Over the past couple of years or so I’ve acquired a smallish stock of expired slide film. Some of it is slightly less expired, dating back to the early 2010s, but I also have a bunch which goes back the better part of another decade.
There are a number of different stocks included: Kodak Ektachrome EPP, Kodak Elite Chrome (in 100 and 200 ASA variants), Fujichrome Velvia 50, and Fujichrome Sensia 100.
I’ve shot rolls of most of these so far, essentially just to see how each has held up to the ravages of time. These shoots are more than just test rolls though – I shoot them as though the film is good, always at box speed, and sometimes using a basic but reliable point-and-shoot camera that I know handles metering well.
Obviously this carries a risk of disappointment that might be mitigated by bracketing, but then I’d essentially be reducing the variety of pictures that I’d get from the roll if all turns out ok. So I live dangerously and take a chance. So far the method has served me well and all the rolls I’ve shot have produced nice results (albeit ones where the colours might not be as they might have been were the film still fresh – but still very nice indeed).
The photographs shared here are from a roll of the Sensia 100. It expired in 2003 and was shot with my Canon Sure Shot Supreme compact. I always tend to save slide-film for bright, sunny days as these are where I tend to get the results I like. I also take care to avoid too much contrast, keeping the light to my back or side to avoid blown highlights.
These were made on a trip to the British seaside resort of Bridlington, a small town on the Yorkshire coast. The town has a harbour where various fishing boats and pleasure craft are moored, a small town centre sits just behind this, and there is a long stretch of sandy beach running to the north and south of the harbour area. The promenade is nice to walk upon, being wide and clean, and at the southern end of this is a “fun park” featuring a variety of fairground rides.
The beautifully sunny day and saturated colours of the town’s attractions seemed the perfect subject matter for the slide film and I shot the best part of the full roll during our visit. These five frames are from the trip, and were scanned using Vuescan on a Plustek Opticfilm 8100.
Thanks for reading and I hope you like the photographs.
You can find more of my work on my blog, on Flickr, and on Instagram.
So much for all the ways to calculate exposure on expired film. Slide film at box speed yet! These do have a light, airy feel which adds to the compositions.
I do still overexpose colour negative and B&W expired films (if they’re old and I don’t know that they’ve been well stored), but shooting expired E6 at box speed seems to be working out ok – so far, at least. 🙂
This is encouraging. I have three rolls of Sensia 100 that expired in 2005. I won’t wait for the 20 year mark and go out and shoot a roll this weekend – in bright and sunny conditions!