the topic of outdated film, but never really messed with outdated film myself. I mean really outdated, and not just a year or so outdated. The story begins in Chicago at a Camera collectors show where I was set up. A fellow came to my table with a stack of outdated sheet film in 4X5 and 8X10, both B&W and Fuji transparency film. He asked me if I'd be interested in buying all of it. I ask him if it was all good and properly stored. He said it was kept at room temps and never got over 75F. I told him I couldn't give him much since I couldn't try it out first. He wanted me to make an offer, and I just told him to tell me what was the absolute rock-bottom price he would take. Well, I ended up with a pile of film dirt cheap. That was in about 1994-95. Fast-forward to now. Well it's been in the bottom of my freezer ever since and even went through one freezer breakdown/thaw out to boot. My wife and I are preparing to move to or cottage full time, so it was time to start cleaning the old house out. I dug the film out and thought I'd see just how bad it was, or if it was even useable at all. So I loaded some 4X5 holders with TMY2 dated 03/1992, TMX 100 Dated 09/1991, Tri-X dated 11/1991 and Plus-X dated 1/1992. I used a little Fuji 150mm f5.6 (single coated) lens and my LunaPro light meter in incident mode. I rated the 100 ISO film at 80 and the 320 and 400 speed films at 250. The results really surprised me in a very good way. There is a tad bit of base fog, but not as bad as I thought. Also, there were no emulsion defects like molting or mildew. I hope the 8X10 film is as good. I haven't even tested half of what I bought, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Here are some straight scans out of Vuescan and an old Epson 3200 flatbed scanner.
This is a nice early Christmas present for sure.
This is a nice early Christmas present for sure.