Shanghai GP3 120 Falure

mrred · Dec 7, 2014

I bought a flat of 100 rolls (batch 5157) a couple of years ago, expiring last month. I have shot several (maybe 10) rolls over the years, but was planning to burn through the lot now.

It appears that I have latent images of the backing on the remainder of the rolls. Is there anything I can do at this point?

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 7, 2014

Unfortunately no. Same thing happened to me. A really nice film until it goes which seems directly due to a terrible backing paper.

grommi · Dec 7, 2014

The same here. We had that issue several times here and elsewhere, it's most probably a chemical reaction of the backing paint with the emulsion. I also had to throw away my last rolls. And the curl was aweful. Not long ago (until 2011?) we could buy a 10x brick of pretty nice 120 Foma for 17,50 Eur. Sigh....

mrred · Dec 7, 2014

Yeah, that's why I bought it. I didn't mind the curl and got some decent quality images from it. This is about $350 down the drain for me, and much more to replace with the good stuff.

The reaction must be chemical. I just opened a roll and it looks perfect.

gone · Dec 7, 2014

Glad I saw this, as I was about to order more. Now I'll shoot what I have, and then buy another batch of 20 rolls. I've heard that the problem is specific to batches, and there's certain expiration dates to avoid. So far I've shot maybe 5 or 6 rolls w/o any issues. I think it must be chemical too, as the backing paper is just plain, flat black paper. I assume that when you say you are getting latent images, you are referring to the numbers? I had that problem w/ Ultrafine film.

summicron1 · Dec 7, 2014

mrred said:
I bought a flat of 100 rolls (batch 5157) a couple of years ago, expiring last month. I have shot several (maybe 10) rolls over the years, but was planning to burn through the lot now.

It appears that I have latent images of the backing on the remainder of the rolls. Is there anything I can do at this point?

When I see more than one or two "this is great stuff, but ..." posts on any product it goes on my "no way, not ever, not nohow" list.

Shanghai film is definitely there -- cheap is great until it turns out to be crap. I've pretty much settled on the fine, if marginally pricier, products of the nice folks at Fuji and Ilford as a result. One of the keys to good photography is to eliminate as many variables as you can so you can control the few that matter -- composition and exposure, how you process.

Having to worry whether the film is total crap is a big one to avoid.

Athiril · Dec 7, 2014

Some people have this issue with the older batches, no one has had this issue as far as I can tell with the newer batches (2016 expiry). I find it better personally than FP4+.

mrred said:
This is about $350 down the drain for me.

That's overpriced for 100 rolls, its cheaper roll delivered for just 10 rolls.

How many rolls have you tried recently, all of them have the issue?

You could always sell them marketed as lomo and describing the effect in the item description on eBay or else where etc.

mrred · Dec 7, 2014

I don't think I could do that to somebody, even if they knew. I will likely just do a silver reclaim.

Athiril · Dec 7, 2014

Lomo shooters want 'broken' film with unpredictability. If you honestly describe the effect on the film, there's no ethical issue there.

There's a guy here exposing clouds and other background scenery on film, relabeling and selling it for that purpose.

tkamiya · Dec 7, 2014

I had that happen to me too. Don't toss it though. I sold mine here at APUG with clear indication of the problem. I think I priced it basically at shipping + coke money. Trash film is a handy thing to have for camera testing. That's why I bought mine in the first place. At that time, I was going through about a dozen of RB backs and I needed a cheap way to test them all.

mrred · Dec 7, 2014

Valid point. It could be worth keeping.

ambaker · Dec 7, 2014

My 2014 film has the same issue. From what I have read elsewhere it is a chemical reaction, as opposed to print through, from light on the backing paper.

If you want to spend lots of time digit@lly editing, it can be done. There is no cure, of which I am aware, in the darkroom.

I use mine for checking film spacing, and exposure accuracy.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Sirius Glass · Dec 7, 2014

mrred said:
I bought a flat of 100 rolls (batch 5157) a couple of years ago, expiring last month. I have shot several (maybe 10) rolls over the years, but was planning to burn through the lot now.

It appears that I have latent images of the backing on the remainder of the rolls. Is there anything I can do at this point?

A good reason to stick to Kodak, Ilford and Fuji.

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 7, 2014

This has been rehashed and discussed on more than few threads on APUG.

I bought a load about 5 years ago at 75 cents a roll brought back from Beijing. Terrific film. Until it was wasn't, I'm highly suspect the 2016 expired version will experience the same come 2017. Oh well. At least they seem to last until their expiration. We're to used to Kodak and Ilford films being fine for a few years after their expiration guess too much was expected from this film.

JW PHOTO · Dec 8, 2014

Richard Sintchak (rich815) said:
This has been rehashed and discussed on more than few threads on APUG.

I bought a load about 5 years ago at 75 cents a roll brought back from Beijing. Terrific film. Until it was wasn't, I'm highly suspect the 2016 expired version will experience the same come 2017. Oh well. At least they seem to last until their expiration. We're to used to Kodak and Ilford films being fine for a few years after their expiration guess too much was expected from this film.

Very valid point! Use within the dates and your fine..................press your luck and things go down hill. Maybe? I bought mine for testing old cameras and repairs, but find it a fine film for normal shooting also. I just don't buy more than 20 rolls at a time and I don't seem to have a problem. In fact, I really like the film when it works. That said, I have two rolls I kept from the very first batch of 2016. One frozen and one at room temp and will test these after the expiration date to see if they bleed. Until then I'll just keep on using GP3 in small quanities and enjoy. John W

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 8, 2014

FYI: my batch was #5145, exp. 2012 4

Not problems until about a year ago.

analoguey · Dec 8, 2014

mrred said:
I bought a flat of 100 rolls (batch 5157) a couple of years ago, expiring last month. I have shot several (maybe 10) rolls over the years, but was planning to burn through the lot now.

It appears that I have latent images of the backing on the remainder of the rolls. Is there anything I can do at this point?

Clean up with warm water plus detergent solution -should wipe down clearly without issues or at at least clear enough to Print or scan okay.

pdeeh · Dec 8, 2014

It's certainly not "marginally" cheaper than I/F/K products - I can't buy any of their films for less than twice or three times the £1.70 a roll GP3 costs - and I never had any problems with the backing printthrough.

But as Richard Sintchak says, this has been hashed over many many times, and it's clear that there was a problem for plenty of people. Whether it'll be a problem again in the future remains to be seen

There was a thread on Flickr by someone suggesting that they had found that a very thorough presoak/prewash would prevent it occurring, and if you have plenty of rolls left it may be worth experimenting with that.

mrred · Dec 8, 2014

JW PHOTO said:
Very valid point! Use within the dates and your fine...... John W

Mine only expired last month.

mrred · Dec 8, 2014

analoguey said:
Clean up with warm water plus detergent solution -should wipe down clearly without issues or at at least clear enough to Print or scan okay.

Like a re-wash? Extended photo-flo perhaps?

analoguey · Dec 8, 2014

Yes. Re-wash. Not familiar w photo-flo to comment on it.

mrred · Dec 8, 2014

That gave me a thought.....previous development of these rolls were reversals. Perhaps the heavy bleaching involved got rid of this gunk? I must try one.

mrred · Dec 8, 2014

Photoflo is essentially a soap without any bad stuff in it for film. I wonder if a light solution of sodium sulfite would help too?

mrred · Dec 8, 2014

What exactly are you washing it with? My attempts have failed.

mrred · Dec 9, 2014

On the high side, it is not a problem with reversals. I might have spoken too soon when I said it was good when I got them. The rolls I shot then were all reversals. I guess a good shot of sulphuric acid and dichromate cleans it up....

Shanghai GP3 120 Falure

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