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Shooting Photos With Expired Film. What You Need to Know

Chris Gampat
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06/19/2021
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Lomography Color Negative 400 review sample images 18

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If you’re one of the thousands of photographers who are brand new to shooting film, you’re very experimental. Some of you probably want those classic, vintage looks. So you’ll go shoot with expired film. But is it worth it to do so? Will you be wasting time instead? Is it easier to do it digitally? So we’re going to briefly go over expired film in this blog post. And hopefully, we’ll give you some clarity.

The Look of Expired Film

Some of you want the look of expired film. But, from what I’ve seen online, that look can be easily confused. Some of it looks like slight cross-processing–which is when you develop film with the wrong chemicals. Others just look like bad exposures. But the true look of expired film really depends on a lot here.

In reality, it’s very possible that expired film won’t have any particular look at all. In fact, it could look just like a brand new film instead. So this is a situation where you don’t need to get lucky, either. You just need to be careful.

Preservation of Expired Film

Fact: film is an organic matter. It needs to be kept in the refrigerator or the freezer like any other dead, organic matter. Instant film in both black and white and color should always be in the refrigerator. Negative, Black and White, and Slide sheet/roll film should be kept in the freezer. I’ve heard some folks put it in the fridge with good results. And honestly, I have done the same thing for the past year. I’m still antsy about it, and I’d prefer to put it in the freezer. But that’s where I keep a lot of food. 

Consider all of this when you shoot a roll of expired film. How was it kept? Has it been in the freezer? If so, then the effects will be a lot less apparent. On the other hand, if it wasn’t kept in cold storage, it would deliver crazier colors. Those can be fun to use.

Kodak Ektar 100, expired 10 years but kept in a freezer for the entire time.

In the photo above, Kodak Ektar 100 looks really good. Can you tell that it was in the freezer and expired for 10 years? Indeed, taking good care of your film can make it last a long time. Generally speaking, I’d be careful of any company selling film that doesn’t keep it in cold storage.

Some of you may think that the photo above is the look that expired film delivers. It’s not. This is just film that was slightly underexposed. The longer film has been expired, the more light it will need. So you should overexpose it.

Above is a photo of Superia in 120 format. That hasn’t been around in years, and it’s clearly underexposed. Fun fact: expired film needs more light. So it’s a great idea to overexpose it by one or two stops.

Development is Key

When you shoot with expired film, it’s an excellent idea to develop it right away. That way, you might prevent any changes in the look. There are also other things you can do, like cross-processing. Photographer Kate Hook soups her film. But I really recommend doing this only if you’re developing yourself. If you’re taking it to a lab, be upfront with them about it. It could otherwise completely ruin the chemicals they use.

black and white color Development expired film exposure film freezer freezing slide
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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