Expired B&W film still OK to use?

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I have a 100 foot roll of TRI-X that I had forgot about. The film expired in 2/00. Is this film OK to still use. It was kept at room temperatures.

-- Paul Fessak (fessak@rcn.com), December 20, 2000

Answers

IF the film was stored in the refrigerator from day one after purchasing, i would say yes, and would be probably good for up to a year more. however, stored at room temp and not knowing how it was stored where the film was purchased, i would say at the most the film MAY be okay for up to three months more. i would load up a test roll with maybe 10 exp and shoot normally to see how it develops. always store in the refrigerator after buying. i have 300 feet of HP5+ in my freezer right now! good luck & happy holidays!

-- fototaker (fototaker@usa.net), December 26, 2000.

Are you sure? I thought black and white films can be stored at room temperature for very long period of time. I believe the only film that should be refrigerated is professional slide film where the emulsion is optimally aged for color fidelity. Even if you use slide film that is expired, it would just become regular consumer slide film with very acceptable results. Just an observation, I've been to quite a lot of photo stores that serve professional photographers and I've never seen black and white films stored in refrigerators...only slides and Kodak portra print films.

-- Long Nguyen (email@longnguyen.com), February 07, 2001.

I recently was cleaning a corner of my basement. I came upon an old developing tank, all taped shut. Later, I developed the film. I used Dinafine, so ISO rating wasn't important. The roll contained some shots of my daughter when she was about 18 months old. She just graduated from high school this past weekend, so that film had been forgotten for at least 16 years. Personally, I consider the toughness of B & W film to be one of its appealing qualities. Unless it's exposed to direct sunlight for several hours, or stored accidentally on a steam heat radiator, I'd give it a try.

-- Don Schreiber (don.schreiber@dmps.k12.ia.us), May 29, 2001.

I have stored film for years in the freezer. The biggest problem being a reductin in film speed over time. However, even after 4-5 years I was getting great negatives. I did have one batch that i tested after 10 years and altho the negatives looked fine at the time of development within weeks the emulsion was flaking off. I have a student who is using some Kodak Infared red that expired in May of this year that has been stored in the freezer and so far the results are fine. That is a film that is extremely touchie about age. Experiment, find out for yourself would be my suggestion.

-- Ann Clancy (Aclancy@broadband.att.com), June 14, 2001.

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