Just got some 1600 speed Ektapress film

[RGS122]

I received some 1600 speed Ektapress film that was stored in a freezer. Now I am not sure about the age of the film as I am not sure of the expiration date but what ISO do I shoot the film at? Do I just keep it at 1600 or decrease the speed?

[mattk]

I picked up a bunch that had been stored in a basement for the last 18 yrs and it turned out very nice. If you look in my gallery (I cant seem to get the link directly to it), you will see a couple of examples of scanned negs from the first roll I used. I was very pleased. Look towards the bottom--a little girl blowing bubbles. That was home processed with a blix kit in a Jobo.

Matt

[B&Wpositive]

I picked up a bunch that had been stored in a basement for the last 18 yrs and it turned out very nice. If you look in my gallery (I cant seem to get the link directly to it), you will see a couple of examples of scanned negs from the first roll I used. I was very pleased. Look towards the bottom--a little girl blowing bubbles. That was home processed with a blix kit in a Jobo.

Matt

RGS122 and Matt:

Some will tell you don't bother shooting it.

I say shoot it, but not on something critical. Shoot it on something that if you don't get images you won't care too much.

BUT...shoot it at like EI 125 as the starting point...no joke! You really need to, because high speed color film loses sensitivity very quickly. I once had a Fuji 800 speed roll that was of similar vintage, and I shot it at EI 320. Big mistake; it looked 2 stops underexposed!

Color will be off, and shadows will lack density. If this had been color slide film, I'd say don't even bother with it.

Good luck.

BTW: It can't be 18 years old. That film wasn;t around more than about 10 years ago!

[mattk]

All I can tell you is I have several propacks that say expire 08/1990 (I was off a year--that makes it 19yrs old). I can also tell you that in my case I rated the film at box speed and the results of which can be viewed in my gallery as described. Your mileage may vary--this was my experience. The negs were level and auto color adjusted when scanned. Give it a whirl--I for one am going to continue shooting the film I have that can't possibly exist

RGS122 and Matt:

Some will tell you don't bother shooting it.

I say shoot it, but not on something critical. Shoot it on something that if you don't get images you won't care too much.

BUT...shoot it at like EI 125 as the starting point...no joke! You really need to, because high speed color film loses sensitivity very quickly. I once had a Fuji 800 speed roll that was of similar vintage, and I shot it at EI 320. Big mistake; it looked 2 stops underexposed!

Color will be off, and shadows will lack density. If this had been color slide film, I'd say don't even bother with it.

Good luck.

BTW: It can't be 18 years old. That film wasn;t around more than about 10 years ago!

[Colin Corneau]

I used this film for a bit, back when newspapers shot colour neg.

It was meant to be exposed at 1600, and could be pushed relatively easily (hence the 'press' suffix)

for today, odds are it's OK but I'd recommend shooting a test roll at various EI's and process normally. I found the grain on this and Fuji's hi speed film quite nice.

[jd callow]

Colin has the correct advice. It will not have gained speed so you can forget about shooting it at anything more than box. If it were mine and I had multiple rolls I'd do a clip test if 135. I'd rate the film 200, 400, 800 and maybe 1600 on three or four subjects of distinctly different light settings (broad day light/high noon w/ dark shadows and lots of contrast; overcast with no or open shadows and minimal contrast; and perfectly lit skin). process the exposed bit and spool the rest back into the can. Leave a bit of leader out of the can and a couple frames extra on the cliped portion. Soup it normal and see what you get.

If the film is good and you like grain than I have gotten beautiful painterly images with similar film overexposing by 3 or 4 stops and pull processing it by 2. The trick is finding a place that can pull process at 2 stops and having desire to experiment .

[RGS122]

Thanks for the replies, so that means that if I shoot it at say 400, do I still have my lab process it at 1600, or at 400? Also I have 4 rolls of this film to experiment with. I won't worry because I know that Fuji still makes this type of film.

[hrst]

Process normally.

There's probably fog due to age. Overexposure gives higher density for the picture over the fog. That's the idea in overexposing old film. Overdevelopment can also increase fog level which is not wanted. Underdevelopment might be good for fog but it probably decreases picture contrast more, so just process normally, it's the least risky.

I would start exposing at ISO 800 but you can't know before trying. It may work well at 1600 as well. Bracket multiple exposures at 200, 400, 800, 1600.

[jd callow]

Thanks for the replies, so that means that if I shoot it at say 400, do I still have my lab process it at 1600, or at 400? Also I have 4 rolls of this film to experiment with. I won't worry because I know that Fuji still makes this type of film.

It means that you have no idea what the film's speed is until you test it by shooting it at multiple EI's and dev normal. If you discover that the film's speed is 400 due to a loss of a couple stops from age than you would either expose the rest of what you have at 400 developed normal or increase or decrease the EI and adjust development accordingly.

Does this make sense?

[RGS122]

Yes I think, that means I shoot it at 400, but have it developed at 1600? I have'nt done anything like this before and so I want to know the right information.