Re: Off subject - Film processing advice

[David Langley <del@ancc.com.au>]

Lambing Flat wrote:

> Ron Bennell wrote:
>
> > I recently found a number of rolls of exposed films that I shot as a lad
> > (presumably whilst train watching).
> > These films have never been developed.  They are all 127 size, mostly Kodak
> > VP127. They have 8 exposures per roll.
> >
> > Can someone please advise:
> > - will they still have an image worth developing?
>
> My wife recently found her old instamatic camera that still had a partly
> exposed film in it from the last time she used it in the early 70s.  We sent it
> to our local photodeveloper who attempted to develop it, but due to its age and
> light leakage in the camera, it came out completely black.  I don't hold out
> much hope for yours, much as I would like to see the results!
>
> DPC James McInerney
>
> STOP!  In The Name Of The Lore!

Films of this age may be OK provided that the camera was kept somewhere relatively
cool and dark. As a minilab owner I have seen acceptable results from very old
films bright into my shop. However the problem lies with the process, colour print
films today used the C41 process and older films are not generally able to be
processed. Slide films that are not E6 are also unlikely to be processed. Black and
white is not so bad.

As a general rule of thumb all films that are not being used in the immediate
future (following a bulk buy) should be kept in the bottom of fridge and removed
only when needed. This way you can buy near out of date films sometimes at great
discount and keep them indefinitly. I recently exposed some Ektachrome that was
around 6-8 years out of date and it was fine.

David Langley
Photo Express Seymour.