1983 (?) Ilford FP4, still worth shooting??

Hi,

I found two 30 m canisters with FP4. Always stored at room temp. The metal box

carries a sticker with DC 1983. I guess that is the manufacturing date. Should I

bother trying out the film?

Thanks for your reply.

Regards, Huub

Huub, the only way to find out is to try it - but not on anything important. We've all shot outdated film with no problems, but 23 years is really pushing it.....

The date is almost certainly an expiration date so the film was probaly manufactured in 1981 or 1982. B&W is a lot more forgiving that color so you will get images. The film will be foggy, grainy, and slow. If you want to practice composition you could use it. You might have 30 or 40 cents worth of silver, but it will cost more than that to recover this small amount.

 

When I encountered an old 100 ft roll of Tri-X, I tossed it.

Not worth it. How much does fp4 cost? Unless you want to have some experimetal processing with old film, maybe you will get some apealing results with it.If it were sheet film I would try.

Well worth shooting. I have used glass plates made in the 1940s with nice results. Develop it yourself for best results

i shot a roll of 120 FP4 in 2006 which expired in 1986. Rated it at ISO 64 and Developed in ID-11 for the recomended time of FP4 + 20%. Havent scanned the film, but looking at it there is a decent image. Fogging of the film isevident though, but not too drastic.

just now, i'm playing with some plus-x expired in 1983, and my guess is it has never been stored in a fridge.

 

after a few tries, i'm shooting at EI-10 now! i've found it to be very contrasty. it is hard to maintain shadow details and not have the highlights blown. at the same time, it is rather flat locally. these two characteristics together make it look "strange".

 

i guess nothing is good or bad per se, everything is an opportunity. maybe you'll be able to use it to your advantage.

 

you'll definitely get images, rather good ones too.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/big-image?bboard_upload_id=30714284

 

i'm not sure whether this photo link will work, but here's the thread:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00H1Iw&tag=

 

did i do these links correctly?

 

- refinder

hello,

i shoot lots and lots of expired film. i find film to be expensive if you shoot alot.

 

i have shot sheet film taht was 31 years old (plus x) and saw no problems and the speed was still 125. i have shot E6 and B&W that was stored ina garage in upstate NY (so less than ideal storage) and had expired in 1989. the B&W had no problems, the E6 lost about 1 stop in speed. (again sheet film)

 

i regularly shoot film that is out from 0-4 years in all formats and have no problems at all. in an average year i shoot several hundred roles of 120 and several hundred sheets of LF. good luck for me i guess!

 

shoot whatcha got. as stated above if it is a once and a lifetime shoot bring some fresh stuff too. please keep us updated.

 

eddie