Tips for shooting expired film

DowntonMini

DowntonMini

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Mark Gameson
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I'm sure I've seen posts about this but are there any tips for shooting with expired film.

I have various rolls in the freezer and want to get the best out of them.

Thanks
 
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In the freezer?
Shoot normally but expect some colour shifts
depending on the age of the film… allow a full
day at room temperature.
 
Downton Mini said:
I'm sure I've seen posts about this but are there any tips for shooting with expired film.

I have various rolls in the freezer and want to get the best out of them.

Thanks
Click to expand...

What kind of film, what age, how much of that time has it been in the freezer?

There's a general rule mentioned a lot of 1 stop over-exposure per decade, I think it applies generally to C41 (so shoot 10-year-old 200 ISO film at 100). I'd suggest less than that for well frozen film. I'd expect black and white to be more robust (shot expired Delta 100 at box speed and loved it). Expired E6 is more dodgy, and you can certainly expect some colour shifts even after some over exposure. But, if it's been well kept, try a roll at box speed and see!
 
ChrisR said:
What kind of film, what age, how much of that time has it been in the freezer?

There's a general rule mentioned a lot of 1 stop over-exposure per decade, I think it applies generally to C41 (so shoot 10-year-old 200 ISO film at 100). I'd suggest less than that for well frozen film. I'd expect black and white to be more robust (shot expired Delta 100 at box speed and loved it). Expired E6 is more dodgy, and you can certainly expect some colour shifts even after some over exposure. But, if it's been well kept, try a roll at box speed and see!
Click to expand...

Mainly colour 35 mm and some B&W also some 120 not sure on the dates need to sort them out so I'm using the oldest first. They've been in my freezer for anything from 6 months to about 3 years but some of them are rolls I've been given so not sure about them.

That's great info thanks Chris I know I'd seen that in a post somewhere but I couldn't find it.
 
Hope for something interesting but expect a roll of disappointment.
 
Just been using some Ilford XP2 and HP5+ that expired over 10 years ago, shot it at my usual speed, 320, and it's come out fine. Tried a couple of rolls in a stand development but too grainy with Rodinal so now use standard development and it looks good. I know XP2 is a C41 film but it develops nicely in Rodinal.
 
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