Old film, any good?

[vegard_norway]

Hello all.

Got a large box, 40-50 rolls, of 135 mm film from a friend. He has had them in a dark room for the last 15 years.

But, how will it be now? Any point in trying it out? Or, will it be just as good today?

[clogz]

Take one of those films, rate it at a somewhat lower speed, if need be...develop a bit longer. Give it a go and a twirl...make a few tests...chances are that things will be ok.

[E. von Hoegh]

Is the film color or b&w? How much it's deteriorated depends upon the temperature it was stored at. For b&w, expect a loss in sensitivity and probably some fogging. For color, expect color shifts, fogging, and loss in sensitivity.

[vegard_norway]

Thanks, will try a roll and se how it goes.
Oh, yes, it is color.

[E. von Hoegh]

Thanks, will try a roll and se how it goes.
Oh, yes, it is color.

Umm. Don't get your hopes too high. But you never know.

[pentaxuser]

Give it a go. You'll never know otherwise. It could be like finding a treasure chest of interesting negs. Even if the colour has suffered there might be stuff there that can be printed on B&W paper

I have just such negs from the early to mid 1970s that could still be done on RA4 but not as I'd like but in B&W they still look pretty good.

Your stuff is only from the mid 1990s by which time colour neg film had improved greatly.

pentaxuser

[Les Sarile]

Only 15 years old?
What film is it that you have?

I bought a box of >100 rolls of Kodak Ektar 125 with expiration of 4/1992 that I shot a roll at various exposures - develop normally, and determined it is now about a ISO64-32 depending on taste and got these results.



It turned out to be a practically grainless negative film . . .

[Les Sarile]

BTW, that box of expired Ektar 125 was just kept in a garage here in Atlanta, Georgia until I picked it up a couple of years ago. They are individually boxed and in plastic canisters.

[vegard_norway]

Hello.

Oh, nice photos. Wish I was able to do that...maybe with time and practice.

The film is KODAK GOLD 400.

[Les Sarile]

Since you have 40-50 rolls then I would suggest conducting exposure range shots of -2 to at least +6. I believe that Kodak Gold 400 has excessively wide latitude anyway and shooting 1 stop over would normally deliver finer grain results. I would guess yours would now be best rated at ISO200-100. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.