What To Look For When Film Goes Bad?

Nacho

Member
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
6
Location
Southern, Ca
Format
Medium Format
I just found a bulk roll of tri-x 400 in its original packaging that I had left in the garage packed away in a box. The expiration date was 5/06. I loaded a 10 exposure roll and developed it as normal in XTOL. The negatives look very good and as far as I can tell, all is normal. What would I expect to see with film that has gone bad?

Regards,
Nacho
 

Ian Grant

Subscriber
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Messages
23,266
Location
West Midland
Format
Multi Format
Lower contrast, a drop in speed, a higher level of base fog. In general unless badly stored film last well beyond the expiry date with no issues, an exception is usually the 1600/3200 emulsions.

But remember all manufacturers reduced the expiry dates on film boxes etc a few years ago, mainly when standard like ISO 9001 came in, so at one time B&W films often had an expiry date of 5 years from manufacture now it's more like 3, but if the films been factory stored it can be under 2 years by the time it reaches a dealers shelf.

Ian
 

kozesluk

Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2008
Messages
122
Location
London, UK
Format
35mm
i have recently tried to develop ilford delta 400 exp. sept. 2000 immediately after shooting
using dd-x and ing. koblic's mpb

with dd-x i have ended up with absolutely unusable negatives full of fog
sadly with the mpb the situation wasn't so much better - strong fog was still there (well, it wasn't so strong, but i still think it's unusable)
increasing the phosphate to 40 g/l didn't helped at all
but hey - that's 10 years old film stored i_don't_know_where.
 
OP
OP

Nacho

Member
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
6
Location
Southern, Ca
Format
Medium Format
Thanks for the replies, it seems the film is in good condition.

Cheers,
Nacho
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…