Found Old Ilford 4X5 Film with an Expiry Date of 1954.

[DavidRobsonPhoto]

Recently came upon san old box of Ilford H.P.3 Panchromatic 4x5 Film at an estate sale for $2.00. Internal film pack is un-open. I know its a stretch but any likelihood of this film being usable... 62 years young!

[richardman]

Yes!! I posted it in the June Portrait thread, but these images are from a 1952 pack of Super XX. If you want to sell them to me, I will pay $3 :-)

There are photoshop work and they look funky because I didn't know they are pack film and I cut the film in the dark tent more or less to size. Mostly less than more... Hack, one film was even backward!!

[djdister]

Do a film speed test with exposures at ISO 3, 12, 50 and 100, and pick a developer that works best with old film.

[jbenedict]

Photographer's Formulary sells a restrainer which is added to the developer to reduce fogging. Offhand, I can't remember the specific name of the chemical and which developer is known to do a good job with old film. Some have suggested HC-110 but I don't know the dilution...

I wish pack film were still available. It would make it so easy to carry about 50 shots out into the field. 48 shots is 3 16 shot packs. No changing bag needed either.

HP 3, huh? I guess the modern stuff must be 2 HPs better...

Jeff

[Leigh]

The restrainer I have is called Benzotriazole. There may be others.

You add some to the developer to reduce fogging on old film.

- Leigh

[StoneNYC]

FYI I've found this rule to be VERY helpful in testing speed.

1 stop loss for every 10 years.

So... I would rate this at... EI 6 from the original ASA 400. That's six stops loss.

Being such a high speed film, I would probably shoot EI 6, EI 3, and EI 1.5 to cut through some of the fog.

But it's going to be very heavy fog.

[richardman]

I rated my "ISO 100" Super XX at about ISO 50 and it works pretty well, as you can see. So I wouldn't necessarily go overboard with 6 stops change.

[Leigh]

I suggest shooting a MacBeth color chart and interpreting the gray scale.

Over-expose by a couple of stops, then determine the film speed based on the closest patch to middle gray.

- Leigh

[StoneNYC]

I rated my "ISO 100" Super XX at about ISO 50 and it works pretty well, as you can see. So I wouldn't necessarily go overboard with 6 stops change.

Must have been stored fairly well over the years.

Also, the OP's is a faster film, you need to over expose it to compensate for the heavier base fog he/she will most likely have to deal with. One stop under on 60 year old high speed film is NOT enough, not even close, I don't care how well it was stored.

1947 Verichrome is the oldest I've ever shot and developed.

These are various images from various rolls... This was my first attempt using 116(or 616?) film and an old folder...




Another roll... 116(or 616 I forget)




.

[StoneNYC]

And finally a good roll which was of course a smaller format 127 but "newer" from the 1960's so made not on nitrate base but instead one a safety base...





So as you can see, I used the same techniques for all with different results depending on storage of the film. I did change the developer used, but in general I think the most significant difference was the age if the film and base fog which I overcame by over exposure.

Good luck OP, at least it's sheet film where you can test a sheet or two, unlike the rolls I had which basically you have to guess and hope it comes out for all the pictures.