Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

What went wrong with this film?
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:56 pm    Post subject: What went wrong with this film? Reply with quote

Today I was trying out some expired Fuji Superia 400 color negative film (expiry date in 2007). I have tried old film before, but apart from slight color casts I did not expect anything else.

What went wrong with this film? Even for ISO 400 the results look more like ISO 3200, also there's more color in the lower part of the picture, the rest is washed out??? Is this a film defect or did the shop a lousy job? Wink





PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It looks underexposed to me. What sort of light meter did you use? I've found that, whenever I've underexposed print film, it gets very grainy, especially in the shadows. The color streak at the base is curious, though.

I've used color print film recently that was way past a 2007 expiration date -- like 2004 -- and the prints I got back from it were still good. I even asked the lady at the lab if they had to do much in the way of color correction and she said that they didn't.

Of course, the way it's been stored these past few years will make a difference, but typically I've seen this more as a color shift problem not a sensitivity to light problem.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used my trusty Spotmatic with my also trusty Gossen Luna Pro meter. The meter is correct because I have tested my DSLR's in Manual mode with that meter.

The Spotmatic should be working correctly, just as it did with the previous film (100% of the shots were exposed properly on slide film). And what about the bar with much more color at the bottom?


PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Film looks like it got "cooked" perhaps in a car during summer, etc. I have
some rolls of KG100 that I bought off the bay that are starting to exhibit
this same condition. A friend of mine told me high heat/humidity can do
this to film. I won't be buying expired film from a seller in Asia any more.

Thinking about having my wife send me some Lucky film from Thailand.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Katastrofo wrote:
Film looks like it got "cooked" perhaps in a car during summer, etc. I have
some rolls of KG100 that I bought off the bay that are starting to exhibit
this same condition. A friend of mine told me high heat/humidity can do
this to film. I won't be buying expired film from a seller in Asia any more.

Thinking about having my wife send me some Lucky film from Thailand.


I would have to agree with "storage damage." As we all know, film gets weird when in various conditions...heat, sunlight, humidity...etc. Cold tends to slow the changes in the emulsion while heat speeds them up.

As a former lab worker, that is what I think with regards to the blue stripe, and partially, the grain Confused

The grain and loss of contrast would lead me to think of underexposure, then "pushing" by the scanning software to compensate...and I think that the camera's meter may be "off" in lower light situations. Has the camera been used with ISO 400 film, outside? Have you used it in other low light situations?

PS Bill: Have her ship a big box of Lucky over Laughing Wink


PostPosted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Never, ever trust expired color film.

Jules