What is Expired Film?
Expired film refers to photographic film that has passed its manufacturer’s expiration date. Most of the time, the expiry date can be found on the packaging box of the film. The same also applies to disposable cameras, the expiry date on disposable camera is meant for the film that has been preloaded inside the camera during the manufacturing process. Film, unlike modern digital cameras, relies on chemical reactions to capture images. When film ages, the sensitivity and strength of its chemical layer will degrade which may lead to unpredictable results once developed.
Is it okay to use Expired Films?
The answer is, it depends. Whether or not an expired film is safe to use totally depends on how the roll was kept throughout its entire lifespan. When a film is kept in the freezer, inside a tightly sealed container of course, it can actually last for more than 10 years with minimal effect on its quality. Just make sure you let it rest in room temperature for couple hours after taking it out from the freezer to prevent condensation from happening. In contrast, if a fresh film is stored in a hot place, such as inside a car parked under the sun for weeks, chances are the film will go bad before even getting close to the expiry date. In other word, how an expired film is stored plays a massive role in deciding whether or not the photo result will come out nicely after the developing process.
Someone is selling Expired Films at cheap price, should you buy it?
Now that we've learned the way the expired film is stored is very important, when trying to purchase expired films from online or offline sellers, it's recommended to figure out some of the important information to prevent making mistakes. Even when buying fresh films, if the expiry date isn't shown on the listing, always ask for these details from seller before proceeding with the payment process such as:
- How the film is stored
- When's the expiry date
- Sample photos if available
You have a Samsung 200 Film that expired on 2009 sitting in your cabinet, safe to use?
If you are able to inspect the expired film close-up, there's a simple yet brutal way to check the film and roughly know whether or not the film is safe to be used. The method is..... smell the film. Yes, it's not a typo, smell it. If the film emits a strong vinegar smell then I have a sad news for you, the film has most likely gone bad, the chemical on the film has dried up which makes it not worth it to be used. The stronger the vinegar smell is, the bigger red flag the film is.
Photos of an Expired Film roll, what do they look like?
The result of an expired film roll is very unpredictable, some expired films may yield okay-ish result but the badly stored expired films will almost always yield result that almost looks like blank film. 2 rolls of the same exact expired film will yield different result depends on how they are stored prior to use.
Photos above went through extreme color tuning to make the subject more visible but of course not all expired film will end up like the ones above. Following are some of the more successful photos of an expired Kodak Gold film that expired on 2006.
Why do people use Expired Film?
The cost of an expired film is usually cheaper than modern fresh film. Some film enthusiasts actually started their film journey thanks to that 1 roll of expired Konica 200 film sitting in their hometown's cabinet. Another thing is, instead of spending money to buy a fresh Kodak roll to test out a newly acquired film camera, an expired film can be a more budget friendly option. A nicely stored expired film can actually create some interesting results too, an expired Kodak Colorplus that's nicely stored might be able to yield less saturated photos, perhaps that might be the color tone you've been looking to have on your photos.
Is it worth using Expired Films?
Depends on your mindset, if you prefer to maximize the amount of nice photos every time you shoot a roll of film then expired films may not be a good option for you since the results can be unpredictable.
Thanks to inflation, the cost of everything are gradually increasing so it's not unusual for film enthusiasts to pickup expired films here and there to combat the high price of fresh films. For situation like this, I'd say its worth using expired films.
If you would like to try expired films, one important thing to keep in mind is to not expect anything when shooting them, just keep a calm mind and understand that you can't predict the result. That being said, I still highly recommend not using an expired film roll during important events such as wedding or party.
That's all for this topic for now, any suggestion or feedback feel free to let us know!
