Hey guys just did a quick search and couldn't find this topic so I was wondering. I have some Ilford 400 black and white film with an expiry date of January 2009 that I bought accidently 2 months ago without checking the date as I was in a hurry. Its been in the fridge since I bought it of course, and I will be using it in about 3 weeks for my desert vacation. Is this roll still ok to shoot? I heard expired black and white film gets really grainy and worse with higher ISOs. iso 100 usually lasts longer. Any thoughts? I hope Chris Lange may read this :)
Using Expired Film
(10 posts) (6 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Chris Lange isn't the only film user around here!:^)
I've used film that expired in 1998 and gotten decent results. I've also used ektachrome that expired in 2005 with no problems. So your film should still be good. B&W film last a long time and 2009 film should be OK. However don't be a cheapskate and buy some fresh film for your trip if you have doubts.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I have no expierence with black and white expired film but i believe that it would shoot alright. Ive shot with lomography film and almost all that is expired. i love the results. I think i just shot a 10 year old expired 1600 neopan. it was with the other 2 rolls i had. I just developed, I am pretty positive that they are good and had the expired roll in there. ( i developed them at home).
Posted 2 years ago # -
If it's that recently expired should be fine, even more so if it's been refrigerated. However given that this is a big trip and you seem pretty excited about it (as anyone would be), you might not want to chance it. In all probability it's almost definitely fine, I've shot lot's of expired and I've never had any problems, bar one roll of velvia I shot that was probably about 5 years out, and it tinted everything green.
for a trip like this though, after the cost of airfare and accomidations and all that, i'd just spring for a new roll :)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Footiebeast you are probably right, I am bringing 10 rolls with me of Velvia and Provia slide, some Tmax B&W and this one roll of expired Ilford 400. It sounds like the roll should be okay. Smarterchild, thats amazing how you got away with 10 year old expired neopan! Whats more amazing is the fact that its 1600 film. I've heard higher isos get worse once they expire giving more grain, and contrast also deteriorates. Maybe developing them yourself helped saved the rolls?
Nikodoby, I knew you were a film shooter as well ^_~ Acually, film is very expensive here where I live its kind of a joke really, because it just seems to be trendy! Rangefinders are huge here and you see people wearing them as an accessory like a purse. I swear they don't even shoot em! Its worse developing it the film thank god we have a Costco here. I have 10 rolls and 32 GB of memory now for my D700. Hopefully I'm ready! :)
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm doing this experiment with some old BW IR film. got my fingers crossed.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hmm, IR film is pretty delicate so if it's really old I wouldn't put much faith into getting very many photos out of it.
kanuck said:
Nikodoby, I knew you were a film shooter as well ^_~ Acually, film is very expensive here where I live its kind of a joke really, because it just seems to be trendy! Rangefinders are huge here and you see people wearing them as an accessory like a purse. I swear they don't even shoot em! Its worse developing it the film thank god we have a Costco here.Tell me about it! I've been doing some projects exclusively on film lately and dang my budget is killing me! The results have been awesome though! You can't reproduce that "film look" on a digital camera. I love the convenience of digital but there's no substitute for holding "real" negatives and images in your hands!
The price of older film cameras like rangefinders and such has been going back up recently. I almost got my hands on a canon 7sZ but lost the bid at the last second! Probably by some punk kid who's spending daddy's money. And he's only going to shoot one or two rolls of expired film and then toss it in a box to be forgotten again :^(
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yes all this craze is doing is pumping up the prices on what should be cheaply priced gear. Film development is really pricey now at $15 just for simple fun print film. I cringe when I am going to be dropping off about 7 rolls of slide this summer. I'm sure I'll need at least one drum scan as well. I'm going to try and buy a V500 Epson this summer and possibly an Epson R1900 printer.
So far, I am really happy to have gotten back into film. It feels like sitting down over drinks with a long friend who you haven't seen in a long time :) My D700 may be getting lonely haha
Posted 2 years ago # -
You will be okay. When film is expired the main thing that "can" happen is that it becomes less sensitive to light. So your 400 film will be more like new 200 film in terms of exposure. The other thing is if it was always stored chilled or even better - frozen, the expiration date will be basically meaningless in a practical sense.
Posted 2 years ago # -
NikoDoby said:
Hmm, IR film is pretty delicate so if it's really old I wouldn't put much faith into getting very many photos out of it.Yah, I know, so I don't have my hopes up. I figure I'd give it a try instead of throw it out. I like to do IR and film is such a better image then using my D70 with the IR filter.
Posted 2 years ago #
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