Shelf life????

[matt_fravert]

<p>Heading on vacation in a little over a week. I pulled out all of my 35mm gear and noticed I still had some unused rolls of film. I checked the expiration dates on the boxes, but I wanted to check with the experts here to see how valid they are. Ive got several rolls of Fuji Provia 100f that "expired" 02/10, a roll of Provia 400x dated 02/10 and some Ilford B+W that had expiration dates of 12/09. Obviously I can still use them, but how much quality will I lose, if any? Should I just trash them and buy some new rolls? I just wanted to check and see before I did anything rash.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!<br>

Matt</p>

[thirteenthumbs]

<p>The film expiration date is the date after which the manufacture cannot guarantee the film to preform to specifications provided it has been stored properly.<br>

The B&W if silver base will be fine and you will be hard pressed to see any difference between it and fresh. The color films may be just starting to show a slight color shift at most. </p>

[gateway]

<p>Has your gear been stored in a cool-air conditioned environment most of the time? Based on what I've read on this forum, if the answer is yes, use it with confidence. With that said, if I was taking pictures of my oldest relative that may not be around in a year, or wanted prize winning results, I'd definitely carry/use a roll or two of new film for those types of images.</p>

[matt_fravert]

<p>Its been in my camera bag, in a dark closet at room temperature since last year. They were in one of the Domke bags I dont carry that often and I only ran across them when I was cleaning. So, yes, the temerature has been constant and never over 70F. Thanks for the advice so far!!</p>

[Two23]

<p>Year old film should be fine, maybe even two years old.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>