Would you take a punt?

Marc

Marc

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Ok, as a few of you may have guessed, I've decided that this year , I going to throw myself head first into the musty, chemical filled word that is fillum photography so it won't be long before yo-u're all fed up of the million and one questions I'm going to ask.

So, for the next one, I'm going to ask about out of date film. I have 3 rolls sitting here that I rescued from the bottom of a drawer. I didn't buy them and I haven't got any of the boxes so haven't a clue what the expiry date is. All I know is that they were given to me about 3-4 years ago (can't even remember who by).

So, my question is, given that they haven't been stored in a fridge or freezer, would you take a punt or bin 'em?
 
Seeing what people here produce on ood film i'd say go for it and see, i'd be forever curious if i binned them..
 
Colour? I'd get some Vista to start with to eliminate film as a source of any issues but keep them and use them for something unimportant; asda will scan them cheap enough that it won't matter if they're duff.
 
Yes. In general terms, all other things being equal, swlow films last longer than fast ones, and black and white longer than colour. That might not help, but at least you know what you've got and if you're at the safer end of the spectrum.
 
Marc, I use Konica 200 and 400 Asa that is 8 years OOD with good results, so give them a try, it would have been better if they had been kept in the fridge,but, as they have been in a dark constant cool environment they should perform well. B&W would possible be less reliable if they are fast film.
 
I found one of my old film cameras in my garage about 3 mths ago it still had film loaded and with a new battery was ready to go. The last time I saw the camera was about 10 yrs ago and the film still gave acceptable images. In the words of the true Lomo photographer its always worth a try, what have you got to loose.
 
I have been using Jessops that was 5 or 6 years out of date. Consumer film is fairly idiot proof. I'd use it for places you can revisit.

If you have a poundland then pop in for a few rolls of vista.

If film is pro stuff like portra it'll be toast but fun for lomo style work.
 
Ok, well I've got:

Colour
Fuji Superia 400
Konica Centura 200

B&W
Ilford XP2 400

So none of them particularly slow

@Cg_Girl That thought did cross my mind as well, I'd be looking towards the bin for months! :D

@steveo_mcg any reason for Vista?
 
Yep, I'd use them :) 3-4yrs old isn't out of date, it's matured ;)
I seem to recall a decade or 3 back, a magazine article that said that non-pro emulsions were designed to be quite robust, the expectation being that they'd be sitting on a dealers shelf for a good while, then being eventually developed a year later with xmas at either end and summer hols in the middle :)

You could always take badly composed, oof meaningless subject pics and post them as Lomography ;)
 
I think your are OK with them and Vista because you can buy it from the pound shop for £1.00 :)
 
Thanks for all the rapid replies. Looks like I'm going to take a punt.

@srichards Don't have a poundland near here, just a poundstretchers, not sure if they do film but will have a look next time I'm in town.
 
Carter64 said:
Yep, I'd use them :) 3-4yrs old isn't out of date, it's matured ;)
I seem to recall a decade or 3 back, a magazine article that said that non-pro emulsions were designed to be quite robust, the expectation being that they'd be sitting on a dealers shelf for a good while, then being eventually developed a year later with xmas at either end and summer hols in the middle :)

You could always take badly composed, oof meaningless subject pics and post them as Lomography ;)
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Ha, sounds like much fun to be had then. :D

medwaygreen said:
I think your are OK with them and Vista because you can buy it from the pound shop for £1.00 :)
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steveo_mcg said:
Its a pound a roll...
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Sounds promising then. ;)
 
fabs said:
@Cg_Girl That thought did cross my mind as well, I'd be looking towards the bin for months! :D
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Exactly! Always wondering if that was your next masterpiece:D

I second the Agfa too, it's what i use whilst still getting to grips with film and for a £1 you can't beat it, def worth a search around, failing that i or anyone else i am sure will be happy to grab some for you, i need some soon anyway
 
I found a roll of well out of date Kodak GC400 colour that had been sitting in a drawer (near the radiator) in my daughter's ex-bedroom for years. Never been near a fridge, let alone a freezer. I stuck it in the Pentax ME, and one of the shots was used for my (frankly, pretty terrible) January entry. The colour was excellent; one of the other shots on that roll was used for a 52 entry, and another as the centrepiece for the mosaic challenge! So, go for it, don't throw them away, they are all consumer films, designed to be mistreated like that. Pro films are more delicate.
 
Cg_Girl said:
Exactly! Always wondering if that was your next masterpiece:D

I second the Agfa too, it's what i use whilst still getting to grips with film and for a £1 you can't beat it, def worth a search around, failing that i or anyone else i am sure will be happy to grab some for you, i need some soon anyway
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Thanks T. I'll have a hunt around but, if unsuccessful, I may get you to grab me some for the megameet. ;)
 
ChrisR said:
I found a roll of well out of date Kodak GC400 colour that had been sitting in a drawer (near the radiator) in my daughter's ex-bedroom for years. Never been near a fridge, let alone a freezer. I stuck it in the Pentax ME, and one of the shots was used for my (frankly, pretty terrible) January entry. The colour was excellent; one of the other shots on that roll was used for a 52 entry, and another as the centrepiece for the mosaic challenge! So, go for it, don't throw them away, they are all consumer films, designed to be mistreated like that. Pro films are more delicate.
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Cheers Chris, I'll definitely give them a go. Just got to wait for the new camera to arrive.
 
Marc, shooting films is a good New Years resolution and ask away in terms of questions, there are loads of very knowledgable folk who frequent this area of the TP. In terms of your OOD film I'd would give it a try. I shoot a lot of OOD film and in most cases the results are OK. I avoid using OOD film if I am testing a new to me camera and use £shop Agfa Vista on these occasions just to limit the number of variables.

Look forward to seeing some film shots from you!
 
Jao said:
Marc, shooting films is a good New Years resolution and ask away in terms of questions, there are loads of very knowledgable folk who frequent this area of the TP. In terms of your OOD film I'd would give it a try. I shoot a lot of OOD film and in most cases the results are OK. I avoid using OOD film if I am testing a new to me camera and use £shop Agfa Vista on these occasions just to limit the number of variables.

Look forward to seeing some film shots from you!
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Thanks Adrian. Strangely, I haven't felt this excited about photography for quite a while. Just hope I'm as excited after I have this year's 1st film developed.
 
Not sure if anyone has said, the general rumour is to add oe stop for every decade. I have some 2007 Reala 100 that I shoot at 80 and get process at box speed and it gives wonderful results. I'm not sure how important this is for consumer C41 films as you have! My expired Ektachrome is a much more dodgy proposition!
 
fabs said:
So, for the next one, I'm going to ask about out of date film. I have 3 rolls sitting here that I rescued from the bottom of a drawer. I didn't buy them and I haven't got any of the boxes so haven't a clue what the expiry date is. All I know is that they were given to me about 3-4 years ago (can't even remember who by).
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Were the films new when they were originally given to you?

Whenever I'm unsure about the age or condition of any negative film, colour or B&W, I always overexpose by at least a stop. This just provides a bit of breathing room in the case that the these films have lost a bit of speed. Even if they turned out to be fresh rolls, the films you've mentioned should be able to handle the overexposure with no problems. Even when fresh, I usually overexpose Fuji colour negative films by 1 or 2 stops.

Personally, I think it's best to start with fresh film (as already mentioned, Vista is a great place to start). There are already a number of variables involved in film photography (e.g., exposure, development, scanning, printing, etc.), so why throw in another as you're getting started?

In any case, whether you shoot the out-of-date stuff now or later, it's certainly worth trying at some point. Enjoy film!
 
ChrisR said:
Not sure if anyone has said, the general rumour is to add oe stop for every decade. I have some 2007 Reala 100 that I shoot at 80 and get process at box speed and it gives wonderful results. I'm not sure how important this is for consumer C41 films as you have! My expired Ektachrome is a much more dodgy proposition!
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skysh4rk said:
Were the films new when they were originally given to you?

Whenever I'm unsure about the age or condition of any negative film, colour or B&W, I always overexpose by at least a stop. This just provides a bit of breathing room in the case that the these films have lost a bit of speed. Even if they turned out to be fresh rolls, the films you've mentioned should be able to handle the overexposure with no problems. Even when fresh, I usually overexpose Fuji colour negative films by 1 or 2 stops.

Personally, I think it's best to start with fresh film (as already mentioned, Vista is a great place to start). There are already a number of variables involved in film photography (e.g., exposure, development, scanning, printing, etc.), so why throw in another as you're getting started?

In any case, whether you shoot the out-of-date stuff now or later, it's certainly worth trying at some point. Enjoy film!
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Cheers both

RJ, I've no idea how new the film was when it was given it but, from what I remember, it was stock that they had laying around for a while so I'm guessing not very new. I have a roll of newish film so I'll use that fist.
 
Always start out with fresh film. With the cost of development, new batteries for your new-to-you camera, and unfamiliarity with shooting film (loading, unloading etc.), it's important to not end up using film that's completely past it.

You can keep it for experimenting/overexposing (I'd also aim for one stop over and see how you do) once you're more familiar with the whole process.
 
Thanks. I'm not unfamiliar with film per se, just haven't used it extensively for a while.
 
For the first roll through a recommissioned camera I'd go with a roll of new slide film to make sure the meter's either reading correctly or to gauge how much it's out by, an old roll of colour (or B&W) neg could look fine after printing but still be a stop or 2 out at the exposure stage.

For ease, colour print is probably easiest and also cheapest (if you can find the Poundland Vista!), although having seen Jao's experiences with Asda D&P (some films scratched to bu**ery), I would aim a little higher as far as D&P goes, which would obviously add to the expense. I always got films D&Ped and used the enprints to see which negs were worth scanning for bigger prints then scanned at home - D&P places tend to scan for 300DPI at the ordered print size and it doesn't take too much enlargement of those scans to get rather blocky.

WRT the older films, if you have several of each, I would use a roll (or at least a few frames) of each emulsion as a colour check (well, maybe not the XP!) and speed check (including the XP...) so you know what to expect. I doubt there'll be much in the way of colour shift but you never know! Chances are that any shifts can be brought back a bit in PP if you want to.

Going to have to see if Poundland have any film left and maybe do POTY as a filmie - wouldn't ever buy myself a Leica but wouldn't turn one down as a prize (in the extremely un likely event of me winning!)
 
hold on , i'm just going to see if hell has frozen over ! didnt you once say to me when i turned up with a fillum camera on a meet ,,something like " i'll go back to film when hell freezes over " anyway you're here now , do i feel a meet brewing ?like with fillum?
what metal box are you getting? just use the films and see what happens ,and when are you going to start developing your own ??
all the best mate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,:)
 
Ha, I don't remember putting it quite like that. :p

Anyway, you developed the pics from that meet yet? You've had 5 years! :D
 
Welcome to film matey!

Can't really offer much more on the current question. Definitely shoot it :)

I look forward to about 6ish months time when you're developing your own B&W, possibly printing it as well, and generally wondering why you didn't get into it all sooner :D
 
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