Experiments with 30-year-expired Fuji Super HR 1600
Enter the vortex! I took this trippy image by a long exposure on my computer screen playing an old-school screensaver. It’s a simple but very effective creative trick that creates something unique each time. 10s 105mm F22 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
The types of film that are currently available are a fraction of what was on the shelves during the pre-digital era, so to shoot some of the ones now discontinued you need to shoot expired film. I wrote an entire blog on this subject which you can see here if you haven’t already: https://www.gregoryowain.co.uk/blog/how-to-shoot-expired-film.
A true classic, this roll expired in February 1990, more than three years before I was born.
So, when the opportunity came up to shoot a roll of Fuji Super HR 1600 that had sat in the fridge for more than thirty years, it wasn’t something I could overlook. To recap the general rule of thumb when shooting expired film – you need to shoot one stop over for every decade expired. In this instance I needed to shoot at three stops over which, thankfully in this case, came out at a very usable ISO 200. This was by far the oldest roll I had ever shot (it expired more than three years before I was born) so I decided I would get experimental with it and shoot a lot of abstract work that didn’t rely on detail. In fact, I was hoping the high grain and possible funky colours would add something extra.
Every shot I took on this roll was with either my 105mm macro or 105mm F1.4 lens to either get up close or play with shallow depth of field. 1/125s 105mm F11 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
To my shock when it came back from the developers the images all had a surprising level of colour accuracy with no colour shifts at all. This goes to show that keeping your film in the fridge really does make a difference in preserving it, even well after it has expired. However, it still had lost its sensitivity to light and I do feel on some images I would have been better off shooting it at ISO 100 (four stops over the original ISO).
What really struck me about these images is how they look and feel like the images I see in my classic issues of National Geographic from the 1960s and 1970s. 1/60s 105mm F11 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
What really struck me about the look and feel of the images is that, with their certain lack of saturation, they looked exactly like the photos in my classic issues of National Geographic from the 1960s and 1970s. Film emulsions have moved on a lot since this roll was made so that retro look is something you can’t even replicate with modern film. I was really happy I not only got a chance to shoot with this now extinct stock but also able to create classic looking images to match the ones I had poured over carefully in print.
Despite its age and amount of grain from being a 1600 ISO film on 35mm, the level of detail is still pretty good. 1/50s 105mm F11 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
Sadly, it is rare to find expired film that has been stored in the fridge that long so it is most likely the only opportunity I will get to shoot a roll of film like this, thankfully I did my best to make it count. I will continue to keep my eye out for what is available however I do advise people not to pay over the odds as, at the end of the day, you are essentially buying a faulty product. Especially if it is a film stock that is still available, make sure you pay a lot less than a fresh roll and only pay decent money for rare items that have been well stored.
Old shells make for great abstract subjects with their varying textures and colouration. 1/4s 105mm F11 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
Do you have any rolls of expired film that have lived in your fridge a long time? If so, perhaps now is a good time to dust them off and get them in either younger hands or your old camera. Like me you may be surprised at how much you like the results.
Melted ice sometimes leaves behind its impressions in the ground for an extensive set of strange patterning. 1/60s 105mm F11 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
Fungi is an old favourite of photographers as they come in all sorts of colours and shapes. Autumn is always the best time of year but good bracket fungi can be found all year round. 1/10s 105mm F8 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
With an increase in saturation you do get very true to life colours and in this instance the texture of the carpet has done wonders in hiding the high level of grain. 1/2.5s 105mm F8 Fuji Super HR 1600 (Shot at ISO 200).
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