How long does film last? (Page 2): B&W film ages well. I developed some negatives in the mid seventies of my wife's family taken in the fifties. Color film does not age well unless it...

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

DeeAndre wrote:

My brother-in-law passed away this past Aug. He had a lot of old film cameras and lots of film. I imagine the film would be at least 2 yrs. old if not older. Would it still be good? I shoot digital now and have not used film for years; so should I just toss it? Hid daughter asked me about it and I said I would ask the UHH family for their opinion. Thanks for your help.

B&W film ages well. I developed some negatives in the mid seventies of my wife's family taken in the fifties. Color film does not age well unless it was stored in a freezer. I would suggest you get it developed ASAP. However, that said, post processing on bad colors on color film can help restore colors to normal.

Brent Rowlett Loc: Atlanta, GA

I have heard of people developing film 40 years old left in cameras.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

DeeAndre wrote:

Shame he didn't save those boxes. Any idea what this film would be worth, if anything?

The film will be good unless it got over heated. It sounds like it didnt.

The value of the film (and gear) will vary widely depending on how rare or desirable it is, anywhere from 2 bucks a roll to 50.00 per roll or more.

IF the film has been exposed; then you can get it developed and prints made at "https://www.willowphotolab.com" online. It's cheaper than the darkroom.com and they do good work.

A great place for this sort of information is called "https://www.photrio.com/forum/" It's a film shooters site and there is a LOT of demand for film and gear there.

trackmag

25 years ago, after my mother passed away at age 86 we were going through here cedar chest where she stored her most beloved valuables. One of the things we found was the familiy's Kodak box camera that must have been purchased in the 1940's. It was now 1993. There was a roll of black and white (of course) film in it that was shot some 40 years earlier.
We finished shooting the roll, and then had it processed. We had some photos of me and my three brothers that we shot
in 1951 at a little park north of Amarillo, Texas. Elementary school boys with a foootball pretending to be Doak Walker and Sammy Baugh. Sure glad we found the camera and had the film processed. I still have some Tri X and Plus X that I am going to shot one of these days. The old kodak is now one of most beloved valuables.

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Of course the obvious answer would be to shoot 5-10 pics on one roll and have it developed and then you would have the answer to your question regarding the rest. Or, continue to surmise what might or might not be.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

I recently had developed at a local pharmacy, 4 rolls of Kodachrome film that had been in a safe 12 years.
The picture quality of that old film was very poor, washed out, colors bleeding.

I would not use old film for many reasons

and the real kicker is it cost me $60 to have four 24 exposure rolls developed. Thank heavens for digital. I now take 24 shots of a subject at a time and delete 23

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

DeeAndre wrote:

My brother-in-law passed away this past Aug. He had a lot of old film cameras and lots of film. I imagine the film would be at least 2 yrs. old if not older. Would it still be good? I shoot digital now and have not used film for years; so should I just toss it? Hid daughter asked me about it and I said I would ask the UHH family for their opinion. Thanks for your help.

Film is still made you realize. By Kodak, Ilford, Fuji, etc. Value, only if it is unexposed film of an obsolete format like 620, 127, 828, etc. Today the only sizes made are 135 (35mm), 120 / 220 (2.25"), and various sheet film sizes like 4x5" and 8x10". Camera collectors would die for no longer made film for their antique cameras.

jrcarpe Loc: Jacksonville,AR

Wal Mart still processes film but on the last roll I sent there the pictures were cropped so it is WM no more. Walgreens has always done a good job.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

sumo wrote:

I recently had developed at a local pharmacy, 4 rolls of Kodachrome film ...

When was this, may I ask?

DeeAndre Loc: Boyertown PA

OddJobber wrote:

Without expiration date and unknown storage conditions, I wouldn't want them. :-(

I tend to agree.

DeeAndre Loc: Boyertown PA

billnikon wrote:

B&W film ages well. I developed some negatives in the mid seventies of my wife's family taken in the fifties. Color film does not age well unless it was stored in a freezer. I would suggest you get it developed ASAP. However, that said, post processing on bad colors on color film can help restore colors to normal.

Yes, it would be unused color film kept in a dresser drawer, not in a freezer.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

DeeAndre wrote:

I tend to agree.

You’ve been asked what brand, type and size the film is - any reason you haven’t answered? Someone here may want to buy it.

kocart Loc: Illinois

I developed some black and white film that was exposed years ago and as expected, the results were terrible--except the subject matter was priceless. With unexposed film it is probably not worth the trouble.

DeeAndre Loc: Boyertown PA

burkphoto wrote:

Heat is the enemy. If kept cool, it can last a long time.

As for processing it, only Kodachrome is impossible to get processed properly (although some labs will soup it to black-and-white). All E6, C41, and black-and-white films can be processed.

Thanks for the info. Believe some of it is Kodachrome.

Shutterbug57

Shoot a roll or two on just fun stuff and get it developed. Good odds it will work. I am still shooting Fuji 50 with a 1999 expiration date, but it has been in the freezer since about 1997.

Your best bet with the Kodachrome might be to sell it on e-bay.