Old 35mm films: Are they still usable?

[Thingy]

1976? That's the year I first toured the States, during your Bicentenary, armed with a copy of Horace's 'Odes' printed in London in 1775!

I'd save that film. In 200 years it will be a collectors item, if not already!

[Jeff Kubach]

Use them and see what happens!

Jeff

[Ron G]

I guess that depends on your definition of "test" then.I use exposed film for testing the wind mechanism if I need it but if I wanted to test the results of my work I don't want to wonder if the problem is the camera or maybe second rate film.
You can sure make a case for anything for the sake of an arguement.Ron G

[fstop]

I guess that depends on your definition of "test" then.I use exposed film for testing the wind mechanism if I need it but if I wanted to test the results of my work I don't want to wonder if the problem is the camera or maybe second rate film.
You can sure make a case for anything for the sake of an arguement.Ron G

Theres no argument, just maybe a misunderstanding.
When I said test the camera I meant test the camera, if I meant test exposure I would have said test exposure.

[wiltw]

Old color film...color shifts due to age
...fogging due to accumulation of cosmic rays (Kodak published a tech tip about inability to stop accumulation of cosmic rays by film being in a freezer.

[2F/2F]

They are probably usable for something, but not your traditional "good" photo, in the technical sense.

[ricardo12458]

Ok, I think I'm pushing the envelope on this one: I bought a roll of 400TX (or Tri-X Pan 400) film dating to June 1972. From what I've heard, black and white films last longer than their color counterparts, because they lack color dyes. Just the silver.

@wiltw: Can you send me a link to the Kodak tech pub discussing the accumulation of radioactivity on films?

If you really wanted to halt radiation fogging, you may want to put the film in lead-lined boxes/bags.

[MattKing]

The "radiation" that results in long term damage to film isn't the sort that lead-lined bags protect against.

It is cosmic rays that cause the damage, and unless you have your own, very deep salt mine, there really aren't any steps you can take to protect film from them.

40 year old Tri-X will probably have lost some speed, and have a fair bit of base fog. It is worth experimenting with, but the effects of age are unpredictable.

[2F/2F]

A lot depends on how the film has been stored. I was once given a huge lot of 40-50 year old Tri-X. I tried developing an unexposed roll, and got a 100% black strip of film, edge to edge. Some people get images out of old film. I might hold hope for 40 year old slow films, but not much for Tri-X. It's always worth piggybacking an unexposed strip of the old film on one of your "normal" rolls, though.

[ricardo12458]

We'll see about the fog. Yes, it all depends on how the film was stored. I, personally *don't* like using slow ASA films. In fact, the slowest speed I will use is ASA 100/DIN 21. But I stop at ASA 800/30 DIN for excessive grain at ASA 1000+.