How to Use Expired Film

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Here in the Lomo world, you hear about expired film A LOT, and it is something we all "want to or have tried". The ones who haven't tried it can be afraid of buying something that supposedly doesn't work anymore ... but is it true that expired film doesn't work anymore? I don't think so!

First, I'll tell you why the film manufacturers put an expiration date on the film and for that, I have to explain to you the nature of the emulsion.

When a film stock is produced (which can contain many film rolls) it is made to achieve certain sensitivity (or speed), a.k.a. ISO (or ASA); it can be 400 ISO or 100 ISO or 800 ISO. Then it gets out of the factory and sent to the store for people to buy it. There's no way for you as a consumer to know how the film was transported or stored before it arrives at your doorstep, and depending on conditions (temperature, lighting, humidity) the film can lose a certain amount of sensitivity. That's why you can sometimes buy a film rated 800 ISO but in reality, its sensitivity is 400 ISO. This can be a loss of one stop, and sometimes you don't even notice it.

Now, the date the manufacturers use as the expiration date is the one they can assure the film to not have lost a lot of its sensitivity and in a way to still be the one printed in the package. After the day the film expires, the manufacturer is not responsible for the problems you may encounter when using it, but the emulsion still works properly. The chemicals on the films' emulsion would eventually lose light sensitivity, however gradually!

So, there's no problem when using expired film and the only thing you have to take into consideration is that you'll need more light than stated. A general rule is to shoot the film one stop slower than box speed for every ten years past the printed expiration date. Assuming that the film has been kept in ideal conditions as per manufacturer's recommendations. For example, if you buy a roll of film that expired ten years ago and it is supposed to be 400 ISO, maybe you should shoot it as 200 ISO. Knowing that in advance, you won't have problems using the insanely fun expired film and the results will be great.

Credits: cycliste, adam_g2000, kylewis, elvismartinezsmith, hervinsyah, ceduxi0n, -dakota- & i_am_four-eyes

And what are the effects on the image when using expired film? It's hard to tell! you could get more contrast and intense colors or the complete opposite. Also, the colors can shift a little bit. For example, light blue could get a bit purple; but this isn't always true, they can change in different ways or they can stay the same. This is what makes expired film so exciting, the results may vary from one to another!

Feeling experimental with film? Start by loading up a variety of emulsions! Check out our film catalog by visiting our online shop or worldwide gallery stores.

written by antoniodezner on 2012-03-07 #gear #tutorials #film #expired #contrast #tipster #emulsion #iso #how-to #experimenting #sensibility

Mentioned Product

Lomography Color Negative 400 (35mm)

You'll love the vibrant colors and stunning sharpness that the Lomography Color Negative 400 35mm film can give you.

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46 Comments

hervinsyah · 2012-03-07 13:30
@mikeydavies : Thank you very much =D
hervinsyah · 2012-03-07 13:31
@antoniodezner : Thank you very much for using my photo. It's the first time my photo used by other at this site & I'm very honoured of it =D
mikeydavies · 2012-03-07 13:33
nice pic @hervinsyah and nice article @antoniodezner :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-07 14:05
@hervinsyah the photo is great! I saw when I was looking for expired film photography and thought it was really cool! :D

@mikeydavis thank you! :)
jochan · 2012-03-08 03:55
great photos..
radiactive · 2012-03-08 16:18
Thanks for this article! Right now i am shooting with expired film and i am excited and a little afraid because it expired in 2009 and i didn't know anything about the ISO thing... :S
antoniodezner · 2012-03-08 16:55
@radiactive you're welcome! yeah, you should shoot it as it was a lower ISO... Good luck! I bet you'll have amazing results! :)
fizzynothing · 2012-03-08 22:50
Thanks for the article, I'm a complete newbie at this and this was very useful and helpful.
kblair82 · 2012-03-09 14:57
Thank you! I recently bought several rolls of expired film. This helps me a lot :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-09 18:04
@fizzynothing thanks to you for reading it! :) if you have any doubts don't hesitate on asking me!
antoniodezner · 2012-03-09 18:06
@kblair82 Wow! That's so cool! When you develop them and upload them let me know so I can see the results! :) I bet they'll be awesome!
parky · 2012-03-09 19:31
great article! How about this for pushing the boundaries of expired film... www.lomography.com/homes/parky/albums/1764455-the-spirit-of…
antoniodezner · 2012-03-09 22:59
@parky It is amazing how the grain grew a lot! It looks like if it was texturized or something! Amazing results!
mgferrer · 2012-03-10 02:10
any tips on very expired film? - i found some old 35 mm film while cleaning house, and i reckon it's at least 7-8 years old...
mj_crn · 2012-03-10 02:54
EXPIRED FILM IS THE BEST:)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-10 03:46
@mj_crn agree! :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-10 03:52
@mgferrer it will need a lot more light than it is supposed to, but i can bet it'll work properly... try to shoot it in a very sunny day or in a situation with a lot of light... you'll probably need 2 or 3 iso steps lower... what's its iso value?

but i'm sure it'll work, look... @parky shot a 35 mm film that expired over 40 years ago! www.lomography.com/homes/parky/albums/1764455-the-spirit-of… and that's a lot! that's why it looks so grainy... but your film will look ok! :D
mgferrer · 2012-03-10 07:01
@antoniodezner thanks! It's 400ISO. I'll try it out soon & will post photos
kynland · 2012-03-10 16:45
love the article. It gave me the lil' push i sometimes need before experimenting with something=) namaste
antoniodezner · 2012-03-11 04:54
@mgferrer great! let me know when you post them :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-11 04:55
@kynland that's awesome! :) i'm glad it helped you! go for it and experiment as much as you can!
hervinsyah · 2012-03-13 08:00
AMAZING. I saw this article announce at the most popular article of the week at Competition's page today. CONGRATS =D
iamzackary · 2012-03-13 10:52
Wicked article! Nice to finally know what it's all about :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-13 21:49
@hervinsyah Thank you! :)
antoniodezner · 2012-03-13 21:51
@iamzackary It is great to know it helped you!
geiza_dobashi · 2012-03-14 20:09
Just about to start using some b&w and colour film that expired in 1959 & 1960. 400iso & 100iso speed. And how on earth do it drop it a few stops. I read you sould drop an f stop for each decade that the film expired??? So five f-stops.
Should i just hold out on using the film until the sun is shinning better and maybe just use it at its original iso setting, or half it????
geiza_dobashi · 2012-03-14 20:18
All of which i am thinking of selling... But do not know if i should?!
antoniodezner · 2012-03-14 22:01
@geiza_dobashi Well, yeah you should use it in a very sunny day... About the one stop for every decade, it is an estimate and sometimes it may not be very accurate because it also depends on the conditions the film was storaged... You could use it with its original iso setting but you'll need to remember to drop a few stops in every shot and never use the time and f number that your exposimeter says as it would give a dark picture.... That's why it is easier to just set a different iso setting directly to your camera in order to shot as your exposimeter says... If you camera can't do with low iso settings you'll have to remember to drop stops in every shot... 5 stops seems to be ok, but you can experiment with 3 or 4 or even 6 in different shots and see what happens
antoniodezner · 2012-03-14 22:05
@geiza_dobashi don't sell them, it is a nice opportunity to experiment.... Also, @parky shot a film that expired in 69... He could help you and tell you what he did and how he exposed it, i'm sure he could give you some tips! Check his album for his 69 expired film! Good luck with your expired films! I'm looking forward to see the results!
hervinsyah · 2012-03-16 18:39
@geiza_dobashi : How about exchange with my 2 Kodak Ektacolor 120mm? =D
iamtheju · 2012-04-28 04:03
I have no idea how old my expired films are as they don't seem to tell me. so i'm just going to use them the same way i use all of my films: completely blindly.
antoniodezner · 2012-04-29 21:52
@iamtheju hahahaha that could be very interesting! Try to overexpose it a little bit... just in case!
mgferrer · 2012-05-06 02:03
@antoniodezner ok - I developed the old kodak film and got some pretty good results just with the Diana F+, I tried exposing it bit - <a href="www.lomography.com/homes/mgferrer/photos/15756953?utm_sourc…" title="on the swing"><img src="assets5.lomography.com/576/384/78/4c39eaccf8ee33c75c08f87a1…" width="576" height="384" alt="on the swing" /></a> I will go through & post more, I just got some of my negatives mixed up while I was scanning, so I need to sort through which ones came from which rolls of film...
antoniodezner · 2012-05-06 23:45
@mgferrer The photo looks really good! Nice colors! I'm really happy you tried expired films and got cool results!
af-capture · 2013-02-27 04:29
nice article....nice pic my friend @hervinsyah
hervinsyah · 2013-03-01 07:48
@af-capture : Thanks =)
manuel8121 · 2014-12-01 13:30
I have a question: do you think that would work an expired film in 1953?
replicant78 · 2015-09-03 20:18
I found some old 120 film recently. It expired in the 70s and has been stored in what I would consider a temperate environment. Is this worth shooting? I'm thinking about giving it a try in my Holga. Any help is appreciated.
alimhd · 2016-10-29 20:39
Thanks for the article, i'm completly novice to film photography, i bought a SVEMA 100ISO film (expired in 1993) with a Canon AE-1 and a Zenit 11. any advice on how to shoot this? should i drop the ISO to 50 or 25?
jennifer2707 · 2016-11-03 09:10
I have kodak plus x pan 125 1994, Kodak ektachrome 64 1993 and Neopan 1600 pro from 1993 hpw do I expose them ?
jennifer2707 · 2016-11-03 09:10
I have kodak plus x pan 125 1994, Kodak ektachrome 64 1993 and Neopan 1600 pro from 1993 hpw do I expose them ?
drdrewhonolulu · 2018-05-23 04:20
Thanks for sharing this. I've been saving film, including some 'gift films' that were not stored properly.... and had two dud rolls this week.
jm60 · 2018-11-12 19:30
I have been shooting with expired film for quite some time. These days doing them with cross processing (usually with Cafenol) as well. Once in a great while, if the film was stored somewhere where it overheated, this cooks the film and you just get a totally black roll. However if stored with reasonable care, film that is 45 to 50 years old can still be useful, though it will be fogged a bit. I need to review what I have in my Lomo albums, as I exposed and processed some 126 film that I had acquired somewhere long ago. The results were visually interesting, though some "spotting" is being contemplated before printing to paper as the film had some actual pinholes in the film itself. If I do not have it up, I will upload it in a day or two.

Since I always tend to shoot film with slower shutter speeds, the results are usually pretty good. And with cross processing, you get negatives that produce essentially monochromatic results or heavily muted color (such as C41 developed with Tmax developer), those negatives produce interesting colors that depending how you approach them, can be very striking. I show in my galleries a number of examples of the original negatives scanned as if it were a positive image transparency (slide) then show some with contrast correction, as well as what they look like scanned as a color negative, and as a greyscale (Black and White). And even though the films are scanned, they are done so in a manner that is easily achieved in a darkroom with an enlarger and conventional photo papers (light sensitive photo paper)
analogue_native · 2020-10-02 09:23
If you have the possibility buy more then 1 roll of the same type and test it in!
Best you buy whole packages 10 rolls per type! its still a gamble though, but fun!
jordanw · 2023-02-26 01:44
What iso shoudl I shoot a 100 iso film roll that expired in 2021?
antoniodezner · 2023-02-26 03:48
@jordanw What film is it? You may be able to shot at box speed, it is hardly expired, so I don’t think it lost sensitivity. But if you want to be safe, just shoot at iso 80 or 50.