| Photography Forum: Photography Help Forum: |
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Q. Expired films?
Asked by Laurentiu Iacob
(K=159) on 2/9/2008
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Hello,
I have seen some vendors on E-Bay selling professional film, but expired (of course, much cheaper). Also, I know at least one shop in my town that sells expired film ( about 1 or 2 months after the exp. date written on the box) - both the seller in my town, as well as the ebay vendors claim that the expired film they sell is just as good as "good" one.
Are they right? Is the expired (recently expired, not 5-years past expiration date :) ) film just as good ?
Thanks.
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Todd Wedgworth
(K=3066) - Comment Date 2/10/2008
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from what i understand, as long as its stored properly it should be fine. i personally have 22 rolls of kodak panatomic-x b&w film that expired in 1988 and because its been stored in the refrigerator it should process just fine.
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Jeroen Wenting
(K=25015) - Comment Date 2/10/2008
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if properly stored it will degrade only slowly.
Problem is that you don't know if it was properly stored...
And remember that C41 and E6 film will degrade more rapidly than modern silver halide emulsions.
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Gary Hill
(K=37098) - Comment Date 2/12/2008
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I've used a couple of years out of date colour print film from Fuji & Kodak without any problems but I have had problems with portrait style film (Agfa Portrait, Kodak Portra) which seems to deteriorate more quickly and gets a cross-processed look when developed (which might suit some people, of course). I've found black and white film to be OK for years even when it's not stored correctly.
Hope this helps, Gary
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michaelle .
(K=3807) - Comment Date 2/19/2008
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Hate to say it... it's kindof like milk... you won't know if it is bad 5 days after it expires until you actually take the lid off and sniff it. Like the other people commenting, my experience is that if films are stored properly, then their shelf life is quite a bit longer than stated. But, since you do not know precisely how it was stored, then you are taking a little bit of a risk. Obviously, if they are recently expired your risk goes down... still doesn't account for someone leaving their bag of film in the car on a 86 degree day. Soooo... invest a little at first... if the quality is great, then no worries. But, if you find that you are getting really bad images, then time to move on.
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José Azevedo
(K=9681) - Comment Date 3/29/2008
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I too have some Panatomic-X plus a few HP5, FP4 and some slides, ah, an Ektar 25 also, stored for more than a decade in the refrigerator. Another day I picked a slide and an Ilford XP2 to test if they were fine. They were, not to my surprise.
Go for it. Unless they were stored under heavy heat and sun, they're probably fine. But even then, they can bring some interesting color distortions very worth the experience.
My best,
José Azevedo
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