The perils of expired film

[kenj8246]

Picked up an unopened 100 sheet box of Kodak Plus-X for what I thought was a reasonable price and here are the first two shots. At first, I thought my lens was either smudged or fungus-y but it was clean. Doesn't inspire much confidence in the rest of the box but I'm hopeful. Chamonix field camera, Nikkor-SW f4.5 75mm lens.

21-yr old Plus X: the perils of buying expired film by Kenny Johnson, on Flickr
21-yr old Plus X: the perils of buying expired film by Kenny Johnson, on Flickr

Kenny

[William Whitaker]

Not seeing it. Can you be specific?

[kenj8246]

Not seeing it. Can you be specific?

Dunno if you're saying that tongue-in-cheek but the lower left of both images is 'hinky', especially the second one.

[consummate_fritterer]

Expired film cannot make images out of focus. This is a different problem entirely. The grain appears to be out of focus in those areas, indicating a scanning issue. Also, the (underside ?) of the scanner glass seems to be showing marks/smudges, which indicates the focus may be shifting closer to the lens in spots. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the optical receptor is losing alignment in one corner. Try moving the film to the opposite corner and rescanning. Or, try rotating the film 180 degrees and rescanning. My supposition is the out-of-focus areas will move.

[kenj8246]

Expired film cannot make images out of focus. This is a different problem entirely. The grain appears to be out of focus in those areas, indicating a scanning issue. Also, the (underside ?) of the scanner glass seems to be showing marks/smudges, which indicates the focus may be shifting closer to the lens in spots. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the optical receptor is losing alignment in one corner. Try moving the film to the opposite corner and rescanning. Or, try rotating the film 180 degrees and rescanning. My supposition is the out-of-focus areas will move.

Didn't think of that. Will try to do it and see what happens. Funny you mention it because I very recently took my Epson V700 'apart' and cleaned the glass surfaces, top and bottom.

[paulbarden]

The only reason to buy 20 year old film is because it’s likely to have defects and anomalies.

[William Whitaker]

NOT tongue-in-cheek. I do now see an odd texture in the second image, lower left. But didn't before and still don't see it in the first.

[Mark Sampson]

Expired film will commonly show increased base fog- resulting in a loss of emulsion speed and contrast. Which can be compensated for, up to a point. Where that point is located is up to you. That said, the problems you show are not ones commonly associated with old film. If you have darkroom access, make a 'proper proof' of your negs and any film-related issues should show up.

[John Olsen]

Expired film will commonly show increased base fog- resulting in a loss of emulsion speed and contrast. Which can be compensated for, up to a point. Where that point is located is up to you. That said, the problems you show are not ones commonly associated with old film. If you have darkroom access, make a 'proper proof' of your negs and any film-related issues should show up.

Good point, and scratches in the second negative should be visible just holding the neg up to a light, if you can't make contact proofs.

[DG 3313]

Expired film will commonly show increased base fog- resulting in a loss of emulsion speed and contrast. Which can be compensated for, up to a point. Where that point is located is up to you. That said, the problems you show are not ones commonly associated with old film. If you have darkroom access, make a 'proper proof' of your negs and any film-related issues should show up.

I just picked up 100 sheets of unopened Tri-x that expired in 1978. I have to rate it at iso 100 and print through the film base fog (as mentioned). But, the fog is even across the sheet and it was only $.50 a sheet. I have had less luck with opened boxes of film but, the sealed boxes have been good to go.