Extremely expired color film-- worth my time?

**Dan Lidon** · 3-Jan-2009, 21:52

I just bought some Kodak Ektachrome 8x10 color film off of eBay. It's for e-3 processing which went extinct in the 70s. I know there's a couple labs out there that say they can still process e-3, but I'm not sure if they can develop 8x10. Has anyone out there shot expired film with any success? I've read that I should over expose the images, any other tips? Is this even worth my time and money?

**Dan Fromm** · 3-Jan-2009, 22:00

Well, if you don't care how the colors come out, spend away.

**Gene McCluney** · 4-Jan-2009, 00:45

My opinion is that it will not produce satisfactory results. E-3 was last made in the 1960's. Even black and white film from that decade is very very foggy and of little use.

**Bruce Barlow** · 4-Jan-2009, 04:30

I think you should try a few sheets, see what the developed film gives you in terms of contrast, fog, color balance and the all-encompassing "feel", and then take it the way it wants to go. What subject matter, light, and mood seem to fit it? That's a stretcher for your own creativity, and could well be a lot of fun.

**D. Bryant** · 4-Jan-2009, 19:30

Originally Posted by Dan Lidon

I just bought some Kodak Ektachrome 8x10 color film off of eBay. It's for e-3 processing which went extinct in the 70s. I know there's a couple labs out there that say they can still process e-3, but I'm not sure if they can develop 8x10. Has anyone out there shot expired film with any success? I've read that I should over expose the images, any other tips? Is this even worth my time and money?

Total waste of time and money, unless you are into the possible novelty of the wierd color and contrast that the film might produce.

I know a photographer that used to use well aged Kodachrome for long time exposures at night explicitly for the color shifts that it produced - Karekin Goekjian, http://www.karekingoekjian.com/ .

But I doubt that your film would be worth the effort, try a sheet or two and see.

Don Bryant

**Jim MacKenzie** · 4-Jan-2009, 19:51

C41 film a few years old, and well stored, can be worth playing with, but I think this will likely be a tremendous waste of time.

How much will you miss the time and money if you get terrible results? If you don't care, experiment away.

I just inherited a bunch of 120 C41 film from a deceased family member, all dated in the 2000-2002 range. I plan to try it. I don't know if I'd bother if it were dated ten years before that. I might try one roll. This is going to be more problematic because of the unavailability of processing, and the inabillity to do colour corrections on the transparency.

**Dan Lidon** · 4-Jan-2009, 20:41

thanks for your input guys. I'll try a couple sheets and see what happens. I'm hoping there will be an interesting color shift, but there more I research, I'll probably just end up with unsalvageable images. Once I find a lab that can do old color 8x10 I'll shoot it and let you guys know how it goes.