Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired

A long-expired cartridge of Fujichrome PROVIA 400F 35mm film delivers nostalgic, surprisingly usable photos.

One of the first rolls of film I exposed from the box of expired 35mm film I received last year is a 36-exposure cartridge of Fujichrome PROVIA 400F Professional [RHP III]. Fujichrome PROVIA 400F was a high-quality colour reversal film manufactured by Fujifilm. It was known for its excellent colour reproduction, fine grain, and sharpness, making it a popular choice among professional photographers. With a sensitivity of ISO 400, this film was ideal for shooting in low light conditions or for capturing fast-moving subjects. The film's advanced emulsion technology was known to produce vibrant colours and accurate skin tones, making it a popular choice for fashion and advertising photography. I did not know what to expect from a 10-year-old cartridge.

I didn't think much about what it means to expose expired 35mm film. My first, second and third attempts at using expired film stock could have been better. I loaded the cartridge in my Pentax P3n, and despite the cold weather, I hopped on my e-bike and headed off to Rocky Hill, a nearby borough in New Jersey.

Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2

The sun shone brightly overhead, but I could still feel the cold as I set off on Salisbury Road towards the western end of Blue Spring Road. It was still early morning as I pedalled through the quiet residential streets of my neighbourhood. Just before entering the borough of Rocky Hill, I stopped on Princeton Avenue to expose a few frames before continuing along the more scenic route, passing through Van Horne Park.

Rocky Hill was incorporated in 1890 and had a rich history dating back to the colonial era. It was an important transportation hub during the Revolutionary War and was once home to the Van Horne estate, now a public park. Van Horne Park offers a variety of amenities, such as walking paths, playgrounds, sports fields, and picnic areas.

Today, Rocky Hill is a quiet residential community with a small-town feel. It has a few local businesses, including a general store, a post office, and a few restaurants.

Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2
Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2
Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2

After leaving the park, I continued along Washington Road, a long stretch of a historic route that cuts through the heart of Rocky Hill. One of the most distinctive features of Washington Road is its historic homes and buildings. Many houses along the street were built in the 18th and 19th centuries and have been preserved as part of Rocky Hill's history. Some of the most notable buildings along Washington Road include the historic Rocky Hill Inn, which dates back to the early 1700s and now operates as a restaurant, and the Rocky Hill Schoolhouse, which was built in 1865 and is now home to the Rocky Hill Historical Society.

Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2
Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2
Rocky Hill Inn · Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2

Originally built as a private residence, the Rocky Hill Inn building was converted into a tavern in the 1800s and has since operated as an American gastropub. The inn has been beautifully restored and retains many original features, including wide-plank flooring and exposed brick walls. It is a popular spot for locals, offering a cosy rural, small-town atmosphere, delicious food (my favourite is Fish n’ Chips with a crisp pilsner), and a wide selection of beer and wine.

Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2

I turned off Washington Road, arriving at Crescent Avenue, a quiet road I often photograph due to its tree-lined sidewalks and charming historic homes. Many houses on the street were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and have been carefully preserved. The homes' architecture varies, ranging from Victorian and colonial-style homes to more modern designs.

Crescent Avenue turns into River Road at the southeastern border with Montgomery Township. River Road head south toward the historic town of Kingston. It connects to the other end of Blue Spring Road in a loop that takes me back toward my home.

Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2
Fujichrome PROVIA 400F - Expired · Wednesday 14 December 2022 · Pentax P3n · SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2

I think the opportunity to take photographs with expired 35mm film was a unique touch of nostalgia and vintage charm.

I exposed the Fujichrome PROVIA 400F at box speed. After I sent the film off for development, I read that the wisdom on the web is that expired film should be exposed at a lower ISO, one-stop every ten years after it expires. The film should also be pulled during development. I understand it just a bit, but I am stumped about what camera ISO or exposure compensation settings I should have used and what instructions to give the development lab.

  • Do I set the ISO dial at ISO 200 and tell the lab to pull one stop?
  • Do I set the ISO dial to 400 and the exposure compensation dial to +1 and tell the lab to pull one stop?
  • Do I set the ISO dial to 400 and the exposure compensation dial to +1 and tell the lab to develop normally?
  • Do I expose at ISO 400, EV0

It was too late to correct my potential mistake. I sent the cartridge off to Boutique Film Lab and waited. When the slides arrived, I nervously scanned them with VueScan using my Epson Perfection V600. As I watched the previews, my confidence grew. My efforts were not wasted.

I added camera and lens meta-data and imported the images to Adobe Lightroom to finalise things. I was excited when I saw that the scans produced usable photos. I was even more excited when the photos improved further when I adjusted the exposure,contrast, highlights and shadows.

I am so excited. This worked out better than I expected. While the colours are muted, almost all of the images are usable. This post includes the ones I consider the best of the 36 exposures. A few frames are underexposed, but I think that is primarily because of operator error (i.e. me). I have five more cartridges of expired Fujichrome PROVIA 400F, and I am excited to use them all.

Name Fujichrome PROVIA 400F
Format 35mm
Type Colour Reversal
Native ISO 400
Exposed ISO 400
Lab Boutique Film Labs
Process E-6
Scanner Epson Perfection V600
Software VueScan 9, Negative Lab Pro, Adobe Lightroom

The Hills

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Hill by jansenphoto

Atop the hill…

My townhouse community, Montgomery Hills, lies on the southern border of Montgomery Township in Somerset County, fenced in by the woods on the northeast side of Princeton's Autumn Hill Preserve and the nearby historic village of Rocky Hill, 2.9 km away, at the foot of the Rocky Hill Ridge and across the waters of the Millstone River, along the D&R Canal Trail.

U.S. Post Office, Rocky Hill, NJ 08553 —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (18.7 mm, 0.005 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams

I've photographed many of the historic homes and buildings in Rocky Hill over the last 18 years, but the challenge keyword is "hill" but I wanted to capture images for the challenge, so I started first with Rocky Hill.

I can't say much about the post office. All my mail goes through the post office in Carnegie Center, which serves several areas under the "Princeton "zip codes (five).

Rocky Hill Inn, Rocky Hill, New Jersey —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, 0.004 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams

Built circa 1745, the Rocky Hill Inn is a historic colonial inn that by the 1800s had become a "fashionable summer excursion stop-off for city folks". Today it is a gastropub with multiple rooms that serves delicious American pub-style burgers and craft ales.

Burnt Hill Road —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16.5 mm, 0.005 sec at f/2.8, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams
Burnt Hill Road —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (32.1 mm, 0.013 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams

From Rocky Hill, I drove 7 km west over to Burnt Hill Road in Skillman, passing Cherry Hill Road on the way. The roads in Montgomery Township are narrow one-lane roads, the type you would expect to find in a small (former?) farming town, with steep embankments and ditches in many areas, no roadside and no sidewalks. I parked in a clearing on Burnt Hill Road near a hedgerow of wildflowers across the road from an abandoned farm bridge for the images on Burnt Hill Road. There was just enough space to keep the car mostly out of the road but kneeling or standing to take photographs, and I felt uneasy each time a vehicle approached.

From Burnt Hill Road, I drove over to Spring Hill Road, but I didn't find anything interesting to photograph. Spring Hill Road, which is narrow and winds its way up into the trees and over to East Amwell Township, is a fun drive in the right car. I was reminded of the weekend road trips we would take along the only "one car can pass" roads in Bequia packed into the back of Dad's Mini Cooper.

While enjoying the ride, I realised that photographing examples of the hills around the area would be challenging. There is no open plateau to stop and see the valley below and no open fields below to photograph the hills. Perhaps I should have gone hiking.

FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (55 mm, 0.040 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams
Servis Road —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, 0.006 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams

From Spring Hill Road, I drove to one of my favourite roads, Hollow Road on the border with Hillsborough Township, which has a spot where I usually park to photograph the Rock Brook, but this time I drove up to the top of Servis Road, hoping to see through the trees to the homes below. No such luck, and I had to quickly hop back into my car when I saw a pickup truck approaching. Servis Road is very narrow, and I doubted the pickup truck driver could get past our Acura RDX.

From the top of Grand View Road —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (38.8 mm, 0.005 sec at f/5.6, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams
From the bottom of Grand View Road —FujiFilm X-T2 + XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, 0.005 sec at f/11, ISO200), © Khürt L. Williams

From Servis Road, I drove over the one-lane bridge that connects Hollow Road to Grand View Road and down the hill to the bottom of Grand View near the entrance to Johnson & Johnson. I grabbed some photos of the hills in the distance.

I was disappointed, decided to head home, and took Mountain View Road to Cherry Hill Road, to County Route 518 to Orchard Hill Road and then back home.

The remainder of my images were captured from the car's driver-side while I parked on the roadway, keeping a close eye for oncoming traffic. At some point, I held the camera out the window with my right hand while driving with my left hand. It was dangerous and not ideal.

I was out capturing these images for about 90 minutes, with almost half of that time spent driving. My wife saw the disappointment on my face. She reminded me that my grandparents (Ollivierre) lived in a windy area at the top of Monkey Hill in Bequia, which is also the name of my consultancy. The image below was capture on an APS film camera while visiting my grandmother in the summer of 1998.

Helpoing move the goats, Monkey Hill, Bequia | August 1998 | Noritsu Koki EZ Controller | APS Film NORITSU KOKI Scan

My mom took this photograph of the family house on Dorsetshit Hill, near Kingstown, Saint Vincent, where I spent some of my youthful years and last years of high school. It's a partial view, from the wrap-around veranda, of the Kingstown harbour and the mountains. The word verandah, which I have always used in the British West Indies, but rarely hear in the USA< is from the from Hindi, but research indicates that the veranda itself originated in the British West Indies. I digress, but the verandah and British Colonial architecture is something that I hope to someday explore in detail with my camera.

Dorsetshire Hill Road is a long winding road that leads down to Kingstown from Dorsetshire Hill. At the foot of the road is an intersection of several streets near a neighbourhood historically referred to as "Sion Hill". It's where my dad grew up.

Dorsetshire Hill Home —Nikon D3200 + 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ (18 mm, 0.008 sec at f/4.0, ISO140), ©