Expired Film Day
This post has the rest of my #ExpiredFilmDay roll of 25 year old cross processed Ektachrome 100
I am skipping over a backlog of film (27 rolls or so from 2016) waiting to be posted in order to celebrate Expired Film Day, which was yesterday. These shots are from a roll of Ektachrome 100 (EPN 120) that expired in 1991. The film is part of a batch that came with my Mamiya M645 Super when I bought it a year or so ago.
I metered it at ISO50, and had the film cross processed in C41 chemistry. The results are a bit unexpected as the colours are not shifted much, even when I do a neutral scan of the negatives. Another surprise was the low amount of grain as I thought that 25 years of sitting around would have made it more grainy. There is another roll of the 100, and several of Ektachrome 64 – next time I use it I must see how it comes out…
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burnt embers 
When you use old expired film, what are you hoping for, Mr E? You sound disappointed that the photos came out so well!
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Hi Kate. Generally I hope for the best possible from expired film. A lot of the expired film I shoot is less than 10 years old and mostly is just fine.
However, slide film is sensitive stuff at the best of times, and after 25 years it should be quite funky (hard for me to believe that 1991 was 25 years ago!). Processing slide film in print film chemicals (one kind of cross processing) should have emphasized that funkiness with some quite major colour shifts and possibly heightened grain as well. I was expecting the usual funkiness for 25 year old slide film with slight or more colour shifts and quite a lot of grain so thought I might as well emphasize that by cross processing. For whatever reason, it did not work out that way. I was a bit disappointed for this roll, though normally I would be pleased that it came out this well.
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It is a fascinating trend in photography! I love that sense of experimental exploration and fun that people communicate in their blogs when using old techniques in new ways. I am in the process of trying to find someone to take a wet plate collodion photo of me at a photobooth in the city. If that turns out too expensive, maybe a studio shot with some of my tintype photo booth and/or paper examples will suffice. I’m so glad the old processes are being revived in the case of tintypes or kept alive in the case of film by enthusiasts such as yourself.
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What a great idea for a portrait. Wet plate might be hard to set up on site like that unless they have a mobile darkroom of some kind but it should be doable if the security guards can handle it. There are the really old method enthusiasts around here too, and it is fun to see them doing their stuff.
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Glad you like the idea, Mr E! There are no security guards, thankfully, as the machine is on the street. The guy I have in mind did a tintype portrait for me two years ago, and he had a portable set up for developing the photos. I think the issue will be lighting as there wouldn’t be enough natural light and there is nowhere to plug them in. Plus the cost may be prohibitive.
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I hope my expired Ektachrome 100 comes out as good, or as close to your image. 🙂
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Thanks Shaun – I was very surprised at the quality of this film – very little grain, and even with cross processing some nice colour rendering. The previous owner, who bought it new, said she had kept it in the camera bag the whole time, in a closet. I have another roll of her 100, and 3 or so of ISO 64 which I will try shooting with E6 processing.
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