Last summer, a box filled with rolls of expired 35mm film arrived unexpectedly at my doorstep. The sender was unknown, with only a return address from Lewes, Delaware, written on the box. I was intrigued by the contents. There was no note of explanation inside the box, just cartridges and boxes of expired 35mm film. I couldn't help but wonder why someone would send me a box of unexposed 35mm film and who the sender could be.
I know only one person in Delaware; she was never into film photography. I used Google to get information about the shipping address on the shipping label. According to my search, the box was shipped from a post office in Lewes, Delaware. I didn’t recognise the person's name on the box, and I didn’t know anyone in Lewes except for our friends Matt and Jean, who had only recently moved there. We spent a weekend in Lewes with them last summer.
I put the box out of my mind for several months. But then I decided to use one of the expired rolls of Kodak BW400CN. The mystery of who sent the box annoyed me. I went back to Google, but my search proved fruitful this time. I focused on the name of the person on the box and found a court article that mentioned a name with which I was familiar; Bhavna’s college roommate, Traci!
Then it all made sense. Months earlier, I contacted her about the camera equipment she used at our wedding. We didn't have money for a photographer, and Traci stepped in and offered her skills. I told her I was reshooting the film, and she mentioned that her mom had some expired rolls of 35mm film that she would send me. I had utterly forgotten that conversation and expected something coming from Peapack, New Jersey, where I thought her mom still resided. The mystery was solved.
All of the rolls of 35mm film expired more than three decades ago. Even though they were expired, I was still delighted and couldn't wait to see what I could do with them. I took each roll out of the box, admiring the vintage packaging and feeling thankful for the unexpected gift. I catalogued the items in the box.
I catalogued my unexpected gift. Is it worth exposing any of these expired 35mm films?
| Brand | Film Stock | ASA | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agfa | Scala 200 | 200 | 1 |
| Fujifilm | Fujichrome Provia 400F | 400 | 6 |
| Fujifilm | Fujicolor 200 | 200 | 4 |
| Fujifilm | Fujicolor Super HG | 1600 | 1 |
| Fujifilm | Fujicolor Super HQ | 200 | 4 |
| Fujifilm | Velvia 100F | 100 | 6 |
| Ilford | HP5 | 400 | 2 |
| Kodak | 400 UC | 400 | 1 |
| Kodak | BW400CN | 400 | 2 |
| Kodak | Ektachrome E100G | 100 | 1 |
| Kodak | Ektachrome E100VS | 100 | 1 |
| Kodak | Ektachrome Infrared E1R | - | 1 |
| Kodak | Ektar 100 | 100 | 1 |
| Kodak | Kodachrome 25 | 25 | 8 |
| Kodak | Kodak 200 | 200 | 7 |
| Kodak | Max 800 | 800 | 8 |
| Kodak | Tri-X Pan 400 | 400 | 4 |
I exposed another expired 35mm roll of Kodak Portra 400 BW.
Ilford HP5 400 35mm film was a black and white photographic film that gained a reputation as a versatile and reliable choice for both amateur and professional photographers.
Fujicolor Super HQ 200 35mm film was a colour negative film produced by Fujifilm. This film was popular with photographers seeking an affordable yet high-quality option for their 35mm film cameras.…
Up until now, I have never used Fujicolor Super HG 1600. In my college photography days and later, I tended to expose film at ISO 200 or lower. If I remember correctly, high-speed films were expens…
I received a few rolls of expired 35mm film cartridges in a box from a stranger in Lewes, Delaware. In the box were a few 35mm cartridges of Kodachrome 64 that had expired in 1988.
On a recent walk around Princeton University, I exposed an expired Kodak Portra 400 BW 35mm film cartridge.
After I exposed my first roll of expired 35mm film, I learned that expired film should be overexposed by one step for each decade since the film expired. Good advice.
Exposing an expired roll of 35m film is like playing the lottery; you most often lose, but when you win, it's exhilarating.
A long-expired cartridge of Fujichrome PROVIA 400F 35mm film delivers nostalgic, surprisingly usable photos.
Go for it!
Don't use any of it for once-in-a-lifetime events or anything, but shooting expired film can be fun.
I've shot lots of expired film and my results have mostly been good. B&W is generally more reliable and I usually overexpose it by half-a-stop per decade of expiry. Colour negative film can be a bit more fussy and the tones can shift, but I've had mostly good results (again overexposing, but this time by a stop per decade when I don't know how it's been stored).
I've also been quite lucky with my results with old slide film, although I shoot that at box speed.
If you're interested, here are some posts I've made about an occasional series of expired film shoots:
https://steelcitysnapper.wordpress.com/2022/05/14/expiriment-1-ilford-hp5-expired-1982/
https://steelcitysnapper.wordpress.com/2022/06/19/expiriment-2-kodacolor-vr-400-expired-1989/
https://steelcitysnapper.wordpress.com/2022/11/12/expiriment-3-truprint-fg-expired-2003/
I was so excited when my first roll of expired 35mm film, a roll of Fujichrome Provia 400F, turned out better than expected. I've since exposed a few rolls of expired black and white, and the results were just as exciting. I do feel more confident with black and white. Thanks for the links. I'll check them out.
I do have questions. I send my film off to a lab for development. When I expose an expired roll of ASA 400 film at ASA 50, do I need to tell the lab to pull the film, or do I have them develop it at the native ISO?
Ask them to develop at the native ISO. You're basically overexposing the film when you shoot it to compensate for it's expiry.
Ok. Thank you so much. Your responses have been quite helpful.