Shooting with expired films

[sumball]

Hi,

When we shoot with expired film (close to 5 years), do we need to compensate the ISO ie. ISO 400 film and shoot at ISO 100 etc?

Thanks in advance.

Chee Ming

 

[azzurri]

Nope you don't need to. If you have a batch of expired film, shoot a roll and see how it turns out. Usually, if it is C41, it's not so much of a problem. So far, I've only had problems with my old Velvia 50. No need to compensate the exposure but the pictures were all red

 

[lordpain]

Hi,

When we shoot with expired film (close to 5 years), do we need to compensate the ISO ie. ISO 400 film and shoot at ISO 100 etc?

Thanks in advance.

Chee Ming

I think this is a tricky question. I believe the choice of if we should compensate should be up to the individual after doing a test roll as these expired films will have different effects due to the varied storage conditions they have been kept in. In my opinion, BW films are easier to predict when expired - they build up base fog, causing your negatives to become less contrasty, while on the other hand, color films can be erratic. Color film is made up of a few color layers and each color layer will degrade at a different rate, which is why we have weird color casts when we shoot expired color film. That being said, I have shot extensively with properly stored expired ERA 100 films (expiry 2007) without issue - just a slight increase of base fog. Here is a sample:

Do share with us your experiences after you have shot and developed the films!

Cheers,

Kai

 

[sumball]

Thank you for the replies. Yet to dig out my film cameras, will do so and feedback accordingly.

Cheers!
CM