Do you buy out of date film?

[coops]

I am new to lf and not a professional. Funds are limited and so I am considering buying out of date film from Ebay. I see 50 sheets of Velvia for $35, film that expired in the midde of 2007. Seems that it should be okay even if kept at room temp.
lThe guy has 20 boxes available.
Anyway, I was wondering if anybody here regularly buys out of date film.

[Gene McCluney]

While I have not "bought" any out-of-date film recently, I certainly "use" out-of-date film frequently. I have a large back-stock of film that was fresh when I bought it, but is now out-of-date. I have no issues with it.

[vinny]

I am new to lf and not a professional. Funds are limited and so I am considering buying out of date film from Ebay. I see 50 sheets of Velvia for $35, film that expired in the midde of 2007. Seems that it should be okay even if kept at room temp.
lThe guy has 20 boxes available.
Anyway, I was wondering if anybody here regularly buys out of date film.

That company had over 30 boxes when they started selling it. It won't go for much less than the buy it now price either, especially now that you mentioned it here. I bought one box from them a few months ago. I use expired velvia from as early as 2001 and no problems here as long as it stays cold.

[Brian Ellis]

I refrigerate film. Sometimes it's become a year or so out of date and I've used it with no problems. I don't buy out of date film. When I consider the financial cost of photography, especially the various trips I take, the cost of film is insignificant. I'd rather buy in-date film than take any chance on losing photographs because the film was out of date. I recognize that the chances are probably minimal but when I know nothing at all about who's selling the film and how it's been stored (strange but true - every single person who sells out-of-date film has kept it refrigerated and sealed) I just don't want to take the chance.

[Aender Brepsom]

I have used quite a lot of expired Velvia and never had any problems with it. If it is kept in the freezer or fridge, it can be used far longer than the expiry date.
It is said to be more important to have it processed quite quickly after having exposed it.

[lenser]

I shoot lots of Ektachrome that I've bought out of date on ebay....and I use it on commercial jobs.

I take two precautions. First, I check with the seller to see how it has been stored. If in the freezer, I buy it.

Secondly, before I use a batch on a commercial project, I test a few sheets in conditions similar to what I will be shooting to double check that I will have no surprises.

So far, no problems.

Tim

[coops]

[QUOTE=vinny;307029]That company had over 30 boxes when they started selling it. It won't go for much less than the buy it now price either, especially now that you mentioned it here. QUOTE]

Oops, sorry.
I guess that if I purchased several boxes and used couple of sheets prior to a trip to check they work fine, it's a safe bet the rest should be okay?

[IanMazursky]

I buy out of date film all the time. Some from as far back as the 30's & 40's.
Still works. Ive never had a problem with E-6 film up to 2 years old. After that it depends on storage. But even some of the 4 or 5 year old E-6 and C-41 looks great.

[Alan Davenport]

I've been shooting LF for five years. Every sheet of film I've used was out of date when I bought it. I'm about halfway through a full case of Ektachrome that was a year past its pull date when I bought it -- it's in my freezer, with the individual boxes in vacuum sealed bags; great stuff.

If you save money where you can, like on film, large format can be less expensive than 35mm. 4x5, anyhow. The extra money you spend on film is more than offset by the savings in processing costs, since you'll make far fewer exposures.

BTW, welcome to the asylum!

[PaulRicciardi]

I've shot BW film from the 60's and 70's with little problem. Sometimes you find that the older films have a strong layer of base fog depending on how they've been stored.
E6 film from 2007 sounds like it should be perfectly fine even if stored at room temperature.

The only films I would stay away from would be really old E6 or C41 films or old polaroid pack films. From what I understand E6 and C41 deteriorates faster than BW emulsions do. Old polaroid pack film tends to dry up so the chemicals are no good, but as we're talking LF that shouldn't be an issue.

Also, faster films degrade more quickly, I imagine it's because of their increased sensitivity. For example, I wouldn't worry about shooting 10 year old film with an ISO of 50 but I might worry about shooting 10 year old 3200 film. Granted I would still shoot it but that's just me.

But yes, I buy expired film all of the time, the photo shop I frequented when I was living in CT used to have a box on the counter of out of date film that I would dig through every time I went in there. I generally found at least a few goodies for 1/2 off their original price...I even picked up some free film that way too. I'd say if you want the old Velvia buy it and go for it!