Film Really Is Amazing! Expired & Abused, Still Delivers

Scheimpflug · Expire: 2011-11-18

It is all too easy to get caught up in the "instant gratification" of digital, and forget just how amazing film is as an image capture medium. Be it severe exposure mistakes, improper storage, past its expiration, or even rough handling bordering on abuse- at the end of the day, film delivers in a way that is truly remarkable. Cool

Here is one of my most recent test shots. I just wanted to see if the film was any good, so pretty much every step of the way is flat-out wrong, yet... it still worked! Shocked

* Kodak color aerial film, expired in 1979 (32 years past expiration!)
* Not stored properly (for who knows how long?) AND from a water-damaged box
* A piece was rough cut from the sheet with scissors, and stuck into my Pentax P50 in the changing bag
* Shot at ISO 12, a random guess (+3 from what I thought it was intended to be). Since I just had a chunk of film in the camera, there was no ability to bracket exposures - I had just one shot.
* Jammed into a developing spool sideways (across the reel flanges lengthwise), since my cut of film wasn't the right shape to stay in the spool the correct way
* Cross-processed as B&W, instead of whatever aerial color process the film was intended for
* Developed in a handmade batch of Caffenol, mixed with only half of the ingredients (I only had the coffee and washing soda, but no vitamin-C or potassium bromide), and made without any measuring or weighing of any ingredients. Shocked

I developed for an amount of time guesstimated based on dunking a second piece in the same mixture and watching the color change, and at a lower temperature since the emulsion sogged off of my test piece in the warm developer. Shocked

* Washed in tap water, fixed in Kodak fixer (cold from sitting on the floor), and washed again in tap water. No temperatures were checked at all, for any step of the process, and the temperatures were not consistent. Shocked

* Fixed for 50+ minutes with agitation Shocked

(this is how long it took for a test strip to *partially* clear)

I let the negative dry, cut it again to fit a film holder, and scanned it on my trusty old Epson 1640 SU upside-down since the curl was so severe... and what did I get? This:

Sure, it reticulated like mad from the temperature extremes... but, holy crap- it's an image! Shocked

Has anyone else taken film through hell and back, and been surprised or pleased by the results? Question

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Amazing!

mmelvis · Expire: 2015-05-09

Very nice. What is the actual size of this film?

Scheimpflug · Expire: 2011-11-18

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Mos6502 · Joined: 20 Jun 2011 Posts: 960 Location: Austin

I've used a lot of very old film. Here are some images from verichome pan, rolls expired between 1963 and 1969 - 127 format.

You'd hardly know the film was 40 years expired! Unless you saw the negatives. All of these images were printed with a number 5 filter, and number 5 filter only because the film was rather fogged split filtering or trying to use anything less only produced muddy images. But printed with the contrast "way up" they came out pretty clear.

I've used some other old films, but Verichome Pan seems to stay the best.

Scheimpflug · Expire: 2011-11-18

cooltouch, Mos6502, these are all excellent results! Cool

Two very different situations as well - the durability of film after development, and the pre-exposure useful life well beyond expiration.

cooltouch - your father's photos are remarkably sharp! Were these medium format, and do you happen to know what type of camera he used?

stingOM · Expire: 2012-12-27

Amazing stuff!

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

barnaby · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 59 Location: Hampshire UK

I have recently developed my first roll of 35mm, and the results were OK for a first attempt. But the best for me was a roll that I had left in an old Argus A camera. The results were scratched and covered in flecks of chipped paint from the camera, it had that real old look.

I didn't develop the next photo but I did take it using a Yashica Mat camera that I rebuilt. The negative has been on my desk for over a year and has picked up some dust and scratches, but I think it adds to the character. My scanner arrived yesterday in the post, so I was pleased to finally see this image of our chickens, it also confirms that i should use my Yashica Mat more.

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

That's fantastic!! Shocked

Try this with a CMOS/CCD. Wink

All jokes aside, it is really amazing how well you were able to get an image out of this.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

That Mat image is fantastic, Barnaby. But then I'm biased, being the owner of a Mat 124 (not the G).

Zapp-Branigan requested more photos of my Dad's from his time in Korea. At the time, I didn't really have much available. But now I have quite a few up at my Gallery, both Kodachrome and B&W. Click on the page numbers or right arrow to advance through the pages of photos:

http://michaelmcbroom.com/gallery3/index.php/korea_1952-54?page=1

barnaby · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 59 Location: Hampshire UK

Thanks cooltouch, yes the same here mine is not the 'G' version, not that there is much differences between the two anyway.

I'm liking the photo's your Dad took in Korea 1952-54, I find these types of images very fascinating.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

barnaby · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 59 Location: Hampshire UK

Yes I understand what you are saying with regards to daguerreotypes, I have been thinking of trying some stain developer like one of the Pyro's to enhance this effect. I too like the look of daguerreotypes and think some good results could be had with such combinations of developer, camera and lens.

I have just bought the Darkroom cook book so will learn how to make up some developer first, one step at a time. Wink

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Coffee developer might be just what you're looking for. It actually does a very nice job. Google it and you'll get plenty of hits showing the results you can expect.