where there’s smoke there’s forum fire
I was cleaning up my office and found some BW unused film and I'm not sure when I bought it. At the very least, it's got to be over 7 years old. It's still in it's small plastic film container and thought I would ask the question, Is it still good? What are your thoughts?
Thanks,
I say load it, take pictures of the dumbest things you happen across and call it "artistic"- Can't loose out on anything then. :D
It will lose some sensitivity, so drop the ISO by a stop at least.
I am half way (well, a little bit less), shooting a personal (art) project using out of date film myself - from 2007. It's old Kodak color print film, 400 ASA according to the box, and if I treat it like that, it delivers deep dark colors with far fewer highlights and much less range than you'd expect from fresh film.
I have had one or two images a bit like I am shooting on a $50 Lomo camera, except for no vignetting. Where the dyes are fading, it does kind of look as if there is a light leak too...
All very interesting and a bit unpredictable.
Does film ever go "bad"?
As long as you don't shoot anything important with it or expose it to light beforehand, you'll probably get something.
Have fun!
Film definitely can go bad (as can paper) as heat and humidity will eventually ruin it. That process can take a long time- decades possibly, although it can be faster depending on how poorly it has been stored..
That being said, you might as well go shoot it. Add some more exposure and use a longer development time and you should be fine as long as you aren't doing anything critical with it (which is the reason why film makers put expiry dates on it). Even if it doesn't turn out, you don't really lose much (except maybe your time), and who knows, maybe you will have some fun with it.
Thanks everyone for your input. I went out today and shot the film just to see how it would turn out. Some were good, some were grainy with a little discolor but it was a blast. The camera is a N2020 that I purchased when I was in the Marines back in 1988. This was also the first time in over 15 years that I have gone out to shoot film. Can't wait to get my hands on the D800.
Thanks,
Ha, ha, ha, I cannot stop laughing.... Of course everyone is correct because the unpredictable nature of "Old" film is about the only thing one can say for sure. If I had several B & W rolls, I would shoot one roll, bracketing from measured exposure, and three stops either side. Do about seven exposure, then repeat the sequence three times on a 20 exp roll. In the darkroom, cut the film into three pieces, with the bracketed exposures on each, and develop at normal, plus 15% and plus 30%. And of course you will have 21 exposures to choose from, thus you will have a point of reference for the other rolls.
Color does something strange in that in the 1960's and 1970's, the old color film would shift its sensitivity, but unfortunately the Red, Blue, and Green dyes would not change the same way. So, the shadows might be different than the mid tones and the high lights almost any color. None of this is really correctable as the various locations on the film would not even change the same.
So, I hope you had fun! Haven't shot film in years.... and miss it.
>>So, the shadows might be different than the mid tones and the high lights almost any color. None of this is really correctable as the various locations on the film would not even change the same.<<
Fortunately it's relatively straightforward to digitally correct color crossover anomalies from film with Photoshop, whether it was outdated or not.
Spy Black said:
>>So, the shadows might be different than the mid tones and the high lights almost any color. None of this is really correctable as the various locations on the film would not even change the same.<<Fortunately it's relatively straightforward to digitally correct color crossover anomalies from film with Photoshop, whether it was outdated or not.
Thank you, I guess I gave away my age. What we used to see in even slightly outdated large format Ektachrome was variations across the piece of film itself. But I guess when I add color tint to areas in Lightroom 3, this must be sort of what you are talking about.
One of the exciting things for some of us who grew up on D76 1:1/Plus-X, HS Ektachrome, Kodachrome, etc. is the phenomenal things which can be done today with the computers. And this forum is so much fun as a learning venue for us "old" students.
Thanks to all of you.
How was it stored? I had expired film from 2002 that I shot. Processed at full strength developer and it still came out good.
>>Thank you, I guess I gave away my age. What we used to see in even slightly outdated large format Ektachrome was variations across the piece of film itself. But I guess when I add color tint to areas in Lightroom 3, this must be sort of what you are talking about.<<
I've been around the block too. :-) I used to do a professional darkroom work with Ektachrome duplicating film, and I had to deal with color crossover issues on a daily basis.
Lightroom isn't really an ideal place to do this kind of CC, although some basic processes can be done there. A very useful tool for crossover correction in Photoshop is to use a SELECTIVE COLOR adjustment layer in the layers tab. This allows you not only to adjust the amount of any given color in any other color, but using the layer blending options to adjust the "blend if" sliders (layer, layer style, blending options, or double-click the right side of a layer) allows you to make these adjustments anywhere in the image's density range (shadows, midtones, highlights, etc.). You can stack as many of these processes as needed to correct for crossovers as needed. If you have serious crosover problems I suggest working in 16-bit (per channel) space.
B&W film is amazing in it's ability to withstand time, and abuse. When I was in college I worked in a commercial photo lab as a delivery driver for nearly 3 years (circa 1970).
We once had a individual come in with a roll of 120 Kodak B&W film they had found in a chest they had purchased at a garage sale and asked us to develop it. The film developed fine except for the first two images which were somewhat over exposed, the rest were spot on. The film was dated by Kodak as having been manufactured in 1937. From the pictures on the film, it was shot most likely in the late 30's or early 40's.
They same durability isn't true for the Color Negative, color positive (non metallic) films. Kodachrome is durable, but the chemistry is an EPA nightmare.
Miss some of the aspects of the film era. Still have a film camera, Nikon FM3a, which is a joy to use.
Film, huh? :)
I have a friend who processed 35mm from the 40's a month or so ago and they came out great...
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