Old Film

stingray · Nov 2, 2005

I assume this is the right forum to post in... so here goes...
I have juust been given some fairly old Ilford FP4 plus 125 ISO film.
The date printed on it, which I assume is the expiry, is OCT 2001.
My question is, is this film useable? I'm a student and don't even have an income at the moment so it would be nice to able to use this...

DocFrankenstein · Nov 2, 2005

Let me put it this way:

There a guy who buys 50 year old cameras with film in them, then develops the film and displays the pictures on his site. The pictures are GOOD

Useable? I'd say yes, unless you're heavy into the zone system and need a really precise response curve from the film.

Does this help?

stingray · Nov 2, 2005

thanks a lot doc. i'm pretty easy with my "response curves"... we're only human and there's only so much we can actually see...
Films only off by a couple of years, should be right then! No need for change of developing time or technique?
Thanks again,
W

Hertz van Rental · Nov 2, 2005

A lot depends upon how it's been kept.
Cool and dry it will be OK - not brilliant but useable.
Under adverse conditions the film can even grow mold.
The main changes that occur to unexposed film over time are a loss of film speed and a build up of base level fog.
The silver crystals spontaineously 'expose' themselves over time (there is an explanation for this but it's at the atomic theory level and it's too early for me).
Keeping film cold or frozen reduces this effect considerably. Getting it warm accelerates it.
The only real way to find out if it's useable is to use it. Just don't use it for anything critical.

stingray · Nov 2, 2005

once again hertz comes to the rescue. no trouble with dryness it was in the cupboard in a darkroom that is seldom used... heat shouldn't be a problem either as it IS a dark room and it's only Australia... nothing too extreme anyway.
As for developing... I only have access to T-mAx dev. Is that ok? and do i just follow time on the film's box?

jstuedle · Nov 2, 2005

While it is true that storage is the key to the true shelf life of film, my mother tested the limit I believe. She had a roll of 120 in a cookie jar on top of a refegerator for 17 years after the experation date. It had been exposed but she could not remember where. After processing, she had a roll of fair to good images of the vacation she and my father took in the Bahamas before his passing. Truly amazed us all.

Meysha · Nov 2, 2005

heat shouldn't be a problem either as it IS a dark room and it's only Australia

ok so obviously you don't live in my part of Australia. Heat is my biggest problem up here (cairns), it just eats away at the film. But that said, I've had nice results from film that's a couple of years out of date.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

stingray · Nov 2, 2005

haha if it's turned out OK with the Cairns heat after two years then it'll be fine down here in Melbourne! Tis quite hot now though..
On a different note altogether, are there any online shops in Australia like B&H and Freestyle? $13 a role for T-max is a little too much...

TheCanonMan · Nov 3, 2005

Well rember this if the film was a 125 ISO it maybe a 10 ISO now use it but over exp. it a little so if it's 125 ISO film set your cam for 50 ISO or some thing like that. I have shot film that was 20 years old befor but it has been in the freezer for 20 years lol after leting it even back out to the real world worked just fine and looks like new film so if you ever want to make you film last longer keep it cold in the chiller or even the freezer just rember to let it worm back up in a room for aobut 4 hours befor shooting.

Ghoste · Nov 4, 2005

I asked my manager the question before. "What is the difference between pro film negs and regular film negs?" His reply was kinda confusing, "Green bananas and yellow bananas.." Basically when film is closest to the expiration date it's more "Yellow". If you go past it you are getting rotten bananas. So film is actually best to use when it's close to the expiration date. Pro film is allready a yellow banana. You use it when you get it and it comes out ripe.

I just added that since you were wondering about film dates, thought maybe you could learn something

I said banana alot.. lol.

Banana.