Can This "Expired" 35mm Film Be Used?

[Texas Star]

I've been sorting through my stock of film, and found a few rolls that are beyond the "use by" date on the cartons.

One batch is marked for use by July, 2010 and the other for Sept., 2010.

Is there some hope that this is still good? It's been stored at room temperature in a closet in my home, not out in a garage or attic.

How fast does film go bad after it expires? These rolls are all by Fuji, 400 and 800 ISO. Color print film. I'm hoping that it may be more forgiving than slide film.

Could just shoot a roll, and see how it prints, but if it's a big risk, I hate to spend the money to process it.

Have any of you tried using expired film?

Thanks,

T-Star

 

[Cyrano]

Years ago I used some Tri-X that was about 5 years out of date. I think some of that time it had been kept in a refrigerator, though. It worked just fine.

 

[RonJ]

It should be OK it it hasn't been exposed to excessive heat. I used to buy outdated film at camera shows, usually slide film. I still have some in the freezer and it was still good last I checked.

 

[The Big D]

Film is still good.

Be safe.

I've been sorting through my stock of film, and found a few rolls that are beyond the "use by" date on the cartons.

One batch is marked for use by July, 2010 and the other for Sept., 2010.

Is there some hope that this is still good? It's been stored at room temperature in a closet in my home, not out in a garage or attic.

How fast does film go bad after it expires? These rolls are all by Fuji, 400 and 800 ISO. Color print film. I'm hoping that it may be more forgiving than slide film.

Could just shoot a roll, and see how it prints, but if it's a big risk, I hate to spend the money to process it.

Have any of you tried using expired film?

Thanks,

T-Star

 

[Bruce51]

OK

Absolutely! I used to buy lots of rolls of expired film at fifty cents a roll.
I never saw any difference in the picture quality.

Bruce

 

[Texas Star]

Absolutely! I used to buy lots of rolls of expired film at fifty cents a roll.
I never saw any difference in the picture quality.

Bruce

How far out of date was it? Liked the Tri-X post, but it may not relate to color film.

This is sounding good, though.

T-Star

 

[JohnnieB]

T-Star - Your film ought to be okay for about a year or so after the "Expiration" date unless your closet got quite a bit above room temperature for prolonged periods while it was stored there.

I've never used any outdated Fuji 400 or 800 Print film, but I left 4 rolls of Fuji 100 Print film in a camera bag when I got a new bag and it was over a year outdated when I found it.
The prints made from it turned out okay.

The first thing that will go bad is color balance since the dyes do not age at the same rate.
Print film is less sensitive to aging than Slide film since there is only three layers of different chemistry instead of six.
Even if that has happened, it's simple a matter of scanning the negatives into a photo editor and correcting the color.
Also, even the automated film/print proccessors allow for some color correction, if the operator know how to adjust it.

The comment about the Tri-X reminded me of the "free" film we gave out when I had a part time job running the Photo Hobby Shop at King Salmon AFS up in Alaska back in the early 60s.
It was "Expired" guncamera film and we had reels and reels of it and "reloaded" 35mm casettes with about an arms length of it for about 36 exposures.
When shot at ISO 800 it had grain more like PlusX-Pan than Tri-X at 400 and could be pushed out to 6400 before it was as grainy as Tri-X was when pushed to 800.

John

 

[BUFF]

Another 35mm film question- maybe I shoulld start another thread.

I took photos with several rolls of Kodak Kodachrome slide film in about 1980. They wound up in the bottom of a bag in a dresser drawer and were recently discovered.

Kodak used to sell "special processing" pre-paid mailers for unusual developing requests. Your film was sent to their plant in Rochester, NY to do whtever could be done.

Is there any sort of special processing still available from Kodak?

Has anyone ever developed exposed film this old?

 

[n4zov]

Another 35mm film question- maybe I shoulld start another thread.

I took photos with several rolls of Kodak Kodachrome slide film in about 1980. They wound up in the bottom of a bag in a dresser drawer and were recently discovered.

Kodak used to sell "special processing" pre-paid mailers for unusual developing requests. Your film was sent to their plant in Rochester, NY to do whtever could be done.

Is there any sort of special processing still available from Kodak?

Has anyone ever developed exposed film this old?

According to something I found with Google, you are just in time! Supposedly Kodak has discontinued manufacture of Kodachrome film and the sole remaining U.S. processor of this film, Dwayne's Photo, will discontinue processing at the end of this year. Apparently it is now or never for your film!

 

[windypoint]

Well for once I can claim to be an expert as I owned a professional photo lab in Seattle for most of my career.

The answer is a qualified probably ok.
A lot depends on the storage conditions and the type of film. Color films will be more susceptable to degradation that will be obvious. The short time since expiration will also be helpful. In the professional world film is the cheapest part of the equation so why take a chance on even slight degradation.

For amateur conditions I would not be afraid to use it. If it was my daughters wedding and I was the only photographer, I would buy fresh and send it to a "quality lab" not a one hour operation.

The technical aspects of what happens to the color layers and how they relate are too complex to go into here. There is a sliding curve of quality but at this point assuming no abuse to the stored film and the short time, use it.

 

[H Richard]

I used to buy my film in 100 ft. bulk rolls and load my own cassettes. Color print film should be o.k. and color correction can be adjusted in the printing. Color slide film would eventually have a color shift, but if stored correctly, wouldn't affect the color noticeably for a couple years. I always stored my film in a zip lock bag and in the freezer. Always take it our the day before and let it warm up naturally before using.

I haven't shot any "film" in over 7 or 8 years, and my Nikon F2 sits on the shelf gathering dust, along with several lenses from 28 to 400 and bellows extensions & slide copiers. The digital is just too easy to use and no cost to process or negatives to take up room storing. Contacted an East coast Photo shop that advertised "We buy camera's", and got back a "Not interested at this time". Sort of sad when one of the finest professional camera's in the world isn't wanted anymore.

 

[JohnnieB]

............ and my Nikon F2 sits on the shelf gathering dust, along with several lenses from 28 to 400 and bellows extensions & slide copiers. .......... Sort of sad when one of the finest professional camera's in the world isn't wanted anymore.

I went the Canon route, so my Nikon knowledge is minimal, but can your old lenses be adapted to a digital body?

Ages ago, I picked up an adaptor so my manual focus lenses can be used with Autofocus bodies.
I'm waiting until Canon comes out with a full frame digital imager at an affordable price before I buy a digital SLR, but I tried out a couple of the oldies on a friend's Canon DSLR and they did okay.
Have to go completely manual with shutter, aperture and focus, so they aren't very useful except for special purposes, but it is nice to know I have useable 1200mm reflector, 100mm flat field and 85mm soft focus lenses should the need arise after I get around to buying a DSLR.

John

BTW, due to the sensor size factor in my friend's camera, the 1200mm was effectively 1920mm. Talk about reaching out and touching something....