What happens to film when it ages?

March 22, 2005 8:17 PM

A friend just gave me twenty-one rolls of 35mm film of various speeds and types. All of the rolls are old; most of them have "use by" dates of 1989 or 1991. What is the likely condition of this film? Can any generalizations be made? What happens to film when it ages? (I'm secretly hoping that the film is still useful, but that it'll create bizarre chromatic aberrations.)
posted by jdroth to media & arts (13 comments total)

i've used old film, and had bizarre effects only at the beginning of the roll. : >
posted by amberglow at 9:13 PM on March 22, 2005

You'll probably get nothing bizarre. You'll get low color saturation, high noise/grain, most likely. You may see a loss in the apparent speed of the film. Yeah, the first few frames may be over-exposed, due to tiny light leaks over a long period of time.

If the film was stored in low-humidity, low-temperature settings, it might be usable. Otherwise, well, it's hard to tell.

I suggest you set up a simple still life, lit by artificial light, and burn through a roll of new and a roll of old film, going through the same film settings. I'd probably bracket 1.5 stops on each side in increments of .5 (or 1/3 if your camera does it) with different aperture/time settings. Compare the results. Take Good Notes. If you can't tell the difference in the prints then you're golden. Check to see which of the bracketed exposures is closest to "good".

I'm assuming that since you say "chromatic abberations" the film is color. Is it negative or slide? Negative film has more forgiving exposure ranges that slide film (there is a larger range of exposure that will look passable). Old slide film, well, I wouldn't count on getting much out of it.
posted by RustyBrooks at 9:22 PM on March 22, 2005

Most of the film is color. There are a few rolls of black-and-white. It's all negative film.
posted by jdroth at 9:42 PM on March 22, 2005

Expired film mostly just turns greenish, in my experience, but I have heard of magenta casts as well. B&W film is usually fine, sometimes a little foggy. All this depends on the conditions it was stored in -- color film that's been in the fridge all this time might not have any change at all. Higher speed film is more susceptible to breakdown.

So, if you're looking for weirdness, I'd pick the oldest, highest speed color roll that was least protected from heat and humidity, and go to town.
posted by xo at 10:27 PM on March 22, 2005

If you're lucky you'll get streaks and weirdness all over when it's processed. Do some panning and blurs, shoot some city lights at night, and see what you get!

(disclaimer: I subscribe to the quasi-Bob Ross school of "happy accidents")
posted by cmyk at 10:55 PM on March 22, 2005

Use them! (Not for any documentary purposes, but for some curious (as you seem to be)/artsy-fartsy/aesthetic reason.) At the very least, you'll help yourself to make better compositions. You might not like any photo too much, but you'll learn a heck of alot from seeing how you frame your photos. (Yikes...I'm a post-Modernist, why does THAT sound so modern?)

I've found that amateur fotogs take at least 2 great photos/24, talented eyes garner 4/24. Do the math. Two rolls later, you'll take the same amount of great fotos. Multiply that with your supplies and finances.

Get the film developed as soon as financially possible, because the negs are still archivally stable. Hope for the worst, and you won't be disappointed. The process of learning this stuff will never disappoint you; the immediate results might not turn you on, but the knowledge is great.

(Plus...also have this tired film processed as cheap as possible...Target will do it (non-overnight) for under 4 bucks. Do it there. They actually do the best mass work.)

Four dollars for 32 photos vs 7 dollars for a bottle of Corona vs a 12 bottle dollar os Thomas Harding, and THEY DON'T GIVE ME A PACK OF PICTURES! How crazy is that!!??!?!?!??!
posted by red cell at 11:02 PM on March 22, 2005

May get a greenish cast or you may not. I'm a b&w film lover who always forgets to take my colour in for processing and recently found 7 rolls of exposed colour film (some 7 years old) stashed in a box with my darkroom equipment. Took them all in for processing and didn't notice any changes to the film at all. The boxes were stored in a closet in a part of the house that gets really warm in the summer and really cold in the winter for two years. Before that they were stored in the fridge. If the black and white film is a bit foggy there is a chemical you can get (can't recall the name off the top of my head would have to look it up) that might remove the fog.

You could always use them for cross processing (have them developed in E6 chemicals rather than C41) where colour abberations are to be expected and encouraged or load them into a holga :)
posted by squeak at 11:32 PM on March 22, 2005

Because the film is rolled, the later film is more protected and less likely to give you anything interesting.
Get your ambitious shots in first, leave the mundane/ordinary/learning curve ones 'til after.!
posted by NinjaPirate at 3:39 AM on March 23, 2005

(by "anything interesting," I don't mean to impugn the quality of your photography!)
posted by NinjaPirate at 3:41 AM on March 23, 2005

My experience as someone who has developed/printed thousands of rolls of color film at a photolab is that you are going to just get images that print out to be muddy and magenta. I have never seen anything remotely "cool" result from what we sometimes called "Old Gold" (if it was Kodak--you could tell the age by looking at the series number. Other brands were immediately recognizable as old by the awful and distinct quality and cast).

If you want cool chromatic madness, do what I love to do: shoot a roll of slide film and find a lab that will develop it in c-41 developer (which is ordinarily used for print film). Or try out that crazy infrared color slide film that Kodak makes--though it is very expensive (order through B&H for best prices).
posted by availablelight at 7:00 AM on March 23, 2005

you are going to just get images that print out to be muddy and magenta. I have never seen anything remotely "cool"

This is what I fear.

Still, I'll use the stuff for fun. It'd be a shame to let go to waste. :)
posted by jdroth at 7:18 AM on March 23, 2005

You could also get some colored filters and put those over the lens, for a monochrome effect. Some filters with the strongest colors are actually meant for black and white shooting -- usually to affect the contrast -- but they can give you that cool Smiths-cover-art effect when used with color film.

I also second (fourth?) the cross-processing advice, though I've never tried negative film in E6 (just slide film in C41). You'd have to go to a slightly more professional place to get this done, and it might be more like $8 a roll, but it could be cool.
posted by lisa g at 9:01 AM on March 23, 2005

I wouldn't use those, personally. If you go to a decent photo supply place (or even order from B&H or something like that) you can get great quality film for pretty cheap, and not have to wonder how things will turn out.
posted by clevershark at 9:52 AM on March 23, 2005