Question on outdated film...

tomkatf · Jun 2, 2019

I have several hundred rolls of outdated film and would like to determine how badly affected by age (if at all) several types are. B/W only in this case. Would standard development of an unexposed roll to determine base and fog give me enough information on this?
tx, Tom

Ian Grant · Jun 2, 2019

It needs to be quite old over a decade or badly stored before you'll have an issue., with the exception of Infra Red or 3200 films unless refridgerated.

Films used to have much longer Expiry dates that changed to meet ISO 9001 but is more to do with stock control than any deterioration.

Ian

Pentode · Jun 2, 2019

You could do two clip tests: one 6” piece developed unexposed and one just fixed with no development. The piece that was fixed only would be base and the piece developed would be base + fog.

As Ian pointed out, however, a lot of B&W film is very forgiving unless it’s very old or very poorly stored. You might learn everything you need just by shooting a test roll at box speed.

Sirius Glass · Jun 2, 2019

Ian Grant said:
It needs to be quite old over a decade or badly stored before you'll have an issue., with the exception of Infra Red or 3200 films unless refridgerated.

Films used to have much longer Expiry dates that changed to meet ISO 9001 but is more to do with stock control than any deterioration.

Ian

My experience too. If the film is kept cool [out of heat, even if not refrigerated or frozen] black & white films, except Infrared and ISO 3200 films are quite robust. Color films are more sensitive.

macfred · Jun 2, 2019

Pentode said:
... You might learn everything you need just by shooting a test roll at box speed.

I couldn't have say it any better.

Kodachromeguy · Jun 2, 2019

Was the film stored in a refrigerator? If yes, most of it should be fine. If just in a regular household, it depends on how old it is. My experience with B&W film is it is remarkably durable, but older color emulsions experience color shifts. We had a discussion a year ago when I showed some expired Ektar 25 with streaks and goofy colors.

tomkatf · Jun 2, 2019

macfred said:
I couldn't have say it any better.

"...... You might learn everything you need just by shooting a test roll at box speed...."

Stop making sense!

That's what I'll do... empirical is best...

Thanks to all for the suggestions and info!

Film is generally dated from 2001-2003. Refrigerated till late 2000's and stored low 70Fs since then.

Theo Sulphate · Jun 2, 2019

The Polaroid 689 is at least 16 years old - even if refrigerated I doubt it would produce usable results. But it's pack film! Worth seeing what you'd get after all this time.

MattKing · Jun 2, 2019

I swear I see some colour film in there!
WRT the black and white films, for even more information I would expose an old film and a matching current film to the same images, develop them and then compare the results.

pentaxuser · Jun 2, 2019

The Acros alone if it is any good, must be worth a fortune now. Sell it quickly before Fuji buys film from Ilford and calls it Acros II and dilutes its scarcity value Just a little whimsy on my part. See the latest posts on rebadging on the thread about the right developer for APX 400 to understand my second sentence

pentaxuser

Pentode · Jun 2, 2019

Just as a reference point, I shot a roll of Plus-X at box speed two days ago. I don’t know how old it was but it was at least ten years. It was stored in an attic; probably the worst possible conditions. I developed it earlier today in HC-110 dilution B and, apart from some minimal fogging, it’s fine.

I’m not suggesting that there’s always a happy ending to a story like that but it’s pretty remarkable how robust B&W film is.

Question on outdated film...

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