Found old expired film
p.1 #1Found old expired film
I recently found some old expired film that is probably close to 30 years old. They were out of the box so I'm not sure of the date but I know they are pre 2000. I found a mix of B&W and some color transparency film. This was my film that I just never used, they have just been sitting around the house in a closet not in a refrigerator or freezer. So far I just found 35mm but I know I have some 120 too.
I have developed literally thousands of rolls of film in my life (including doing it as a job for a few years) and I have no desire to develop film anymore so I want to send it out to be developed and scanned.
I remember when film was a little over a dollar a roll when I worked at the university photo store in the mid 70s and having a roll of film developed and printed in the 90s for less than $5. Since it has been about 30 years since I bought shot and had film developed, prices of course have changed and I don't want to spend too much on this.
The film I found is a mix of Illford XP2, FP4, Pan X, HP5, TMax plus some Fuji Velvia and Astia but I don't know if I want to deal with the color at least at this point.
So my question is where should I send this film off to for developing and scanning? Do labs still do conventional B&W film developing? Also is there anything I should be aware of when shooting old expired film?
Thank you
I have developed literally thousands of rolls of film in my life (including doing it as a job for a few years) and I have no desire to develop film anymore so I want to send it out to be developed and scanned.
I remember when film was a little over a dollar a roll when I worked at the university photo store in the mid 70s and having a roll of film developed and printed in the 90s for less than $5. Since it has been about 30 years since I bought shot and had film developed, prices of course have changed and I don't want to spend too much on this.
The film I found is a mix of Illford XP2, FP4, Pan X, HP5, TMax plus some Fuji Velvia and Astia but I don't know if I want to deal with the color at least at this point.
So my question is where should I send this film off to for developing and scanning? Do labs still do conventional B&W film developing? Also is there anything I should be aware of when shooting old expired film?
Thank you
Mar 03, 2026 at 09:06 PM
p.1 #2Found old expired film
$16 dev 35mm B&W and med scans:
https://thedarkroom.com
30 yrs old and not refridgerated? Give two stops extra light and hope for the best.
https://thedarkroom.com
30 yrs old and not refridgerated? Give two stops extra light and hope for the best.
Mar 04, 2026 at 01:49 PM
p.1 #3Found old expired film
If it was in a place that was a fairly consistent temp you might not be that bad off. The black and white is probably fine. I've shot Kodak BW film from the 1960s that came out. The color film will probably be a bit dodgy though. I shot with some 10 year old Ultra Max 400 recently and it looked like a Lomo product lol.
Mar 04, 2026 at 06:31 PM
p.1 #4Found old expired film
ottokbre wrote:
If it was in a place that was a fairly consistent temp you might not be that bad off. The black and white is probably fine. I've shot Kodak BW film from the 1960s that came out. The color film will probably be a bit dodgy though. I shot with some 10 year old Ultra Max 400 recently and it looked like a Lomo product lol.
I had a bunch of 25-30 yr old TriX gifted to me (as well as other films) and after a couple of rolls figured out that I needed to shoot it at iso25 to get decent results. The Kodak Supra 100 also needed to be shot at iso25.
Just shot an old roll of Fuji 800 in 120, and that looked ok at iso 100.
It really is a crap shoot if the film has not been stored cold. Stuff that has in my use could be shot at box speed and it looked totally fine.
If it was in a place that was a fairly consistent temp you might not be that bad off. The black and white is probably fine. I've shot Kodak BW film from the 1960s that came out. The color film will probably be a bit dodgy though. I shot with some 10 year old Ultra Max 400 recently and it looked like a Lomo product lol.
I had a bunch of 25-30 yr old TriX gifted to me (as well as other films) and after a couple of rolls figured out that I needed to shoot it at iso25 to get decent results. The Kodak Supra 100 also needed to be shot at iso25.
Just shot an old roll of Fuji 800 in 120, and that looked ok at iso 100.
It really is a crap shoot if the film has not been stored cold. Stuff that has in my use could be shot at box speed and it looked totally fine.
Mar 04, 2026 at 10:44 PM
p.1 #5Found old expired film
I tried some gifted 30 years old B&W films in the past which were not stored in the cold. Even adjusting with one stop for each decade, most frames turned out unusable after home development which I did. My recommendation is to discard and not even try - even with decent results achieved, the film will be most likely very grainy. I lost too many good scenes by cheapening out a few times using this kind of expired films! Definitely I would stay away from any kind of old color negative or slide films if not interested in washed out colors for artistic reasons. Not worth the trouble IMO.
Mar 05, 2026 at 10:48 AM
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RoamingScott
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p.1 #6Found old expired film
Just shoot it a bit overexposed and have some fun and see what you get. I've shot 40 year old boxes that were in a garage and got results I'll probably never see again...
Mar 05, 2026 at 10:53 AM
p.1 #7Found old expired film
RoamingScott wrote:
Just shoot it a bit overexposed and have some fun and see what you get. I've shot 40 year old boxes that were in a garage and got results I'll probably never see again...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54376597356_063a82b21c_h.jpg
Was that the same film you sent me a roll of?
No way could I replicate those results!
To the OP - sell those expired films for a huge profit on ebay/craigslist/facebook marketplace etc. and buy fresh stuff if you want expected results.
Just shoot it a bit overexposed and have some fun and see what you get. I've shot 40 year old boxes that were in a garage and got results I'll probably never see again...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54376597356_063a82b21c_h.jpg
Was that the same film you sent me a roll of?
No way could I replicate those results!
To the OP - sell those expired films for a huge profit on ebay/craigslist/facebook marketplace etc. and buy fresh stuff if you want expected results.
Mar 05, 2026 at 11:34 AM
RoamingScott
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p.1 #8Found old expired film
Yep!
Desmolicious wrote:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54376597356_063a82b21c_h.jpgWas that the same film you sent me a roll of?
No way could I replicate those results!
To the OP - sell those expired films for a huge profit on ebay/craigslist/facebook marketplace etc. and buy fresh stuff if you want expected results.
Desmolicious wrote:
RoamingScott wrote
Just shoot it a bit overexposed and have some fun and see what you get. I've shot 40 year old boxes that were in a garage and got results I'll probably never see again...https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54376597356_063a82b21c_h.jpg
No way could I replicate those results!
To the OP - sell those expired films for a huge profit on ebay/craigslist/facebook marketplace etc. and buy fresh stuff if you want expected results.
Mar 05, 2026 at 11:39 AM
p.1 #9Found old expired film
I guess it really depends on what you're looking for in results. I'd been shooting some BW film (100 ft rolls) from the late 80s/early 90s that's been stored frozen. The 400 Tmax has more base fog than 100 Tmax, and both give ok results, but not what you'd expect with new film. I did a lot of experimenting with benzo trying to reduce fog, but it really kills the film speed for how little it reduces the fog. (I use 6 drops of 1% which helps fog with only a stop or so of speed.) I tried colder developing temps (~60F) with D-23, but wasn't able to replicated these results.
https://www.diyphotography.net/how-i-removed-base-fog-from-old-film-stocks/?
Room temp storage? I wouldn't shoot 'em. Too much hassle unless you're into experimenting.
I wonder how the brick of HIE in the freezer will work.
https://www.diyphotography.net/how-i-removed-base-fog-from-old-film-stocks/?
Room temp storage? I wouldn't shoot 'em. Too much hassle unless you're into experimenting.
I wonder how the brick of HIE in the freezer will work.
Mar 05, 2026 at 12:58 PM