UKC

There's been a couple of threads or comments about "out-of-date" film on here. I thought you might be interested to see the results of shooting a roll of Ilford XP2 which had an expiry date of November 1995. These pics were taken in May and early June 2011. A few things are apparent - some earlier frames have what looks like camera light leak, but the camera was not leaky. Some later frames look like the enlarger had dust and hair on it, but I doubt that it did (well-maintained minilab in Tesco). Some have a very odd artefact (maybe they all have it but it's only visible on some) - most striking in the sky in the top right of the pic of the anchor. The contrast has gone a bit wacky. The lurid colours I can't comment on but I didn't add them, indeed any that are grey mono have had MORE done to them by me than have the orangey ones...but this is a printing and scanning issue rather than a film issue, I suppose (as I say, these were done at Tesco....but then back in the day, with fresh XP2, one tended to get either sepia or green tints when minilabs printed onto colour paper)
See what you think!

http://www.blue-straggler.net/Ancient_XP2/

In reply to Blue Straggler:
It just looks like a 'vintage' photo shop plugin. Are you sure they were on film?


Have you seen the film destroyers groups on flickr? Burning, boiling, soaking, scratching, leaking and contamination are all fun, it would seem. I doubt that Tesco minilab staff would appreciate it in the same way though.

NB with thanks to David Hooper of this parish, for giving me the film.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

not sure if that was a joke? Tesco are renown for the dust they add to the pictures (and scratches to the negatives) (Im not slating them I still use them, its cheap and my film stuff is just messing about)

The colour casts come from the scanners AWB (Auto White Balance / Always Wrong Balance)

In reply to sm1thson:
No jokes.
Guess it depends on the branch and the staff. Mine is good. e.g. the shots on this page, from "Cheesy Colourburst" to "The Spiral Scratch EP" were all done at the same Tesco as this roll of XP2 and are typical of their cleanliness.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blue-straggler/page2/

There are a few flecks here and there, yes, but I take the same attitude that you do, and there are FAR more on some of the later shots on that XP2.