Expired B&W Film from 1972: I acquired through a friend 40 speed black and white negative film that had been kept in cold storage all these years. Should I use 40 ASA or ? Any advice...

BarbaDura

I acquired through a friend 40 speed black and white negative film that had been kept in cold storage all these years.

Should I use 40 ASA or ?

Any advice is welcome.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I would try a test roll, and adjust from there. What kind of film is it? I don't recall a 40 speed B&W film from back then.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

AGFA and ADOX, both in Germany, made ASA 40 film up until 1970 and 1973 respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discontinued_photographic_films

Only about 50 years old, at least.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

JohnSwanda wrote:

I would try a test roll, and adjust from there. What kind of film is it? I don't recall a 40 speed B&W film from back then.

Depending on the number of exposures, some at 40, 25, 64, 100, ... but note which shots are set at which ASA.

BebuLamar

Are you doing the developing yourself? If not don't use it. Even if the film is free the cost of processing isn't and you wouldn't know what kind of result you would get.

Peterfiore Loc: Where DR goes south

If you are doing the processing, you have a decent chance of getting workable images. I would set up a tabletop subject and light it. Determine what the exposure would be at 40 ISO/ASA. Once you have the base exposure, Figure what your first exposure will be. You should Make 9 exposures. Start the sequence with exposure -2 , -1 , 0 +1 , +2
+3, +4, +5 , +6. Develop as normal at 68F. If the film shows a range of negative densities, it will be your job to figure out the best one for your purposes.

I had some Trix 400 ASA film in the deep freeze for 30 years. I did this same test and developed it myself in Kodak D-76 with a 1 to 1 dilution. Process the film at base speed, 40 ASA.
I found that the Tri-x lost maybe 1/2 stop. I had three exposures that were easily printable. Others would need various grade papers.

If you're not doing this yourself, walk away. Unless, of course, you have deep pockets.

Not worth the effort for a single roll.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I shoot almost exclusively expired film, although my oldest rolls are from the early 90s. If kept frozen and dry, expired film will (can) be almost as good as new. I mention dry as I've received some water-logs rolls where the metal cassettes appeared slightly rusted even though the film looked 'fine'. The film wasn't, with what looked like burn-marks or chemical spots when exposed and processed.

The primary difference for old color is it needs more exposure, say 1-stop for every 10-years of age. But for B&W, the extra light 'need', isn't so much. Obviously, you should test, either one roll at a variety of exposures, or just add a default +2/3-stop to all frames (maybe +1), what I'd expect for B&W of that age. If you have a third-party develop, just develop as normal, i.e., at the box speed.

MSW

i agree with the consensus-run it at normal (or just a tad slower) and see what you get.

running a sequence of exposures is good advice and you should follow it

I also agree that you should run your own processing unless you've recently hit the powerball ... good luck with your project :)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Peterfiore wrote:

...
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If you're not doing this yourself, walk away. Unless, of course, you have deep pockets.

Not worth the effort for a single roll.

But "inquiring minds want to know".

Will it work???
How will it work...
THAT expensive to send out ONE roll of B&W to find out???

ELNikkor

I'd expose one roll at ISO 25, process 1:1 in D76 for 9-10 minutes, 68 degrees, go from there if you've got more film. FYI, I just had 4 rolls of 1962 Kodacolor C22 127 film processed by Rapid Color in PA. I found the film in a box in the den. Never refrigerated, subject to high summer temperatures, 50 degrees in the winter, varying humidity, no special storing precautions. The colors/contrast were still not-awful! Some were of my brothers and me while we were still in under 10. Great time capsules. I found some other exposed rolls of Panatomic-X and Kodachrome which could be older. I'll be processing them myself in August. (The Kodachrome as B&W of course!)

BebuLamar

Longshadow wrote:

But "inquiring minds want to know".

Will it work???
How will it work...
THAT expensive to send out ONE roll of B&W to find out???

Personally I won't shoot expired film because I worked hard to get the film photography predictable. Using expired film would certainly not very predictable. I would certainly try to developed exposed, expired film because I want to see what on the film.
But if I were to use the expired film and can't do my own developing I think it would cost about $7 for just developing. There is no need for either printing or scanning to find out how well it works.

leftj Loc: Texas

BebuLamar wrote:

Are you doing the developing yourself? If not don't use it. Even if the film is free the cost of processing isn't and you wouldn't know what kind of result you would get.

If you're not willing to invest in the cost of processing a test roll then you don't have much of a sense of curiosity or adventure.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

BebuLamar wrote:

Personally I won't shoot expired film because I worked hard to get the film photography predictable. Using expired film would certainly not very predictable. I would certainly try to developed exposed, expired film because I want to see what on the film.
But if I were to use the expired film and can't do my own developing I think it would cost about $7 for just developing. There is no need for either printing or scanning to find out how well it works.

I don't shoot film anymore either, no desire to do so.
Good/bad/lousy/great - it would be interesting (to some people) if the film still works and how well, or not.

$7 ??? $14 even... One shot to see if the rest of the rolls are worth it.

How much is a fancy-dancy designer cup of coffee?
Rainier cherries are ≈$9.00 a pound here.
But some people will spend thousands on gear, and not $10 on an experiment.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

leftj wrote:

If you're not willing to invest in the cost of processing a test roll then you don't have much of a sense of curiosity or adventure.

JBRIII

Longshadow wrote:

I don't shoot film anymore either, no desire to do... (show quote)

I haven't had any film developed in probably 20 yrs, but the way people were talking I thought it costs $100s per roll. I know not everyone has money to waste, but surely if they have a camera and shoot anywhere but their own backyard, they can afford your estimate for a roll of film. Most likely less than the cost of gas to go anywhere and pictures?