Would Expired Film Still Work?

[sciamwow]

First off, I know I put this under "Digital Cameras," but this was the best fit.

I recently got some 35mm film ranging from ISO 100 to ISO 400. It all expired around 1999 (give or take a year or two), and I was wondering if it would still work fine if I exposed it a bit longer? Say, if it's telling me to shoot at 1/500, could I bump that down to 1/250 or something and it would work fine? I'd just like to use it if possible. I know who gave it to me, and they said they kept it in a closet for a long time. So it wasn't refrigerated, but it wasn't sitting in a warehouse or something and they were all still sealed. Any thoughts? I know I could just try a roll and get it developed, but I'd like to not spend $10 to get it developed and have it come out horrible.

Thanks in advance!

 

[COLGeek]

As long as the film wasn't mishandled, nor exposed, it should be okay. Worth shooting a roll as a test case and seeing the results yourself.

Good luck!

 

[sciamwow]

As long as the film wasn't mishandled, nor exposed, it should be okay. Worth shooting a roll as a test case and seeing the results yourself.

Good luck!

Should I compensate the exposure some?

 

[why_wolf]

Take test shots of a single item in a controlled environment and just change all your settings one by one (write down the order you do them in) then get it developed. Check the photos against the settings you wrote down. That should give you a good idea of what kind of result to expect from it.

The older the film is the more weird its results will be, contrast, color range, ISO value.

 

[COLGeek]

As long as the film wasn't mishandled, nor exposed, it should be okay. Worth shooting a roll as a test case and seeing the results yourself.

Good luck!

Should I compensate the exposure some?

Try both and as why_wolf indicated, keep a record to verify results.

 

[sciamwow]

Alright. Thanks guys! I think I'll give that a try. Didn't I hear something along the lines of there is a rule of thumb saying stop down 1 stop for each decade it's expired?

 

[sciamwow]

Oh, I just realized. They're all either CR-56 and E-6. I think the Walgreens I go to might only do C-41... That may be an issue

 

[COLGeek]

You may need to use a mail-in source.

 

[sciamwow]

You may need to use a mail-in source.

Welp, sounds to me like paying the $10 for four new rolls of film is going to be cheaper than that. Oh well, thanks!

 

[COLGeek]

Still, could be an interesting experiment.

 

[sciamwow]

Still, could be an interesting experiment.

Yeah, I am interested. Maybe once I have a bit more money and I'm not worried about going into college and all I'll try it

 

[COLGeek]

Save for when you go to college and take a film photography class and develop yourself. My daughter did this as part of her studies (film as in movies) and is planning to shoot a film in this coming winter on film (vice digital media).