Expired Film Crisis!

[TAMARIN]

I'm currently touring Yemen (Middle East) for a month, but have run out of the B&W film I bought in South Africa. I have searched the entire capital of Sana'a, but the only B&W film I can find is Kodak 100T-MAX (all dated 08/2004!). I will be returning home at the end of the month, so I'll atleast be able to it process them before August. Will this effect the quality of my negs or am I safe? (Bearing in mind that I would like to exhibit this documentary?) Yemen is a reasonably hot country and these films were not kept in a fridge.

It's either take the chance…or just shoot colour?!

Comments much appreciated.

[Sebastian]

Don't even worry about it, it can take years before the film gets noticably bad after expiration. In the hot climate it might come sooner, but still not within a month. Take all the photos you want, and STAY SAFE.

[another view]

The biggest problem with out of date film is color shifts. With B&W that's not really a problem... Stored properly, the date almost doesn't matter according to some people I know. I wouldn't worry about it too much, especially 100 speed. It can handle more than you think, but I would try to develop as soon as you can regardless of the date. If you're not familiar with Tmax, it can be a tough film to develop really well so you might want to pick up another roll or two to experiment with before trying important shots. I'm not an expert on developing, but it's just a different film to work with. I just always had grain problems with it, probably my fault.

If you want B&W, shoot the Tmax. Shooting to color and converting to B&W just isn't the same. And - let's be careful out there.