Shelf life of B&W papers

walter23 · May 4, 2007

I've got a ton of free paper that came with an enlarger I bought, but most of it is expired from the mid-90s to early 2000s. Any hope of using the stuff? Mostly ilford RC, some kodak stuff.

Obviously I'll try it out once I get my enlarger set up, but I'm curious about others experiences with old paper.

Ole · May 4, 2007

I had a big box of stuff like that!

The Ilford was fine; the oldest Ilfospeed had lost a little bit of contrast in the highlights only. That finally let me make a good print of a 30 years old negative - long expired Ilfospeed grade 3 gave me the higher contrast in the shadows while still retaining detail in the snow.

The Kodak paper I had, of the same age, was completely and utterly dead...

wedoe · May 4, 2007

I got a lot of old paper with an enlarger I just bought, and it's great. Not sure about the age, but I think they're older than yours. Are the packages sealed?

Rich Ullsmith · May 4, 2007

There's always hope! If you have any exotic or hard to find stuff, Ektalure or Portriga, and it's fogged less than a stop, I think it's worth it to play around with restrainers. If it's more common stuff and it's fogged at all, probably get rid of it.

Roger Hicks · May 4, 2007

walter23 said:
I've got a ton of free paper that came with an enlarger I bought, but most of it is expired from the mid-90s to early 2000s. Any hope of using the stuff? Mostly ilford RC, some kodak stuff.

Obviously I'll try it out once I get my enlarger set up, but I'm curious about others experiences with old paper.

Some of the best prints I ever saw were in Moscow in 1990-92, on grievously outdated Agfa paper developed with a good dose of benzotriazole as an antifoggant. Hellish long dev times; gorgeous tonality. But then, Rustam (a retired submarine commander) was a stunningly brilliant photographer.

In my teens I used plenty of old paper, often with success, but that's a long time ago...

Cheers,

R.

Uncle Bill · May 4, 2007

I was given a pile of old fibre paper to print with some zone VI, 30 year old Ilford Iflobrome grade 1, 2 and 3, some Kodak Multigrade and Polymax. The 30 year old Ilford Paper still prints nicely with a bit of a nice retro look to it. The Zone VI printed like it came off the line a month ago and the Kodak paper was toast.

palewin · May 5, 2007

From my own experience, RC papers seem to age best. My old FB papers were printable, but with a loss of speed and some fogging; the RC printed like new. Its certainly worth a test.

walter23 · May 6, 2007

Sounds promising then! I've got some 16x20 and tons of 11x14 RC to play with (ilford). A little bit of kodak too.

jlehmus · May 7, 2007

Is there a way to tell the manufacture or expiry date for Ilford papers? Their boxes only have the cryptic batch number (?) code and no dates. I received some boxes of Ilfospeed RC all grades too.

Snapshot · May 8, 2007

Does refrigeration assist in preserving the print qualities of RC paper? I have a pile of paper that might last more than a of couple of years. I guess my eyes were bigger than my need as I bought 500 sheets of 8"x10" and 100 sheets of 11"x14".

Silverhead · May 8, 2007

Snapshot said:
Does refrigeration assist in preserving the print qualities of RC paper?

It certainly doesn't hurt...

Bluechapel · May 8, 2007

shelf life

Agreed-unless someone was storing it in really hot and humid conditions, you can have some fun with the Ilford. Don't count on the Kodak, but try it out and see what you get.

DannL · May 8, 2007

Kodak papers don't appear to survive time well. I suspect it's the developers in the emulsion that causes it to fog. I'm filling a 250 count box (nearly full now) of fogged Kodak papers which I accumulate from thrift stores, garage sales and what-not. I won't buy anymore 10 year old Kodak paper. On the other hand I just picked up a box of Ilfospeed 2.44m Pearl (circa 1977 - 1984), and it exposed and developed out just fine and dandy. It does have a faint orange tint to it, but since I'm not familiar with the paper . . . definitely usable though. Kudos to Ilford!

Shelf life of B&W papers

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