Using 22 Year-Old Expired B&W Film

Is Using 22 Year-Old Expired B&W Film Worth It?

I guess the short answer to this question is “it depends.” It depends on what you are trying to get out of using it. If you are using it for anything mission critical then don’t. Using expired film should be treated as an experiment. A fun one but still an experiment.

Why Use Expired Film?

Actually, there are a couple of reasons. The first is purely pragmatic. Film in this digital age is relatively expensive as is developing, but it is often possible to pick up expired film at a much cheaper price than that of new fresh stock.

It’s usually just a matter of keeping your eyes open and your ear to the ground for stock although I do occasionally have some I sell here. There are so many forums (yes, I know it should be fora but nowadays forums is more common) on the Internet that have buy and sell sections.

Secondly, as I mentioned above it is an experiment. You never truly know what you are going to get even with black and white. With color that is even more of an unknown.

The Film Used

I have always been a huge fan of grainy black and white films so for my first foray into much older than usual expired film I chose Kodak Professional T-Max P3200.

The film was still sealed in its box and dated as 01/2004 so at the time of shooting was one month under 22 years out of date. Whereas I have used film out of date by a few months before without issue this was the first time I have used film stock this old.

The Camera Used

It sometimes feels like I have more cameras than I can count as I am always buying and selling both digital and film. I do, however, have a few that I keep because I like the way they handle.

For this expedition into the backstreets of downtown Charleston, West Virginia, I decided to use a recently acquired Minolta XG-1 partnered with a Minolta Rokkor 50mm f/1.7 lens. 50mm is actually wider than my usual walkabout lens but the 28mm (which is now on that camera) had not yet arrived.

Issues to be Considered With Expired B&W Film

T-Max P3200 is a film that can be pushed to ISO 3200 (hence the “P” in the name) but is actually rated at ISO 800. So, my first consideration was which ISO do I treat it as being? In the end I decided to treat it as ISO 3200 and push it.

Seems straightforward doesn’t it? However, film stock sensitivity degrades with the passage of time so even though I was intending to push it I set the camera to 800 ASA. As a rough guide for every 10 years past expiration you halve the ISO rating. So the camera would be set to 1600 ASA for 10 year-old stock and 800 ASA for 20 year-old. Mine was actually 24 but I decided to stick with counting it as 20 years old.

The Results

T-Max P3200 when pushed allows for shooting in very low light conditions while still retaining a relatively fine grain structure. Using 24 year-old film still let me shoot in low light but the results were much grainier than I would expect with fresh stock.

Additionally, although I will admit I have not used this film that often before, one thing I did notice is that the contrast was not as great as I expected. If you scan digitally this is easily corrected of course.

There were some frames that showed a light area at the side of the print (so a dark area on the negative) and at first I suspected the XG-1 had developed a light leak. But when I looked at the negative the dark area did not extend outside the picture frame.

If it had been a light leak that dark strip should have extended to the edge of the film and it didn’t. That really leaves uneven development or simple emulsion degradation as potential culprits.

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So, Is Using 22 Year-Old Expired B&W Film Worth It?

My personal view is “Yes it is.” As I said at the beginning using expired film should be viewed as an experiment. My walk around the quiet back alleys downtown is something that can easily be repeated so definitely not mission critical.

Overall, I was happy with the majority of shots I took and I would not hesitate to use expired film stock that old again. In fact, I will be doing exactly that later this year as I have several more rolls of the T-Max P3200. I will use a different camera next time and at the time of writing I will probably choose my Konica FS-1 and 40mm Hexanon.

In a nutshell, if you can get your hands on some cheap expired film then give it a go!