Out-of-date C41 film characteristics

[rosseelj]

Hello,

I've been storing all my C-41 film in the freezer, and was able to typically go 1-2 years over expiration date with this process.

However, recently, I found back some some really old Portra 400NC, exposed it and had it developed (4 years over date). As I did not have time to do the processing myself, I gave it to one of the cheap development services.

The negatives came back quite thin. Actually, it looks as if all negatives were underexposed by 1-2 stops.
I would expect that higher sensitivity film takes up some fogging over time because of radiation, but that should affect the base density. Here we are having low D-max, even visibly so in the edge markings.

Is this normal for really old film to lose 1-2 stops of sensitivity? Or did the lab underdevelop the film. I wish I had still one left to develop myself as a reference, but I used up the last rolls.

--
JanR

 

[desertrat]

Old Fuji Super G+ 100

My only experience with outdated color film is with Fuji Super G+ 100. It expired in 1998, and I bought a 100 foot roll from Freestyle about 3 years ago, as an out of date, cold stored special. What surprised me about this film, is that it seemed actually faster than the box rated speed. OK, I use sunny 16, and my exposures probably aren't very accurate.

I compared the Super G+ 100 with fresh Fuji Super HQ 100 from Walmart, which I usually use on vacations. Exposing the Super G+ about the same as the Super HQ under similar conditions, I got high contrast and chalky, blocked up highlights. The problem was even worse when I went to the mountains and was shooting at 8000 ft plus elevations. I probably didn't compensate enough for the much harsher light up there. When I shoot some of the Super G+ again, I'll probably rate it at 200.

The other thing I noticed about the Super G+ was it had developed a distinctly warm color balance, and was grainier than the Super HQ, but I guess that should be no surprise.

This is different film than what you're using, and my experience may not apply here, but it might be useful to the general knowledge base.

BTW, Freestyle is still selling the Super G+ 100. They've now dropped the price to $9.99 for a 100 ft roll. I don't think I should recommend it to anyone, but it might be interesting to experiment with.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Just about every film behaves differently. I had some Agfa negative which just went truly awful even in the freezer, some Kodak that went foggy, and others which show hardly any change at all.

PE

 

[braxus]

Desert Rat,
I thought I'd try some of that Super G film from Freestyle. $10 isn't much to lose and if its really off I can always throw it out. They told me its been refridgerated since whenever. Have you shot a roll of this lately? I'm just wondering how it will turn out today.

 

[desertrat]

When did I last shoot?

I'm trying to remember when I last shot with this film. I was testing some different Russian lenses on a Fed-2. If it wasn't last summer, it was the summer of '04 at the earliest. Worst case scenario, it was two years ago. Sorry, my memory is getting to the point where if it was more than two weeks ago or less than five years ago, it all seems pretty much the same. I'll shoot some more when I finish moving, but that will probably be in a couple of months. The roll is already sitting in a refrigerator in Idaho.

My guess is it'll probably be OK. Think of grain like today's 400 film, because it's from an older technology. And the color balance is definately warm. I'm thinking of trying a color compensation filter, the light blue one that's used for daylight film shot indoors under tungsten illumination. Don't remember the filter number off hand.

It's so cheap you can use it for testing lots of things, like cameras or lenses that just came in from eb*y.