how old is too old 4x5 color neg sheet film?

[peter]

How long after expiry date can color negative sheet film still be exposed with reasonable results? At the moment I am located in northwestern Vietnam where I cannot obtain more film. All I have left in my camera bag is some sheets of Kodak Portra 160asa and 400 asa color negative film with an expiry date of 07 2009 ie 5 months ago. For most of its life since I bought it in December 2007 this film was stored in a plastic container beside my food in our kitchen refrigerator. But not frozen. For about 3 months it was stored in a suitcase (in a mild climate) under my bed. No I am not making this up!

Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to whether this film is (a) completely unusable, or (b) probably more or less ok, or (c) not so good but better than 35mm Kodak Gold.

[vinny]

If you can't get more film then the stuff you have will work just fine!
Nothing to worry about. I've shot stuff that expired 15 years ago (frozen, of course).

[anchored]

I would think the film is still fine... it's not all that badly expired and should still be just as good as fresh at this point as long as storage was reasonable. Unless exposed to high heat or radiation etc. film goes bad quite slowly. I shoot negative films up to 2-years expired fairly frequently and have never noticed any degradation (refrig stored film... not frozen).

[sfgp]

My best estimate would be answer B. I have used some film that has been
cold stored (but not frozen) that was 5+ years out of date with "reasonable"
results.

I would not want to miss taking a picture because the film is out of date.

WHATEVER you get is better than nothing - the results can always be scanned
and then recovered via Photoshop.

Good luck!

[peter]

Thanks for the advice - looks like worth a try:)

[sgelb]

this is ok I would say. Another year, probably will have sharpness problems.


How long after expiry date can color negative sheet film still be exposed with reasonable results? At the moment I am located in northwestern Vietnam where I cannot obtain more film. All I have left in my camera bag is some sheets of Kodak Portra 160asa and 400 asa color negative film with an expiry date of 07 2009 ie 5 months ago. For most of its life since I bought it in December 2007 this film was stored in a plastic container beside my food in our kitchen refrigerator. But not frozen. For about 3 months it was stored in a suitcase (in a mild climate) under my bed. No I am not making this up!

Would anybody care to hazard a guess as to whether this film is (a) completely unusable, or (b) probably more or less ok, or (c) not so good but better than 35mm Kodak Gold.

[Frank Petronio]

When color neg gets 3-5-8 years out of date the emulsion will start to bubble and lift. Your film should be fine, don't worry about it.

[Jon Shiu]

Should be fine. That film is not too old. I shot some 10 year old film that had been refrigerated and had some problems. There was a magenta cast that was very difficult to correct for in the skies.

Jon

[Glenn Thoreson]

I wish some of my film was that new. :D