Expired high speed infrared

[Annie M.]

One sad little box of 25 sheets from the bottom of the freezer... past dated 1999. Just wondering if anyone has had success with expired HSI 4143. I am reticent to 'just try it' ... 25 sheets does not leave a lot of trial and error latitude. I would appreciate any advice and related actual experience for exposure & film development. I will be shooting floating and shore stranded kelp...

thanks!

I also have one roll of 35 ... I assume it handles the same yes/no?

[Tom Monego]

Haven't shot 4x5 HSI for a while, but I would experiment. Use 3 sheet at your normal exposure and bracket one stop up and down, develop noramally. The film is sealed and frozen could very well be fine.

Tom

[vinny]

I've been shooting HSI from 1999 and older lately. It prints pretty well. Shoot a sheet or two by exposing the darkslide in thirds. Process to get an indication of speed and/or fog levels. Start at 50 asa.

[Robert Hughes]

As with other films, plan on some unknown amount of fog due to age. If you shoot at half-speed and pull process you'll be able to use even long-expired stock.

[Annie M.]

Great to know that I may get some printable images...

Exposing in thirds is a good way to conserve... think I'll take that one step further and cut the film in half for 2 different processing times... thanks!

[Jay W]

I've shot expired 35mm IR, and it certainly had base fog. This film was from the 80s, but stored in the freezer. In fact, I still have some more of it...and more recently dated 4x5. This might be obvious, but your bellows needs to be IR light proof. I've blown a couple sheets forgetting to swap out the bellows.

Jay

[Glenn Thoreson]

The thing that usually happens first with old IR film is it loses some or all of it's IR sensitivity. In that case it would look like ordinary B&W negs. If it has a bit of fog, some benzotriazole in the developer will help. Kodak's HC-110 developer is good at holding back some of the fog, too. My guess is it will be usable.