Old, I mean OLD, color film - 1989 VPS

[nick_morris]

I recently got some old (1989) 8x10 Kodak VPS color print sheet film.

I frequently use old B&W film, and generally, aside from having low

contrast, it is pretty usable. Has anyone worked with color sheet

film this old? What were the results? Any thoughts, or suggestions?

It will be processed and printed by a lab. My thinking is that

probably colors and contrast will be soft, very soft. I will need to

increase exposure. I also got a box of Kodak Electronic Output film,

and any information members can share would be helpful. I don't know

anything about this film, and couldn't find much on Kodak site. Last

question. Has anyone developed and printed color film (print and or

transparancy) in B&W developer, and if so, what were the results?

Thank you.

[eric rose]

You've brought tears to my eyes! I loved VPS.

[bob fowler]

Just last Thursday, a friend was cleaning out his film freezer and gave me a new, unopened box of 4X5 Plus-X that expired in 1998 and 2 unopened 50 sheet boxes of VPS III that expired in 1988! All of this stuff had lived in the freezer from the day it was bought "fresh". I tried some of the Plus-X and it's absolutely fine. I haven't shot any of the VPS yet, but it's now living in MY freezer. :-) Seriously, I plan on trying a few sheets next week as a test. My guess is that it will probably be OK as it's been frozen the whole time, even though it's 15 years out of date. I've got nothing to lose...

 

Oh yes... He also gave me 4 Pro-Packs of 120 E100S that expired in December of 98 (he switched to almost all digital and is getting rid of his medium and large format gear) that had also been frozen since new. I shot a roll of the E100S and it's perfectly OK.

[gauthier]

If your color film has been kept in the freezer all the time, it should be fine, except for a small contrast loss (cosmic rays gradually increase the base fog of film). Rather than overexposing, maybe you shouldpuch process it a bit. It it was kept at room temperature, I wouldn't expect too much. Colors will be seriously off (not just muted) and the film will probably be much slower (one or two stops). B&W film is MUCH more resilient.

 

I can't help you with your two other requests, sorry.

[paul moshay]

Nick, I have just received a large lot of old films that were not cold stored, just usual studio temps. Last week we had a test session with a local high school girl and used two rolls of TMax100 in 120 size that are dated 1996, (forgot the month, but???) Anyway, I had the films processed by my usual lab and the results were OK, not great but looked about one+ stop underexposed. When I printed them it worked best with 180magenta. I am going to use the rest of the 20 rolls but rate them about EI40 and I bet they will print fine. As far as using E6 and C41 films in B&W soup, I have done this for many years and they will print OK too.The E6 films do work better though. I usually use HC110B and rate the films at their normal rating. The negs look terrible but will print well, if a bit grainy, but that is probably the developer. As you know, all transparency films have a silver negative that is bleached away before the color developer is performed, and that is what you develop.

[paul moshay]

Eric, if you love VPS I have one roll of 120 size dated 1999. It's yours if you want it.

Paul

[nick_morris]

To all, thank you for your responses. I bought the film off ebay for $5.00 - 50 sheets of Vericolor (sorry to get you excited Eric, but I made a mistake...I thought it was labeled VPS, but it is labeled Vericolor HC...are they the same? I don't know, but I don't think either are produced any longer) and about 40 sheets of Electric Output film, which is a transparency (SP?) film. I don't know how it was stored, but I thought it might be interesting to experiment with since I only work with B&W. The Electric Output film, I'll probably process in B&W developer, and the Vericolor I'll experiment with... cross process, etc. Again, thank you all for your helpful information.