Shooting with Expired Black and White Film

Shooting with expired black and white film is much easier and simpler than shooting expired color film, so bargains can be had.

Due to the makeup of black and white film, it lasts much longer and isn't affected as much by age as color film is. I am no scientist so I don't know the exact reason behind this but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, I primarily shoot black and white film but most of the best b&w films have been discontinued, meaning a lot of the film I shoot with are currently expired.

I have kind of created my own rules but I overexpose the film by a third of a stop for every two years it's expired, so for example if I had a two-year-old roll of expired Ilford FP4, I'd overexpose it by a third of a stop and if it was expired by four years then I overexpose two thirds of the way. This works for most films but if the film has been stored in a fridge, then it probably will need less overexposing and if it's been frozen then it won't need overexposing. Using expired black and white films gives you a great opportunity to shoot old rare films, for example, I have a roll of the highly sought after discontinued Kodak HIE waiting to be shot.

Here are some results I've got using expired film:

So if you want to experience the beauty of some old discontinued black and white films, don't be afraid to pick some up as they're much easier to use than other expired films, I know the Lomography Shop has a great selection of expired black and white and infrared films.

Thanks for reading this tipster and I hope you found it useful.

This is a post submitted by Community Member brandkow93.

written by brandkow93 on 2012-04-04 #gear #tutorials #film #black-and-white #exposure #expired-film #tipster