Wondering about XP2 expiry dates.

[moops]

I'm shooting XP2 now. It's a black and white film, but I have learned here it gets processed as colour film. Many suggest keeping colour film in the fridge, and is XP2 the same, or is it okay because it doesn't have any colour? Also, will the store refuse to process my film if it's past the expiry date?

Thanks for any info,

Cynthia

 

[Aurum]

If you're looking to keep ypur film ultra fresh, a fridge is good, but unless you've got it in the glovebox of a car in the sahara, keeping it at normal room temp is what is usually expected, and won't do any harm.
Really old colour film can be expected to colour shift a bit, and prehaps lose a little speed. XP2 super won't colour shift in the conventionally accepted way, but may lose a bit of speed. XP2 super can have a bit of a cast anyway (which is usually lost with a decent minilab) so nothing to worry about.

No store I've ever used has refused to process a film thats a year or two past its "best". The only problem would be if you shot something Really old like Kodacolor II which uses chemistry thats not used any more (C22 in that example)

So basically load up, and shoot. May be worth metering at ASA200 if you are worried about it being very old, but thats about it

 

[MattKing]

Hi Cynthia:

Your processing service most likely won't even know what the expiry date on your film is, so it is unlikely to matter to them.

The exception would be really old film that is so old that it doesn't even use the current processes. An example would be very, very old colour film that uses the long discontinued C-22 process.

As for storage, even traditional black and white film will benefit from storage in the refrigerator. Higher speed films need this more than slower speed films. I treat colour films even more carefully.

I tend to make storage decisions about the C41 black and white films as if they are colour films, but I don't really know whether this is justified. It certainly doesn't hurt though (assuming you have room in your refrigerator).

 

[moops]

Thanks, guys! I guess I was sort of worried for nothing. If I stock up, I'll keep them in the fridge, just to be safe though.

 

[AgX]

Cynthia,

Your film consists in the processed form of dyes, as the found in the C-41 colour-film.
However in your case those dyes are intended to form a grey hue in any case, whereas in the latter case those dyes are typically intended to form a coloured hue, aside of thase cases where a grey hue is part of the image.

Anyway, one effect of bad storage of C-41 colour films can be the disbalance of those dyes. Which would result in unwanted and not tro overcome hues at coloured and grey parts of the image, even though the film is not the end product, but typically copied to form a positive.

In case of those b&w films based on dyes such a dye disbalance is not to be expected, and if it would happen it would likely be of any effect in printing to b&w paper. In case of printing onto colour paper any resulting coloured hues could be filtered off.


Concerning labs, there is no technical reason to refuse films just because they are long beyond the expiry date as long as they are still the same process.

However there is one exception: most current C-41 films do not need any longer a certain treatment at the end of the process. Labs that run the newer process should reject the older films. Or warn the client, or even better end-process them apart.

 

[ricardo12458]

The only problem would be if you shot something Really old like Kodacolor II which uses chemistry thats not used any more (C22 in that example)

Kodacolor II is a C-41 film.