B&W sheet film boxes not dated !!!

[Miguel Coquis]

Hello,
In search of film pro B & W format 3 1 / 4 x 4 1 / 4, I made contact with Lumière-shop and ordered a few boxes. The delivery time was very long and I made the remark to the seller.
There is no way to contact seller.
What worries me the most is that there is no indication of dates on the boxes.
Do any body knows how to test if film is "fresh" or not?
Best regards,
Miguel

[Asher Kelman]

Hello,
In search of film pro B & W format 3 1 / 4 x 4 1 / 4, I made contact with Lumière-shop and ordered a few boxes. The delivery time was very long and I made the remark to the seller.
There is no way to contact seller.
What worries me the most is that there is no indication of dates on the boxes.
Do any body knows how to test if film is "fresh" or not?
Best regards,
Miguel
What film size is that in cm or inches? How can there be no way to contact the seller if you were able to order film?

Asher

[Miguel Coquis]

[QUOTE=Asher Kelman;353937]What film size is that in cm or inches? How can there be no way to contact the seller if you were able to order film?

Size is in inches.
The seller is in Germany: bestellung@lumiere-shop.de (Mr Siegward Schmitz)
It seems to be a seller for large format film and others.
Maybe you can try to contact him directly and ask why there is no date marked on film boxes !
Once you payed, he do not answer anymore.

[John Kasaian]

If you paid via credit card you might be able to contest the charge, either obtaining a refund of the charges if the film is no good or to rbing some pressure to bear on the seller, ie, no satisfactory date no money. Good Luck!

[Glenn Thoreson]

What brand is the film? I've found that not all films carry an expiration date. Since 3X4 film is scarce on the market, I would venture to say he sells a fair amount of it. I really don't think it's a problem.

[Miguel Coquis]

What brand is the film? I've found that not all films carry an expiration date. Since 3X4 film is scarce on the market, I would venture to say he sells a fair amount of it. I really don't think it's a problem.

Yes, it is hard to find this film format. It is Wephota, kind of Orwo B&W sheet film. I hope there would be no problem. I just wanted to have the guarantee of "freshness" of the film before start to work with.
Now, it would be necessary to expose and develop to see if there is no trouble with the emulsion (fog, pour contrast, undetermined speed ...). Perhaps, I will cut my own film in the future :-(
Thanks to all for your advise.
Miguel

[Miguel Coquis]

If you paid via credit card you might be able to contest the charge, either obtaining a refund of the charges if the film is no good or to rbing some pressure to bear on the seller, ie, no satisfactory date no money. Good Luck!

That is what I thought. PayPal answer me that from the moment the seller deliver the film boxes, and I received them, they can do nothing concerning the quality of the product.
Not bad hein !
So if you find chocolates inside your film boxes, you just can hope this "choco" to have the right ISO/ASA !

[Colin Graham]

You might contact Geert (http://sheetfilm.be/film.php) here on the forum, he is a Wephota dealer iirc, and might be able to check lot numbers for you if there are any printed on the box.

[Geert]

You might contact Geert (http://sheetfilm.be/film.php) here on the forum, he is a Wephota dealer iirc, and might be able to check lot numbers for you if there are any printed on the box.

Hello Colin and Miguel,

I just contacted Miguel on this subject and sent him some info that is based on assumptions to extract the cutting & packing date from the batch number.
The batch number that Miguel gave me corresponds in a certain degree to what I have in stock, so his film should be fresh.
This (=fresh) is true for all Wephota films, since they only keep rolls and cut to measure when we order. Their film cutting man was will for 2 weeks end of april / beginning of may, so that might explain the delay in delivery of Miguels' films.

Personally I find it also annoying that this date is missing. That's why I label all boxes with the month/year I take them in stock, wich is necessary to maintain a healthy FIFO system on my film stock.

I will contact Dieter at Wephota next week to discuss the subject and to insist on putting a use before date on the labels.

If some of you are interested in developing times for the different Wephota films, I have collected some data from recent testing by clients of mine. I will put them on my site on a next update.

I'll put on the email notification on this thread so I can tune in for further questions!


Kind regards,
Geert

[Miguel Coquis]

Geert, thanks for giving light to this situation.
I am glad to know that it is possible to purchase film directly from you.
Kind regards,
Miguel