Shooting & Developing Expired Film?

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Noah_

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Just curious, I'm currently preparing for developing my black & white film at home but I was wondering if it was worth shooting a roll or two of expired film to process? I've found two rolls of Ilford HP5 35mm film with an apparent 1991 date & I was wondering if it'd produce anything remotely printable? Cheers.
 
It depends entirely on how they were stored, if they were frozen then they may be fine, otherwise the results will be unpredictable. Im devving a roll of Kodak verichrome pan film which has been expired for over 30 years, there should be something there, I just have no idea what...
In short it can be done, but don't expect consistency :)
 
@robhooley167
Oh wow. I believe they've been stored in a cool dry place, but not frozen. I'm not expecting consistency but I was just curious as to whether there was a chance of anything coming out at all, altho they're amazing value for an experiment. This film expired before I was born! Insane. Thank you for assuring me that there is a chance, however small hahaha.
 
There's a fair chance that you will get something useable, but for your first rolls I'd suggest you'll be far better off making sure everything is fresh. Just so you've got a benchmark to compare with the less predictable stuff.
 
@offline
There are two expired & I have a couple of working films to shoot ~ perhaps I'll process one of each the first time? Get a comparison!
 
You can see what other people have got from expired films on Flickr, tends to look very Lomo-ey as the emulsion degrades in little patches, making it look textured.

Did a bit more research on APUG and they reckon this roll I'm devving was made at some point in the early 70's, so closer to 40 years old, going to dev it over the weekend and see what comes out :D
How sad is it that this film is twice as old as me :P
 
@robhooley167
Hahaha it's insane. You'll have to let me know what sort of negatives come out?
If you can experiment with film that's been expired for forty years, I'm sure my
own at twenty shan't be a total failure? Have to wait & see I guess. I've bought
both expired films for £2.50 ~ I can't complain about expense!
 
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1991 wasn't that long ago, was it?? Oh. :)
Anyway, I'd think you should be fairly confident of some results.
It's B+W, so a bit more stable than colour emulsions over time. Higher ISO's ratings (400) suffer a little more potential degradation, though.
As mentioned, cold storage since it was made is best but as important is the range it's been subjected to over it's life. Room temp for a few months, then chilled, then warm shelf in a shop, then chilled and round again. British seasons aren't really very extreme so I'd bet on you getting usable images :)
(Just don't shoot a wedding;) )
Oh and post the results, pls? :)
 
@Carter64
Hahaha. I'm actually quite looking forward to shooting & developing this film, it'll be interesting to see the negatives I end up with. I think I'll just shoot a few experimental photographs with a roll & I'll develop it with a new roll to compare. No doubt, I'll post about the outcome! I hope I get some interesting photographs rather than a destroyed film. I'm assuming I develop it for the same time & temperature as a new film of the same make/speed?
 
I think you might have to do a bit searching on that one. Not something I have experience of but I know sometimes, depending on emulsion and age, there's a little downward adjustment in ISO needed. Found these:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ishootfilm/discuss/72157623350719006/?search=expired+film
And:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99774
So looks like shoot at lower ISO and dev as for box speed, roughly 1 stop per decade?
Nice grainy effect!
You have two rolls, so maybe try one as per normal, and one at the stop-per-decade rule?
 
Is it HP5 or HP5+ (which replaced HP5 in 1989 and is commonly just refered to as HP5 still and the '+' forgotten)? If it has a 1991 expirary date it could well be the older HP5 and I imagine that the dev times might be a little different as so....
 
@s162216
HP5 not HP5 plus I believe.
You're perhaps right, I'll have to look into the development times.

I'm guessing these aren't HP5+? It's identical packaging to mine.
KGrHqVp8E63ZwikhvBPFo2dK6Q60_12.jpg


Note → I'm having trouble finding information on developing expired film & there's not much about the old variant of HP5 o.O
 
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Might be best to do a test roll. Expose one of the films with unimportant stuff & when loading it into the spiral cut it into 4 or so pieces & develop each one for different times. Much safer way to do it :thumbs:
 
Probably worth shooting (nothing important) and deving purely from the point of getting used to loading the film onto the spiral in the dark, loading the tank, pouring chems, getting temps and timings right etc. Just be aware that if you don't get an image on the film at the end it may not be down to your process technique. If you do get an image, then it's a bonus!
 
Let us know how it goes! I'm going to be developing my first b/w film soon too and I'd love to see how yours turn out!
 
This is from a roll of film that was in a camera a friend gave me recently

6486106457_05b308ae16_m.jpg
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It dates from the late 60's/early 70's and had obviously been in the camera since then. It was a roll of Verichrome Pan and not trusting my own processing skills i sent it off to The darkroom in Cheltenham, considering its age I think it's turned out pretty well.

I've recently just shot a roll of Agfa APX 25 which had an expiry date of 1994, it had been stored in various locations, everything from the freezer to a friends garage and in a loft. I processed it at home which again came out pretty well, I'll post some examples up when I've scanned them in.

Sorry, forgot to add the main reason for posting was that I increased the processing time from the advised 7 minutes by an extra 3.5 minutes and was happy with what came out.
 
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Chances are the emulsion will have slowed a little too, so I'd expect it to be nearer half its original asa rating (wasnt it 400?) so expect 100/200 at best. Develop as if its at that rating too so FP4 type rating and times/temperatures.

Matt
 
I think like @Joenail mentioned, It'd be a decent idea to try different times. @Gandhi I've worked with changing bags & tanks before during high school & after that had access to a darkroom for two years at college. I miss developing my own film! The first time I work with all the new equipment I'll develop a roll of HP5+ that I got over christmas to ensure it's all working efficiently but after that I can experiment with the expired film. Hopefully these'll produce a printable negative as @RaglanSurf did.

@MatBin
Thank you. That was exactly the advice I needed!
Do I still shoot it as 400ISO but perhaps over expose a little to compensate?
 
MatBin said:
Chances are the emulsion will have slowed a little too, so I'd expect it to be nearer half its original asa rating (wasnt it 400?) so expect 100/200 at best. Develop as if its at that rating too so FP4 type rating and times/temperatures.

Matt
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Agreed...I would suggest you allow one full stop in your shots to allow for the emulsion deterioration otherwise you may well end up with very underexposed shots.
You may experience much more grain in the final results too...not always a bad thing though!
 
@Asha
I don't mind, these are more experimental than for anything else.
Yeah I'll ensure I overexpose when I'm shooting, thank you.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
@Asha
I'll ensure I overexpose when I'm shooting, thank you.
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Either that or develop for about 20% longer than recommended. Or dilute your dev at a bit more than 20 degrees.
 
@Joenail
My development time is about 9 minutes so should I perhaps develop for about 12 minutes, which is recommended for Delta P 100? I'll probably overexpose slightly anyway, I'd much rather a dense negative opposed to a thin one.
 
Depends what your developer is!
All the processing times for all the films you'll ever use is here
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Just curious, I'm currently preparing for developing my black & white film at home but I was wondering if it was worth shooting a roll or two of expired film to process? I've found two rolls of Ilford HP5 35mm film with an apparent 1991 date & I was wondering if it'd produce anything remotely printable? Cheers.
Click to expand...

Results should be reasonable as mine was older, also I still using FP4 bought about 30 years ago (it's in a Watson loader) for quick tests of cameras etc

HP5 expired 1981 and roughly developed at guessed temp:-



ft1617.jpg


BTW I forgot how to use the Watson loader and scratched this fP4 film which is about 30 years old
70-210macro-1.jpg
 
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@excalibur2
Awh, I'm feeling more reassured that I'll get something come out of this film.
Thank you to everyone offering their advice, it's much appreciated.
 
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