Expired Portra 160NC

Mr Perceptive

Mr Perceptive

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I've bought a number of rolls of expired Portra 160NC, I have a photography day out next Monday and intend to use several of the rolls. Its unlikely that I can do an exposure test and get it developed before the weekend, so what ISO speed should I set the camera to.

The film expired in 2002, it was fridge stored for several years and then left in a locker!

Any ideas?? (I know it might be a bit hit and miss, but a good starting is.......)

(I have recently run a similar roll through that was fridge stored all the time and thats turned out fine at box speed)
 
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1 stop per decade?

If it was me, I'd go for 100ASA but probably bracket by an extra stop on any important shots and rely on the exposure tolerance that print film usually allows. However, if the recent roll gave fine results at box, I might be tempted to shoot at box and bracket the single stop on important shots (unless that locker was subject to significant temperature variations.)
 
Nod said:
1 stop per decade?

If it was me, I'd go for 100ASA but probably bracket by an extra stop on any important shots and rely on the exposure tolerance that print film usually allows. However, if the recent roll gave fine results at box, I might be tempted to shoot at box and bracket the single stop on important shots (unless that locker was subject to significant temperature variations.)
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Yes I'd heard of 1 stop per decade, the recent roll was from a different batch (I have one more cold stored roll in the fridge, and 5 more coming! - but not before my trip out on Monday), but I have these 10 rolls which have been fridge then locker stored.

I think 100ISO is a good place to start, bracketing might mean tripod use, 50ISO handheld may be challenging (even with a leaf shutter)

By some work shuffling, I may be able to do a test roll and get it developed on Friday morning, so I could try 4 x 4 shots at different targets and see what I think.
 
A beanbag against a post would be easier than a tripod!

Pray for decent light?

If it's in any way important, I'd procure some fresh film for this trip and wait for a test film to be D&P before risking it.

I reckon you'll probably get away with 100ASA on print - do you feel lucky?
 
I’ve shot some expired 160 VC in the past with decent results. The first roll or two I shot at box speed and they had a green cast to them, the most recent roll i shot of it was actually at ISO64, some overexposure for the date and some for the fact I like overexposed Portra. The ISO64 ones came out much nicer than the box speed ones from my personal preference :)

64 is pretty slow, but I used a tripod for a lot then it was a nice sunny day for the rest of the roll!
 
It's Portra so it has an enormous latitude, personally I'd shoot it at box speed. There's obviously a chance that it will be borked but it's not that out of date really, I've shot stuff from the seventies that had been stored in a drawer for 50 years and it was fine....ish. :)
 
Good luck! I hope that any deterioration is only speed related rather than an evil colour shift (although if the colours are naff, it'll be worth more to the Lomo brigade!)
 
Nod said:
Good luck! I hope that any deterioration is only speed related rather than an evil colour shift (although if the colours are naff, it'll be worth more to the Lomo brigade!)
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Well just shot 3 scenes, each with a different brightness sky (from dark to quite bright)and coloured objects at 50, 80, 100, 125 and 160 - we will know later!! And I shot a green sign with the 16th shot as box speed!

160NC always had a slight green balance, but colour shifts are a lot easier to deal with now Lightroom has Colour Grading wheels, as you alter the shift seperately for Midtones, Shadows and Highlights seperately
 
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If what you’re shooting is important I’d suggest you use fresh film.
 
Thanks for all the comments, I managed to get a roll through today and get it developed (and scanned)

I shot at 50, 80, 10, 125 and 160 (box speed) - the results were pretty good, at 50 the highlights are bordering on being blown (lost power electricity cable), 80 gave good results while a more noticably green cast crept in at 100 and 125 and was even worse on 160. 160NC always was a little green. At box speed detail in the shadows was definitely being lost.

The cast can be corrected, but I think that I would shoot this film at 80-100 and be very pleased with the results. Looking forward to Monday now.
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Thanks for all the comments, I managed to get a roll through today and get it developed (and scanned)

I shot at 50, 80, 10, 125 and 160 (box speed) - the results were pretty good, at 50 the highlights are bordering on being blown (lost power electricity cable), 80 gave good results while a more noticably green cast crept in at 100 and 125 and was even worse on 160. 160NC always was a little green. At box speed detail in the shadows was definitely being lost.

The cast can be corrected, but I think that I would shoot this film at 80-100 and be very pleased with the results. Looking forward to Monday now.
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It'll be interesting to see some of the results. (y)
 
For those that might be interested, I rescanned 4 images ISO50, ISO80, ISO100, ISO125 this morning as a RAW in Sliverfast and then put through NegativeLabPro (on default LAB settings), no changes made in LR other than an image rotate and export

qtRGNSx.jpg
 
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