Shelf Life of Fuji Crystal Archive Type II Paper

[spacegoose]

I bought a 100 sheet box on ebay, I am now told is from 2010, at an about 35% discount from new, and am wondering if it should still be good?

I know that will depend on how it's been stored, (I am trying to find out), I could try to cancel it, should I?

Would appreciate any info for refrigerated, frozen, room temperature, or worse storage, and what I might expect.

Thanks!
Bill

[frotog]

Should not matter with Fuji CA ii.

[Greg Blank]

Well always refrigerated RA paper could still be good, testing it is really the only way to know. If you have a control negative and a densitometer you can easily know how far off it may be. When I was doing lots of RA I liked to use up paper in the year I bought it, if it was bought with the same years date during the beginning of the year. My reasoning may be somewhat flawed but I also only took the paper from the refrigerator one time, then left it out in dry cool conditions until the box was fully used up, the thought being each change in temperature potentially causes anomylous issues in the gelatin.

[Drew Wiley]

I wouldn't worry about it unless it's been stored under hot conditions.

[Stephen Willard]

I wouldn't worry about it unless it's been stored under hot conditions.

I agree with Drew, I just printed up an order for eight 11x14 prints from a box of Fuji Crystal Archive I bought nine yours ago. It is the first 11x14 prints I have ever sold. The box of 11x14s was not refrigerated. I did not check the prints with a densitometer, but I keep an 8x10 master print of each image I sell. I match each print I make to the master print by visual inspection, and in all cases, I was able to precisely replicate each 11x14 with its corresponding master print. I also had a similar experience with 20x 24 paper. I do not sell very many 11x14 or 20x24 prints. My biggest selling sizes for rectangular prints is 16x20 and to a lesser extent 30x40.

Hope this helps...

[Daniel Stone]

Same goes for my experience(albeit limited compared to Drew and Stephen's) w/ Crystal Archive. I've printed from 8-10yr old paper that was "cool"(NOT refrigerated or frozen) stored in a shop here in LA(Simon's on Highland). Bought it because I was taking a college course in color printing, and didn't have a lot of dollars in my pocket at the time.
But the prints(made approx 4yrs ago) still look good, and the color is still as vibrant and contrast level has been the same since they were originally made.
Comparing to new(ish) ~1-2yr old paper, I'd say it's about equal.
If the paper was kept in a warmer(75deg F+) environment for any extended length of time, I'd just use it to make proofsheets and non-exacting prints(snapshots, etc...)

-Dan

[spacegoose]

Thanks everyone for the info, I made some prints a few days ago and the paper was fine.

Bill