I went back out to the darkroom, which I haven't been into for months due to
pressure of work, and checked the expiry date on the Royal pan. The batch
which gave me poor results, was dated Nov. 1963, and was thus a little over
your 10 year limit. Frankly, I was surprised, and pleased to get any image from
it. The failure at the edges of the sheets was due, I think to moisture getting
into the stack of film sheets, there was a definite edge to the area or border
of very poor image, which looked like a dried water stain. The coarse grain in
the centre area of the sheets, may not have been grain per se, it may have been
some form of micro-reticulation. This can look like grain if not enlarged too
much. I acquired and shot the film in the hope that I might get some
interesting effects shooting such a unique emulsion, but the results seemed to
contradict the whole concept of shooting large format, so I moved on.
All the best
Laurence Cuffe.
Sent from QCloud
On May 30, 2015, at 07:58 PM, `Richard Knoppow <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think it depends on the kind of film among other things. The faster the
film the greater the chance it will be fogged. Slow film, say around ISO 100,
should have minimal fogging up to maybe five years beyond the expiration date,
faster film is chancy and very fast film is amost certain to show fog even at
the expiration date. '
The life of film seems to have shortened after some change in formulation as much as twenty years ago. I have used very old film with good results in the past but this was stuff maybe five years past the expiration date. I also found film ten years beyond the date to be quite fogged. This was Verichrome Pan. Sometimes an anti-fogging agent will help but it will also slow the film and change the shape of the curve somewhat. Probably the fog does that by itself. If the fog is uniform it has little effect on the image. The best advice is to try a sheet and see what you get.
On 5/30/2015 10:29 AM, Laurence Cuffe wrote:
I cant comment on the main question but I would take issue with the Kodak
fanboy comment that kodak film a few years out of date was still usable. I am
having difficulties with some of my Ryal Pan sheet film, which is showing a
significant loss of speed, increase in grain, and a weird kind of tide mark
coming in from the edges on some sheets.
(expiry 1972, kept in warm conditions, presumably from the box condition
subject to flooding!) Box was open when I got it.
Seriously though, I think your best bet is to shoot a test sheet or two and see
what happens. Good luck and let us know how it works out.
All the best
Laurence Cuffe
Sent from QCloud
On May 30, 2015, at 04:43 PM, "bobkiss @caribsurf.com" <bobkiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
small correction: there are 4 boxes of 25 sheets each.
On Sat, May 30, 2015 at 11:32 AM, bobkiss @caribsurf.com
<bobkiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
DEAR LIST,
My excuse for the following foolishness is that I have had 4 major surgeries in fewer than 5 years so things have piled up in my office and darkrum...oops...darkroom awaiting my attention. Well, I am finally digging through the mess and getting reorganized. What did I find? 100 sheets of 8X10 Ilford HP5 Plus (5 unopened separate 20 sheet boxes) sitting in a box at the bottom of a pile in my air conditioned office. I had put the other box of 100 sheets in my freezer as soon as I got it but forgot this one!?!?!
The expiration date was 2013. Now I know that, with Kodak b&w films, I have seen very little loss in image quality using film that is a few years "out of date" but I was wondering what I might expect from HP5 Plus with which I am less familiar.
Please, those with actual experience (rather than conjecture), let me know your experiences with HP5 Plus, especially sheet film (which Richard will rightly state is a different emulsion than roll film) with regard to using film that is a few years after the exp date.
Given that my office is air conditioned, will there be:
1) Significant increase in fog?
2) Loss of speed?
3) Loss of contrast for given dev conditions?
4) Any other significant loss of quality?
Thanks in advance for your help!
CHEERS!
BOB
--
Richard Knoppow
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
WB6KBL
