What To Look For When Film Goes Bad?

[Nacho]

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]

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

 

[Richard Wasserman]

I don't know about film, but this is what happens when food goes bad–http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnDvyFs2aGQ

Sorry, but the title of this thread reminded me of what was a favorite show of my kids (and mine) when they were growing up....

 

[kozesluk]

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.

 

[Nacho]

Thanks for the replies, it seems the film is in good condition.

Cheers,
Nacho