Yashica-Mat • Kodak Ektachrome 64T (tungsten-balanced), expired March 1997 • Cross-processed
The 1964 Ford truck again, taken during the same sunrise as the ones I shared in my recent Kiev 4AM blog post.
I got downright giddy when I saw this truck sitting out on the auction sales floor. Times like these are why I make sure to have a camera with me at all times.
Another day, another batch of expired film.
I just wrote a post about using some expired film that I got from ebay and talked about why using old film can be tricky. I love using expired slide film for cross-processing, but I tend to shy away from overly-expired regular color film. That’s because some of the effects of age can look worse on print film than on cross-processed film (as the latter is supposed to have kooky colors anyway.) But I recently reminded myself about this one time that I had a few rolls of old Kodak print film and loved the results. I decided to take a chance on some Kodak Pro 400MC film I found on ebay. It expired in 1996. Yikes!
I actually started this test roll in my Yashica D TLR and swapped it over to my newly-acquired Yashica-mat TLR. And I think my film photography friends will be proud of me, because I took notes of what settings I used for these so I’d know what I’d done right or what I’d done wrong when I got the film developed!
I’d just taken a portrait of my Yashica D with my Polaroid SLR 680, then returned the favor by taking the 680’s portrait with the Yashica (+2 close-up lens used)
Our Christmas tree, with close-up filter attached to the Yashica (+2 close-up lens used)
My new boots. My “Christmas bonus”*
Sweet Lionel! From my photo session with his family at Christmas
My darling new single cup coffee maker. Christmas pressie from my mom! (+1 close-up filter used)
After this frame of film, I went into a dark closet, and presto chango, the film was out of the Yashica D and in the Yashica-mat!
The pretty jukebox at work
A few quick shots from the morning after we got some snowfall down here
Conclusion?
In the aforementioned blog about expired film, I said that it can lose light sensitivity. I chose to shoot my test roll of Pro 400MC as if its ISO were 200. Meaning, I gave it one extra stop of light. This seemed to work well! I was expecting the colors to be a lot more “off” than they are – which they aren’t really – only a little softer in tone. I actually love the somewhat muted contrast. The only frames of film that weren’t “keepers” were a result of operator error. Namely, I didn’t steady the camera well enough during longer exposure times. I’m so glad I have more of this to play with!
*I work for myself, so I gave myself a Christmas bonus. Of new gray boots. Savvy? 😉
Last year, I bought a batch of medium format slide film from eBay. Very EXPIRED medium format film. Most of it expired in 1999. Why would I buy really old film? Because I have had really cool results by using expired slide film and cross-processing it (I explained about cross-processing in another blog post last year.)
There are a lot of things that can happen to film as it ages. Along with possible color shifts, film can lose a certain amount of light sensitivity when it’s expired. That can make getting proper exposures tricky. Another factor in how well film has aged is how the film was stored throughout the years. If it was kept in a cold, dry place (like a freezer or refrigerator) then the effect of time could be minimal. But with film like the batch I bought, I have no real way of knowing how it was stored. That’s a gamble when you buy expired film from eBay…
I decided that I needed to test a roll of this film so I could see what kind of shape it was in after nearly 15 years. I loaded it in my Bronica ETRSi and gave it a go!
(the above photos were taken with my Samsung NX1100)
I asked the lab to cross-process the film for me, and here are the results:
Dilapidated sign in Memphis
This photo is only included because it makes me laugh. Perfectly captured my niece’s mannerisms
Goldenrod
I got my niece to pose in some of her T-shirts that I like (this is her ‘model’ face, btw)
Probably petting one of her dogs, who were clamoring for attention
Her real personality. Goofy!
I don’t know how I got her to take her glasses off…love her Turtle Power shirt though!
Climbing the front porch
Holding on and hanging out on the porch
Bronica ETRSi • Zenzanon 75mm/2.8 EII • Fuji Provia 400, exp. January 1999, Cross-processed
Conclusion?
I’m pretty darned pleased with how the photos came out. I can look at the negatives and tell how a few were a bit underexposed . That just means I’ll have a better idea about the film’s exposure needs when I shoot the rest of my batch of this film.
(I have eight more rolls of the Fuji Provia 400 in the crisper drawer of my fridge!!! Exciting!!!)
Oops. I did it again. More “forgotten frames” of film!
There is no good explanation as to why I didn’t remember about these photos. It’s not like some other film I forgot about that wasn’t developed until six years after it was taken. These were only taken at the end of November 2012! By the looks of it , it took me another month to finish this roll of film. Then, I dropped this roll at the photo lab (along with ten other rolls) and didn’t get to pick any of that film up until now. About two and a half months later…
What I have here are photos I took during a couple of photo shoots for Muddy’s, just as incidental shots for my own enjoyment. I had shoots at Kat’s house and at the bakery that week. I’m kind of glad I didn’t remember about these photos before getting the developed film back. I think they’re really cute and they made me pretty happy, so I thought I’d share them with you!
Ricoh FF-1* • Fuji Superia 400 (expired)