Still frustrated with brown dark negatives Fuji X-tra 400.

I've been frustrated with some film I have; Fuji Superia X-tra 400. I've been developing with fresh chems and at the proper temp and all and they come out brown, dark and not dense even when shot in the same camera as another film of the same speed on the same day.

For example; I shot two rolls of Fuji Superia X-tra 400 with my Trip 35 out at a local part in cloudy conditions and also shot one roll of Lomo 400 film; all same conditions, same timeframe. I dev'd them all in the same tank and the Fuji came out brown and hard to see much detail in the negs, while the lomo film came out with a nice orangy clear base with very easy to see frames.

I'm not sure but I THINK that the Fuji is expired film, is there anything special I can do to make the Fuji negs come out with clearer base and more density?

When film gets old (as in >10 years past its due date), its contrast goes down, while fog density goes up. If you Superia X-tra is that old, then that's what you can expect from it. If that fog bothers you, add Potassium Bromide to the color developer (start with 1-2 g/l) to make it go away. Extend CD time to boost contrast while you are at it. Normallyboth measures would adversely affect color balance, but in your case proper color balance is likely lost already.

Rudeofus said:

When film gets old (as in >10 years past its due date), its contrast goes down, while fog density goes up. If you Superia X-tra is that old, then that's what you can expect from it. If that fog bothers you, add Potassium Bromide to the color developer (start with 1-2 g/l) to make it go away. Extend CD time to boost contrast while you are at it. Normallyboth measures would adversely affect color balance, but in your case proper color balance is likely lost already.

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Thank you. I'll do that next time and see what I get.

rpavich said:

I'm not sure but I THINK that the Fuji is expired film,

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Is there not a code or other marker on the cassette which will establish its date? I presume this wasn't purchased from a retailer but from a private seller? If he/she didn't reveal that the film was expired but sold it as fresh then I don't know what action you can take but at least you know not to buy from that source again. If the latter was the case then you have my sympathy

pentaxuser

pentaxuser said:

Is there not a code or other marker on the cassette which will establish its date? I presume this wasn't purchased from a retailer but from a private seller? If he/she didn't reveal that the film was expired but sold it as fresh then I don't know what action you can take but at least you know not to buy from that source again. If the latter was the case then you have my sympathy

pentaxuser

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I don't know if there is a code on the cassette, I'll look. I purchased the film from Ebay but beyond that, I'm not sure. I'm sure that nobody sold me supposedly in-date film when it was out of date, if it was...I knew it.
on the other hand, so far it makes awesome prints. This is a scan of an 8x10