8mm Forum: Typically how long after manufacture before Super 8 cartridges expire?

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Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on September 10, 2016, 12:59 PM:

I know people have used 20 and 30 year old film before and managed to get images, but I'm curious as to how long after manufacture would the expiration date be typically set at.

I have a chance to get a bunch of cartridges that are a year or two old but I'd probably only shoot a few a year because of processing costs and other reasons. So if I stored them in a cool environment, would they still be pretty good after 4 or 5 years, or will there be significant degradation?

Thanks !

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 10, 2016, 01:05 PM:

Just refrigeration gives you many more years. I've used refrigerated film expired as much as five years and it looked fine.

If you freeze them they are good as long as it's still possible to get processing. Twenty years after Kodak stopped making sound film, people were still defrosting sound cartridges they'd stashed this way. (They became like gold!)

It's just a good idea to let the cold stuff warm to room temperature before you unseal the packaging (condensation...)

Posted by Dominique De Bast (Member # 3798) on September 10, 2016, 01:25 PM:

A Dutch lab shares its experience with different kind of expired films : click on one of the make and you will see if they advise you to use a kind of film or not https://www.super8.nl/english/e_index.htm

Posted by Terry Sills (Member # 3309) on September 10, 2016, 02:44 PM:

I assume you are talking about colour film? I'm sure that B&W stock would have a much longer life.

Posted by Bryan Chernick (Member # 1998) on September 10, 2016, 05:03 PM:

I shoot expired film all the time. Mostly in still cameras but I'm still working on a stockpile of Ektachrome 100D in Regular 8mm that I froze when it was still fresh. It's still perfectly good. I shoot expired color film that's over 20 years past the expiration date. It may have a slight color shift if it wasn't frozen but it still looks good. This was shot on Kodacolor Gold 200 film that expired 10/1992. I had the lab push it 1 stop.
Instamatic Film

I have shot a lot of expired black and white film with good results. That's because you don't have to worry about color shift, just fogging. This one was shot on Kodacolor-X that expired in 1973. I developed it as black and white since the chemistry to develop it as color is no longer made:
Illahee Pier

The rule of thumb, if it hasn't been frozen, is to cut the speed in half for every ten years past the expiration date. I usually don't go much slower than an ISO of 5 on stuff that is way out of date. If you plan on shooting color reversal film that is out of date and hasn't been frozen you will see more of a color shift that you would in Color Reversal film. This is Fuji Velvia 100 Slide film that expired in January 2004.
Palouse Falls

All of the photos that I used as examples had some digital correcting done to them. If you plan on projecting the film rather than scanning it you will see more color shits and fog with expired film. I wouldn't worry too much about film that is only 5 years out of date.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on September 11, 2016, 02:22 AM:

My last Kodachrome was developed many years after its use by date.

In the past I home developed a lot of 3M Ferrania CR25 cine and CR50 reversal 35mm at home past its date, but with that you could change the colour balance by varying the colour development time, so you could compensate for shift somewhat.

Posted by Evan Samaras (Member # 5070) on September 11, 2016, 09:22 AM:

In my experience with color film that has expired, I push one stop for every 10 years for Color Negative film, and 1/3 stop every 10 years passed expiration for color reversal.

So as Bryan stated, I will rate 400 ISO film at 200 ISO if it is 10 years passed expiration for CN film. For Reveral film I will rate at 320 ISO for 10 years passed expiry. Thi has worked well for most still film I have shot in 35mm & 120 up to 40+ years passed.

You could always shoot normally and push during the development process , but this may cause other effects (some may be nice, some may not)

Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on September 12, 2016, 12:01 AM:

Thanks all, very useful information

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