Tips for Expired Film 

The scariest thing in this video was him saying 2014 was 10 years ago

Thanks for the info. I hope to apply the same tactics to drinking expired milk.

I’ve got a roll of 127 film that expired in 1926. I’m going to wait 2 more years and try to shoot it at 100 years expired (I don’t expect good results it’s more of a novelty experiment)

babe (my nikon f2) wake up new grainydays video just dropped

Provia ages very well, I've shot plenty of rolls from 2006 that were not refrigerated and they did come out beautiful.

The best tip I ever got for shooting expired slide film is to shoot it about 1 to 1.5 stops over, and during development, pull the first developer by one stop, about 4:45 or 5m instead of the standard 6m time. That helps avoid the pretty common base fog issue that a lot of expired slide film has. I've had mixed success with it, but every once in a while I get decent results that way!

you're welcome jason. i lost my cool over dropping a roll of lomo purple in the sand there last november and went all freak on that wall. glad it looked good for you

Posted 40 seconds ago and its lunch time at work. What a damn treat... maybe...

There is in fact a way to salvage even very expired slide Film. I usually do it by overexposing one stop and cross process it in C-41 while pushing it another 1-2 stops. That gives me usable results (with crazy colors) even from Ektachrome 64 that expired 1987 and barely shows anything, when developed in E-6.

Something about that “today’s episode is sponsored by square space” that hits me when watching a Grainydays video

always getting a grainy-flashes double feature is one of my favorite little treats

Always a great day when a new Bad Flashes video drops

I recently bought some bargain expired film and it was all very good. Most impressive was 65 year expired Ansco black and white film. It was not cold-stored. I shot it at ISO 12 and got great results. I shot 35 year expired Velvia 100 in a pinhole camera and got surprisingly good results. I've shot various rolls of expired film and experimented with all of them and they all seemed very forgiving. I don't always follow the 10 years/one stop rule and still get good results. As long as it's a great bargain and cheaper than the cheapest new film, I'll buy and try it.

Interesting topic! I have a bunch of rolls of Panatomic X 120 that my brother purchased in about 1970. It has an expiration date of 1972ish. The film went from the camera store in 1970 directly into a -20 degree C freezer, where it sat for 50 years before I got it. I shoot it at box speed and it is still everything I loved about this film back when it was still made. Clearly, B&W low speed film can be used looooong after the expiration date if it’s been stored properly!

I like how sometimes you make the same videos like other youtubers about stuff that I've seen a 100 times and yet your videos are so much more interesting to watch

Always a good day when a new grainydays video drops

Cross-processing expired E6 in ECN-2 is my go-to. I shoot it at box and have gotten surprisingly good results.

Best possible tip for shooting expired slide film: cross-procese in C-41. For Ektachrome films especially cross processing allows for the return of a lot of colors that would otherwise be washed out in some overwhelming cast over the slide. This also means you can overexpose to compensate for a loss of sensitivity.

Man, i love your sense of humor

Expired Slide film can be fun though. I have some expired 1997 Velvia that comes out sharp and well exposed but with a heavy read cast. I'm saving the last 3 rolls for when I need flaming hot images.

I once shot a Efke R21 100 film that expired in 1975 at 6, 4 stops down. That was the oldest roll I've ever shot and all the shots came out. My friend shot Fuji Natura 1600 at 800 or 1000 and all the shots came out too. Expired Kodak E6 is dead to the world, but expired Fujichrome & Agfachrome yield quite nicely

I gave away the five rolls of expired film that I had been looking at. My friend Cade seemed to be glad to add it to his stash. I just got to thinking that if I wanted to take a picture of it, I wanted fresh film. I guess I am not adventurous in my old age. I am too close to my own expiration date... shoot fresh film.

Inspired by Jason, I tried shooting Ilford HP3 that expired in 1969 in my Mamiya 645 Pro. The film separated from the paper backing in the filmback, and was shredded and torn when I finally got it out. No more expired film for me!

What I'd recommend as a lab tech for E6 is to shoot at box speed and to pull the film by one stop during development. It often gets rids of some of the fogging issues. However, I wouldn't even bother to shoot any slide film that's over 15-20 years old.

My local shop will sometimes have expired film on sale for $5 a pop. It's usually 24 exposure rolls of Ultramax that I usually rate at 100 ISO and I've gotten pretty good results from them. Hell, one of my favorite shots as of late was shot on 2-decade old Kodak Gold and it came out wonderfully

I'm here more for his videos now than his photos, they just look so good

Panatomic-X and Verichrome Pan last a long time. I’ve shot Verichrome from 1970 that needed no extra light stops. Truly magical b&w film!

You are right about one thing! E6 can be saved by cross-processing and pushing one stop per decade. The colours will be off - but probably not as badly as you'd expect them to be. You are wrong about the +1 per decade rule for C-41 (or everything else but E6). It would be best to know how the film was stored. But even if you don't, +1 is way too much for everything slower than 1600 ASA. A friend recently inherited over 1000 cameras and lenses and a lot of expired film that I use to test these cameras for him. In other words, I've recently shot and developed massive amounts of expired film. The +1 rule is nonsense! However, it works for films that isn't much older than 3 decades, because even this film can handle being overexposed by about 2 steps, easily! So, okay, you might use this rule and there will be no harm done. You're not gonna use expired film for really important stuff, anyway. But nevertheless, +1 is still wrong and please definitely don't use it on colour film that's more than 3 decades old, well, unless shooting a subject with low contrast. FWIW, latent images are even more interesting. I've recently cross-developed E6 from 1983 push 3. Now the images are overdeveloped by 3 steps 🥳

+3 stop of light for Grainydays. Super Helpful video. Thanks man !

Jason and linus video on same day gawd dayuuum

Oh oh so this is a personal pro tip but, whenever I shoot expired slide film, I read online that while it ultimately depends on how the film was stored, for one that was stored outside, it's best to take about 1 stop off every 15 years, and this somehow works really really well for me. Like it comes out looking warmer like retrochrome but it works really well. I've used this trick on expired Ektachrome VS, Fuji Velvia, Fuji Provia, all from 2004-2006 and it has gave me back good results. :D

I’ve spent the last month watching all of your videos and I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your passion, your knowledge, and your perfect son Baxter. Most importantly, thank you for sharing the photos that don’t quite work out, the occasional lack of knowledge, and your feelings of doubt and insecurity. It means a lot to someone very new at this that even extremely talented artists still have times where they mess up and hate every photo they’ve ever made. Hopeful for more long road trip videos in the future (my favorite, but I can’t begin to imagine how much work goes into them), but all of your work is greatly appreciated.

Ive shot a few rolls of P3200 from the late 80s early 90s. And it always turns out super cool

I bought 20-year expired 1600 ISO konica color negative film on ebay from Bulgaria and can't wait to see how horrible of an idea that was.

6:52 that stop sign framed by those poles and wires would have been an ace shot.

I’ve been shooting film expired by 20 years because three rolls were unexpectedly included with a camera I bought just for the lens that was attached. So I kept both the camera and the film. Hadn’t shot film since the 90s. Wouldn’t recommend expired film.

My main reason for shooting expired film is that I bought it 10-15 years ago and forgot I had it 😂 Appreciate the tips!

I just got 3 boxes of Velvia 100f (exp. 2004/2008) in 4x5 for 60€. Good to know you’re still supposed to shoot it at box speed.

The luckiest ive ever gotten with expired film was with four rolls of Provia 1600(which is just Provia 400 that was designed to be pushed up to three stops) that expired in 2002 and was kept in a freezer until i got it. Shot a few test shots and it lost maybe a third to two thirds of a stop of sensitivity. Even shot a few frames at ISO 400 and one underexposed at like 600ish and they all turned out really well. Maybe the fact that that film in particular was made to have a crazy dynamic range helped it perform so well but it's still crazy to me that it's still this good

I shot some Kodachrome that expired in 1968, results werent great by any means but you could make out what was in most of the photos so I was really happy with the results

Photographing the Mojave Almost Makes You Wish For a Nuclear Winter.

I actually bought some expired film recently, including two rolls of slide film. After some research i found that overexposing expired slide film can help with haze or weird color casts so i'll try that out when i shoot them

I may have given you that panatomic x cuz I remember I had a crapload of it. Or maybe not. Can’t remember.

I took a Kodak 35 mm which was 20 years old took it with a Werra 1 camera took it to a shop to get it developed perfect negs two years ago 👍 kept films in freezer that’s the way to store them

Wow, I really had to put on my thinking hat for that one.

nail on the head. i have a bunch of expired film, some being e6. shot a couple of test rolls, highlights were blown out and some rolls were blank. all were freezer stored before expiration and 20 years old. with the cost of processing e6 being expensive AF, im dumping my e6 rolls online and keeping all b&w and c41 rolls.

I have some 20 to 30 year expired Agfa APX 25, that had been stored in a shed for 15 years, that still shoots fine at box speed. Low ISO b&w just doesn’t give up

There’s expiration and film being exposed by background radiation. Exposure by background radiation can’t be stopped, even when frozen. That’s the main reason why slower films keep better than faster films. Because film always exposes some of itself after it’s been exposed and even if it haven’t, when a very sensitive film was exposed by background radiation, it then raises the base fog even more by adjacent silver crystals being exposed from that. Something like a slow B&W film can even be shot at box speed many years after expiration and well stored color negative as well if it’s slow enough to not have been exposed by radiation. But the faster films will just pick up all that radiation. It’s also worth mentioning that box speed doesn’t mean effective sensitivity since some films have a lot of underexposure latitude. Something like Fuji Superia 400 may act more like a faster film when stored frozen because it has a lot of underexposure latitude. The same is true for Portra 800 because it’s crazy sensitive.

I've found that 100 and slower black and white degrades a lot slower. 1 stop of light for 30 years of age. And the slower the ISO the more stable it is. I've got some Orwo from the 90s ISO 8 . That I still shoot at box speed.

Good and interesting video, Jason. It looks like you nailed the exposure. I have never shot expired film.

Great video and examples. I've shot a good amount of expired film (around 80 rolls). I agree with your notes about C41 and B&W but my experience with slide film has been the opposite. It's my favorite one to find expired and it's the one film that needs the least amount of exposure compensation IF the seller cold stored it. I'd say over 90% of the time if the seller said it was cold stored I either shot at box speed or only 1/3rd of a stop over and I got perfect turnout. I think it degrades the least over time compared to color negative and B&W IF it's cold stored.

Tip on shooting expired slide film. Process it in c41. For some reason cross processing it helps a lot. I send my film to dexters camera in Ventura and they offer this service

Some films/emulsions seem to fare better than others. E-6 prior to ~2000 is likely fucked unless it's been stored below -10C in a lead lined box. Very old 120 films (like prior to 1970) tend to get imprinted by their backing paper and heavily fogged unless they've been perfectly stored (but more likely sat in the top of a danky closet until someone died). I have had good results with film (including E-6) from reputable ebay sellers when the film has been frozen since purchase (according to the seller anyway).

Great results! My main problem is my film scanner (really old Plustek) doesn't handle overexposure well or at least I didn't learn how to address that. Cheers!

Haha damn I thought I was finally gonna see that Ektachrome underwater and Infrared I sent get used. Not only is it outdated E6, it also would've become friends with a few xray machines coming from New Zealand no doubt. I do similar when shooting expired C41, the 10 years 1 stop method, then I usually say ah fuck it just before I press the button and throw another stop or two at it. Works 50% of the time every time. Old B&W seems to be fine at box or a stop over usually, box with a stop push in dev sometimes. If I have a 100ft roll I typically do some testing and find a happy spot. You got real lucky on those positive sheets though, they came out lovely considering.

From my experience, Fujifilm slide films hold a lot lot lot better than Kodak ones. I've shot a bunch of Provia, Astia, Velvia or even Fortia from early 2000s. Surprisingly 80% of them looks quite decent. While i'd say Kodak slides only a 5-10% chance of performing okay from the same period of time.

i love this dudes videos man

Local photo store here has a container of expired photo in their film fridge. It says the film has always been cold stored. I don’t know how expired the film is (I suspect fairly recently), but am curious if the fact that it’s always been cold stored affects those rules of thumb for exposure. Great video and super great topic!

Hi Jason, Enjoyed your video. I shoot and post a lot of expired film. Good rules you show for all film. I had good luck with Vericolor 400 too. If you need content for your videos, do one on a roll of expired film! Anthony.

I have been shooting E100VS that I bought in 2006 and was mostly frozen since then. I shoot it at box speed and it is very slightly underexposed so I might try 1/2 stop over. There is a strong blue/magenta cast so the green pixels seem to go first. Like pretty much allof them. The first half dozen images are rubbish since they were on the outside of the roll and exposed to more atmosphere than the inner layers of the roll. But the inner layers are exposed to more off-gassed chemicals so have their own weirdness going on. I mostly shoot this film in fog since the blue/magenta cast results in blue trees and pink fog. Converting to B&W in post doesn't work well because the emulsion is pretty thin so there is basically no contrast to work with.

I LOVE GRAINYDAYS (frfr tho u got me into film photography)

lunchtime jason vid what a great thursday

I enjoyed the expired film cult orientation film. I shall now use my rolls of 20 year expired Neopan 400 as per the instructions. Hail Baxter.

I just found 5 rolls of Expired Superia from 2005 with a Pentax K1000, this video came at the right time.

Panatomic-X is THE exception, it just doesn't age and looks as beautiful as in your nostalgia-infused dreams, like Baxter. Panatomic shoots at box speeds even 50 years after it was made.

Do you also pull the film in development? I had a roll of Tudor 200 that was from the 90s, shot it at 50 and pulled it. Came out great. Maybe that’s inconsequential? Pulling film is also very much less talked about.

literally the most perfect timing because i just got some 13 year expired velvia 100F in 120 and 30+ year expired tmax 100 in 4x5. while i may possibly be f*cked with the velvia (surely 10 years isn't so bad) the guy who sold me the tmax shot it at box speed and it was fine. from what i hear the larger the format the more resistant it can be to the effects of degradation from age so hopefully the film turns out.

I panic bought a shit loaf of Fuji slide film and I guess I need to blow through that shit now.

I have been running through some tri-x and verichrome both 125 speed films I bought 20 years ago shot at box speed did well. received a couple rolls of vericolor III might wind up just developing as black and white.

I have a shoe box full of 120 film, Fuji Reala, Fujichrome, some Kodak Ektachrome, TriX, PlusX, etc. Must be 15 years old. Just need to get a medium format camera.

Back before you were born, I used Panatomic X by the 100 ft roll. Super fine grain, and slow as my ex.

Im here from Caleb's video. He said Baxters Dad uploaded today.

I held my breath with you while shooting ISO 8 handheld wtfffff 🤣

I mean the smart thing to do would be to just use your Hasselblad and have expired film on one back and fresh film on another so no risk, but we are talking about Jason sooo carry on.

literally what i needed thanks man

I shot a roll of Kodak Kodacolor VR1000 that expired in 1974, in a Pentax SP1000 I had just bought and never tested😎 Side note, what 4x5 were you shooting? I want to empty my bank account to buy it now.

The last shot at 7:25 looks like an aerial photo

One more thing to notice about 120 expired film... Backing paper appear in negatives!!

Unreal video, a brief distraction from the harsh reality of film prices and the fact that I will die sometime. So I wonder if any of this effort I put into this so called life thing even matters if I will end up in the same ground that rich, poor, famous and irrelevant people will be in.

8:36 "durr slide film has no lattitude!!!1!1!1!1!" Nerds in shambles after this one

Nice, just when I'm feeling down I get this little dopamine

I sucked at math in school, I’m definitely gonna fail in photography math 😂

Good to know about Slide film… not like I don’t have 30 year old Ektachrome in my fridge…

do you expose more or less if you're unsure of the expiry date? my camera shop always seems to have expired film but it's always just the rolls without packaging so it's an estimated guessing game based on when the film was manufactured and/if it was discontinued

I remember 1974, back then people didn't really appreciate Portra 400 like they do today.

seeing this video right after finding out about yet another kodak price increase

Your coast to coast video, you said you were using a test film like aerochrome infrared color- are ever gonna find out what it is or how to get it? I have to make infrared color images in this lifetime 😭😭😭

It would’ve been cool if you changed your iso back to the original speed mid roll and compared

👋 Quick question - When you take it to the lab for development, do you ask them to develop it at box speed or to develop it for the speed you shot it at? For instance: with a 10 year expired 400 ISO shot at 200 ISO (+1 stop based on the rule) - Should I ask the lab develop this at 400 or 200 ISO?

I like this guy.

Love the content man. What's the camera at 8.33? Is it a Horseman field camera

I HAVE NEEDED THIS

How do you develop the film normal? Or at the iso you shot it at?

I found some portra 400 from 2023 for $40 bucks/roll. Should I cop??

Do you need to push the film when developing if you do this?

Nice video as always. Do you also add time during development or tell the lab that the film is expired?

Bro I just shot an expired roll of Kodak 200 yesterday 💀 Wished I knew about this beforehand

Been waiting for this one

Is there a way to find out what year your roll of film expired if it wasn’t in a box? I was given a roll of Tri-X 400 that was stored in a shed for probably a couple decades and I’ve stored it in a fridge for a couple years and I want to shoot it.

Ever shoot with ultramax 800? Best expired film to shoot with imo