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Expired Fomapan 400
- Thread starter Matt Bigwood
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- expired film fomapan 400
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- Aug 14, 2016
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I'd be rating it at 200 or less, but not because of the age, but because it's Foma. Their datasheet makes it clear it's not anywhere near 400 except in Microphen. Age wise I wouldn't do anything special, it's practically brand new.
Fomapan 400, is actually an iso 200 film. Foma quotes the speed according to the density @ Zone V, rather than the Zone I of others. I'd rate the film @ iso 125~iso 160. Do a test shot first to determine the proper development time.
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- Oct 12, 2022
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Rate it at 200 and go shoot. It’ll be fine.
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When companies acquired ISO8002 accreditation their product expiry date shad to be significantly reduced. This was more about stock rotation than possible deterioration.
I'm regularly using film that is much older than 2023, some is from the last EFKE and Forte coating runs, They behave as well as when bought new, no issues.
Shelf life is down to storage, badly store films won't make the printed expiry date, you don't need to freeze them either. When I lived in Turkey daytime temperatures could reach 40ºC, and a touch higher. My film lived in a bottom drawer in the bedroom. One year I repainted the apartment, quite high ceilings, I couldn't believe the huge temperature increase as I climbed the stepladder while painting the walls. I checked the temperature where I stored my films, 21ºC, it is a ground floor apartment which helped, ambient air temperature was around 35ºC, considerably higher near the ceiling.
I store my film and paper in my UK darkroom close to the floor, only specialist films get to sit refrigerated. On an Ilford factory tour back around 2007/8 we were told that a large percentage of film quality issues were caused by customers freezing their films. Film & paper manufacturers cold store master rolls, Kodak were the classic for this eeking out the last master rolls of Kodachrome for quite a few years so they could celebrate the 75th anniversary of Kodachrome in 2010.
Ilford's emulsion store room is about 2ºC, that's raw emulsion as well as finished master rolls, of film & paper.
Ian
I'm regularly using film that is much older than 2023, some is from the last EFKE and Forte coating runs, They behave as well as when bought new, no issues.
Shelf life is down to storage, badly store films won't make the printed expiry date, you don't need to freeze them either. When I lived in Turkey daytime temperatures could reach 40ºC, and a touch higher. My film lived in a bottom drawer in the bedroom. One year I repainted the apartment, quite high ceilings, I couldn't believe the huge temperature increase as I climbed the stepladder while painting the walls. I checked the temperature where I stored my films, 21ºC, it is a ground floor apartment which helped, ambient air temperature was around 35ºC, considerably higher near the ceiling.
I store my film and paper in my UK darkroom close to the floor, only specialist films get to sit refrigerated. On an Ilford factory tour back around 2007/8 we were told that a large percentage of film quality issues were caused by customers freezing their films. Film & paper manufacturers cold store master rolls, Kodak were the classic for this eeking out the last master rolls of Kodachrome for quite a few years so they could celebrate the 75th anniversary of Kodachrome in 2010.
Ilford's emulsion store room is about 2ºC, that's raw emulsion as well as finished master rolls, of film & paper.
Ian