Expired Film Question

[Hatrick]

My sister was doing some spring cleaning recently and came across some exposed, yet expired film (over a couple of years old expired). What's the deal with the expiration date on film and is it worth it to take the film in to be developed? Is there a good "rule of thumb" regarding the expiration dates on film?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Charles Hess]

I don't know of any rule of thumb re: film usage, but I've heard some success stories using expired film. I would just not use it for any memorable occasions. It doesn't hurt to try it for some snapshots.

My sister was doing some spring cleaning recently and came across some exposed, yet expired film (over a couple of years old expired). What's the deal with the expiration date on film and is it worth it to take the film in to be developed? Is there a good "rule of thumb" regarding the expiration dates on film?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[dsl712]

The images on the exposed film should turn out alright. May have a slight color shift. But typically, if the film is stored in a cool place (I keep mine in the frig) it will still be viable for years after the expiration date.

But I don't use expired film for any serious applications. More just for cheap snap shooting or practice film.

Dennis

[another view]

The way I read your question, the film was exposed a couple of years ago - correct? I'd try it, should be OK for most purposes. One member here found some really nice shots recently in a similar situation!

[Hatrick]

Thanks for your replies! I told my sister to go ahead and get the film developed. I have always heard "film and processing is cheap, but the pictures could be priceless." Now I just have to wait to see how they turn out!

[the other Ruth]

I had a film processed that was over 30 years old that I aquired in an old camera....but it was too old and the negatives weren't to great. In general it can be best to just get the negatives developed and thne see if they are worth printing.

Hope the pictures come out well and there's some good memories.

Ruth

[fenderslash]

A few weeks ago I found my mother's old camera that had a used roll of film still inside it. I was very curious so I put it in for processing. From the images on the film I dated the pics as being taken in about 1979! I live in the tropics, so it had many hot summers to surive before processing, and the image quality was quite poor. But there WERE images, and in my view it was well worth the effort and expense of processing the film, just for the content of these long-lost pics. A bit of effort with Photoshop on some scans I did has improved the quality quite a bit. So I'm sure that since your film is only a couple of years out-of-date then the picture quality will still be acceptable. So go for it -- it'll be a kick seeing what you get back.

[Hatrick]

I just talked to my sister, and she had the film developed. She said everything turned out "fine" and the pictures were from college (about six years ago!!!) Next time I stop by her house, I'm going to check them out to see how well they did turn out. Thanks again everybody for your advice!!!