35mm Film Advice

[vintagesnaps]

No kiddin' Sparky! lol

 

[rachel45116]

Those images look very underexposed (you must have thin negatives).
Airport x-rays cause light banding, curved streaks of fog. Heat can ruin film if left in heat for a long time, Sitting in a mailbox for a day or two should not harm the film too bad unless your in 100+ temps.
Expired film........the month that is listed on the film box is when the film is at it's peak. I try my best to shoot film on the the month it "expires". Once it reaches that point the longer it sits the darker the base fog will get. Sometimes at my lab we have film that is so old it looks like very dark sunglasses. Should be safe with film up to 10-15 years old (still dependent on storage conditions) after that good luck.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! I think that since I have always had good luck with shooting expired, ebay-bought, color film, this was such a shock to me. Lol. Trial and error, but now I've learned my lesson. I wouldn't have opened the camera at all once the film was loaded, I do know that much Thanks again!

 

[limr]

Those images look very underexposed (you must have thin negatives).
Airport x-rays cause light banding, curved streaks of fog. Heat can ruin film if left in heat for a long time, Sitting in a mailbox for a day or two should not harm the film too bad unless your in 100+ temps.
Expired film........the month that is listed on the film box is when the film is at it's peak. I try my best to shoot film on the the month it "expires". Once it reaches that point the longer it sits the darker the base fog will get. Sometimes at my lab we have film that is so old it looks like very dark sunglasses. Should be safe with film up to 10-15 years old (still dependent on storage conditions) after that good luck.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice! I think that since I have always had good luck with shooting expired, ebay-bought, color film, this was such a shock to me. Lol. Trial and error, but now I've learned my lesson. I wouldn't have opened the camera at all once the film was loaded, I do know that much Thanks again!

I don't know that you need to give it up completely, but just know what you are using it for - it's a tool, and you just have to know when it is the right tool for the result you are trying to achieve. Expired color film can be a tricky devil. If it's not too long expired, has been stored correctly, and you compensate for exposure (usually giving it a bit more than box speed), then it can be just fine.

Other times, it can go totally pear-shaped:


Woodpile by limrodrigues, on Flickr

I tend to use it when I'm trying for a certain lower-contrast look, or if I'm just testing something and don't care all that much about the color or contrast.

Or I'll develop it as black and white, which can create some surprisingly good tonal range:


Silk by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Reading by limrodrigues, on Flickr

 

[webestang64]

Or I'll develop it as black and white, which can create some surprisingly good tonal range:

Sometimes at work we have to scan clients color film as BW, it's so old there is no color at all just a mono tone blue/green. Our scanning software does have a "tonal curve" adjustment during scanning that will (sometimes) bring back all the colors tones but it's iffy.

 

[terri]

And one more suggestion: I agree that you don't have to give it up entirely - just know who your ebay vendors are and, more important - treat this purchase as if it's a case of wine to be shipped to your house. Order it only in the coolest months of the year, in your part of the world, keeping in mind where it's being shipped from, too. That can mitigate one of the variables that could harm the film - heat from shipping, heat from sitting in your mailbox. Same would apply to fresh film, too, but most definitely with expired rolls.