Camera Talk

Any guesstments on how long C-41 film will last after being frozen? I have some that has been in my freezer for well over 10 years.
I would shoot some but there is no place except mail order to get it developed.
I have tools to develop film but at 80yo my hands don't let me spool.
I would like to try out 1 or 2 of my old cameras & lens but don't want to waste money if the film is already bad

Answer to my own question----- buy some new film.

film does not go 'bad'...it becomes 'Artsy'.......hipsters will pay big dollars for 'Art"film. mwwuhahaahahahahahgaaaaaa

i have found a market for my Artsy film..........

My own experience:

400 ISO film will last about 10 years maximum for useable results because of fog. Problem is color fading and fog. YMMV with color fading.

100 ISO film, longer than that.

I do not freeze film, only keep it in the refrigerator but not in the freezer.

Ron, I use old film a lot -- my film supply has been almost exclusively expired stuff for five years, maybe longer.

In my experience, C41 film kept in a freezer for ten years is nearly indistinguishable from when it was fresh. As film ages, poor colour is the first thing to be noticed -- colour shifts and a decay in accuracy of colour. Slow film will decay more slowly than fast film. If your film was fast to begin with, it will more likely be changed than if it was slow to begin with.

I *like* the effects of decaying film (that's why I use it!) and, as it gets more old (or has been left in warm places a long time), almost everything starts to break down: it gets blotchy, the "grain" gets bigger, acuity (or whatever you call fineness of detail on film) is reduced, and so on. Often it can be shot, developed and scanned as colour, but processed into a b&w image by choosing one or another of the colour channels. That makes for (in my opinion) not bad b&w images.

There is a rough rule that C41 film slows down a stop per decade, and many people use the one-stop-per-decade rule in exposing it. That's not bad for overall exposure (especially when you're using thirty- and forty-year-old film), but it will never bring back the detail and colour that deteriorates in old film.

B&w film decays *way* more slowly than colour film. And E-6 film goes more quickly than C41 film.

Thaw your frozen film very slowly to ambient temperature before you open the foil packaging or canister - this will prevent condensation forming on the film itself or in the cassette. Then, just try a roll, adjusting the iso (ASA) according to Philip's advice above. Very minor colour shifts will usually be corrected in printing if you tell the lab that the film is way OOD. Alternatively you can have it developed only and have the negatives scanned as B&W.

10+ year old Ektachrome from the freezer.
Train take me out of this place by Larry D, on Flickr

Larry, those reds are good indeed.

The following two were taking with Konica 400 C-41 film, 120 size, so old that the guy in the store gave it to me when I asked what it cost. At least 10 years after expiration date.





There is some color shift and fog, if you look for it. Useable pictures anyway.