Expired film - what you need to know

There is a lot of old film floating around.  Professionals would stock up on bricks of film to get a discount and stick it in the fridge for later use.  I recently acquired a stack of old film.  All of it 120 format and all of it expired in 1998-2001.

Provia 400 

T400CN

Ektachrome Plus

Fuji 800 NHG II

Portra 800

The challenge with expired film is that it loses "speed" with age and will develop base fog, especially if not refrigerated.  I find film this old needs to be exposed about 3 stops over the box speed.  I am testing a roll of the Fuji 800 that expired in 1999 and I shot it a 100.  The T400CN I will shoot at 50. Once I process the film, I will post the scans to show the quality.  

I friend recently gave me a 100 sheet box of TMAX 100 that expired in 2003. It had been cold stored.  I had just purchased a 1963 crown graphic and needed some film to play with and the TMAX dropped right into my lap.  My first tests were exposed at 50 ASA.  I processed in D-76 (more on developing 4x5 in a later post) with less than enthusiastic results.  The film showed no base fog and the images looked great at 50 ASA considering I didn't like the D-76.  

By contrast, I was also given a 100 foot roll of expired Eastman Double-X 5222 motion picture film.  This is also B&W. It expired in 1964. It came complete with rusted can and all!  I shot a test roll exposing the same image from 64 to 500 ASA with 200 giving the best results processed in D-76. There was significant base fog, more than I cared for. The Epson V500 scanner plowed right through that but the grain was more that I care for as well. However, a free 100 ft roll of film, who's complaining when you shoot for fun.