Outdated film

julian bell · Jul 8, 2006

I've recently been given about twentyrolls of Fujichrome Velvia 50 120 format. However, it is about a year to eighteem months out of date. The film has not been fridgerated, but has been kept away from sunlight in a coolish room. My main interests are landscape and architecture. My question is: Will this film still be useable, or would it be best to trash can it?

Julian

Mike Kennedy · Jul 8, 2006

By all means shoot a test roll. You should rate it at ?????? . Brain freeze. I sure another member has the answer. It's either a bit slower or a tad faster.

Mike

Nick Zentena · Jul 8, 2006

And if you don't like the test results cross process the rest.

Dave Parker · Jul 8, 2006

Mike Kennedy said:
By all means shoot a test roll. You should rate it at ?????? . Brain freeze. I sure another member has the answer. It's either a bit slower or a tad faster.

Mike

I have always shot my velvia 50 at ISO 40 and processed normally..if the film has been in a cool room and not got hot, should not give many problems, as Nick and Mike said, shoot a test roll to make sure all is okay.

R.

snegron · Jul 8, 2006

I would be curious to find out as well. I have several unused rolls of Porta 160 VC with an expiration date of 09/2005 in my fridge (they were in the salad drawer which I never use). They have been in my fridge for about a year now.

kb244 · Jul 8, 2006

or if yer really paranoid send it to one of us (Typically, unless that film was sitting in the trunk of your car for a few months during the summer, it'll normally be just fine, thinking like 70F and below for that whole time.)

kb244 · Jul 8, 2006

snegron said:
I would be curious to find out as well. I have several unused rolls of Porta 160 VC with an expiration date of 09/2005 in my fridge (they were in the salad drawer which I never use). They have been in my fridge for about a year now.

You should have no problems then, refrigerated film can last years past the expiration, freezed film seems to last pratically forever. Just allow a couple hours for it to thaw before removing from the foil, you dont want condensation.

removed account4 · Jul 8, 2006

ara g used to work for a photo store delivering between stores in the van.
he made this post a while back regarding film and heat ..

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

have fun with your film!

john

sunnyroller · Jul 8, 2006

I, too, have a ton of Velvia 50 that is expired. I had been keeping it refrigerated, but a trusted professional camera store owner told me a while back that this particular film did not keep well cold that it would be better to keep it at room temp. At that point I shot a couple of rolls so he could check film speed for me and it was staying still at about 50. I haven't used any since and just gave about 10 rolls away the other day to someone who can help me use it up. On Gary Beasley's recommendation I am going to get a C-41 kit and try cross-processing some of it. Since I am more of a b&w shooter, the Velvia is my playing around film--although it could be said that all my film is my playing around film

I am sure my response has only added to the cofusion.

Cheers,

Sunny

Dave Parker · Jul 8, 2006

I have always cold stored my velvia and never had any problems with it at all, I just shot some that had been in my freezer since 99 and it shot and processed with no problems at all, I wonder why he was saying it doesn't cold store well?

R.

sunnyroller · Jul 8, 2006

R-

All I rember is that he said there had been some cases of failure when stored this way and had talked to the Fuji rep about it. Unfortunately, the guy who told me this had a heart attack and passed on last fall. I have no first hand experience with it failing on me, so I won't take an authoriative stand.

I have talked to another person though who has had some expired slide film fail on her after being stored in the freezer.

It could all be a big coincidence and not a reason to start storing it differently. Conventional wisdom says freeze it and I do use the freezer for everything else. If it was a big deal (making sure I had the film as long as possible) I would put half in the freezer and leave half at room temp to hedge my bets. Better yet, I would go ahead and use it up while I know it is still good.

Cheers,

Sunny

kb244 · Jul 8, 2006

sunnyroller said:
I, too, have a ton of Velvia 50 that is expired. I had been keeping it refrigerated, but a trusted professional camera store owner told me a while back that this particular film did not keep well cold that it would be better to keep it at room temp. At that point I shot a couple of rolls so he could check film speed for me and it was staying still at about 50. I haven't used any since and just gave about 10 rolls away the other day to someone who can help me use it up. On Gary Beasley's recommendation I am going to get a C-41 kit and try cross-processing some of it. Since I am more of a b&w shooter, the Velvia is my playing around film--although it could be said that all my film is my playing around film

I am sure my response has only added to the cofusion.

Cheers,

Sunny

Pro film = Cold storage
Consumer Film = normal room temperature

The reason being is consumer film is shipped right off to the stores when produced, and are expected to sit on the shelf for a reasonable time when the aging of the film reaches peak color conditions, and they dont expect much consumers to notice minor color shifts from the pre-age and aging.

Professional grade film is pre-aged and when they reach that peak color age, they are then chilled and shipped refrigerated to the store, which may or may not keep them in the fridge themselves, the chilling of such holds that color , not sure what to call it, color "age" or curve, or what.

kb244 · Jul 8, 2006

sunnyroller said:
R-

All I rember is that he said there had been some cases of failure when stored this way and had talked to the Fuji rep about it. Unfortunately, the guy who told me this had a heart attack and passed on last fall. I have no first hand experience with it failing on me, so I won't take an authoriative stand.

I have talked to another person though who has had some expired slide film fail on her after being stored in the freezer.

It could all be a big coincidence and not a reason to start storing it differently. Conventional wisdom says freeze it and I do use the freezer for everything else. If it was a big deal (making sure I had the film as long as possible) I would put half in the freezer and leave half at room temp to hedge my bets. Better yet, I would go ahead and use it up while I know it is still good.

Cheers,

Sunny

The 'failure' is condensation, if you shoot it too soon after taking it out of the fridge or freezer, the emulsions is either still too cold to be sensitive or condensation builds up on the emulsion. When you remove a film from the freezer or fridge, if its 120s or 35mm , you want to wait least two hours before shooting, if its 4x5 or larget sheets, its good to wait about 5 hours before using. This means when you take it out of the fridge/freezer, do not open the canister, break the seal, or open the foil, let it thaw in it's original condition first before opening it.

pandino · Jul 8, 2006

I've used a lot of outdated Velvia and Provia and it looks just fine. As long as you are not concerned with color fidelity, than it's no problem.

Just don't expect the faithful color reproduction Velvia renders when it's fresh...:rolleyes:

roteague · Jul 8, 2006

julian bell said:
I've recently been given about twentyrolls of Fujichrome Velvia 50 120 format. However, it is about a year to eighteem months out of date. The film has not been fridgerated, but has been kept away from sunlight in a coolish room. My main interests are landscape and architecture. My question is: Will this film still be useable, or would it be best to trash can it?

Julian

I wouldn't worry about it, I've never found any issues with outdated film, as long as they are stored properly. If you are uncomfortable, then shoot one roll, at the rated speed, and have it processed normally. Then you can decide before you use it on something important. As for what I rate it at, it depends. I normally rate it at 50 these days, but I also use a Fuji lab for processing. Velvia tends to lose a bit of speed in Kodak chemicals. But, a lot of people rate it at 40 and have good results. FWIW, I have a large batch of outdated Velvia 50 that I am going to shoot in Australia this coming October.

Adrian_I · Jul 8, 2006

julian bell said:
My question is: Will this film still be useable, or would it be best to trash can it?

Julian

I would say you can use it. In 80s I used a lot of outdated ORWO slide film (bad times...) and the rule was: +1 EV for each year after exp. time. That means you should give a try, but consider overexposing as a necesity. I don't know about Velvia stability, but you shoud try a roll - as others told you - and work with different exposures. If I would you, after exposing a full roll I would go in the darkroom and cut the roll in two and have the two parts processed differently: normal and cross.
Have fun!

Adrian

Dave Parker · Jul 8, 2006

Velvia over the years that I have shot it, is a stable film and normally only has problems if exposed to extreme heat, as I said in the other message, I just shot a roll dated in '99 and it processed fine with no problems at all, the color fidelity was just fine, with no problems at all, it was shot at ISO 40 and processed normally..

R.

Outdated film

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