Shooting Expired Slide Film - Fuji Sensia 200
Wooden Elephants as part of a display in London’s Green Park. 1/80s 50mm F4.5.
I did say last week that I had a surprise in store, and it is this, shooting an expired roll of slide film that is no longer available for purchase. It will most likely rank as the cheapest slide film I will ever buy as I picked it up from a market stall for the princely sum of £1. I didn’t have an actual expiry date but looking at the design on the cartridge and when they stopped producing this (2010) I surmised that this roll would be a little over ten years old. Whilst the consensus for shooting expired colour negative film is to shoot it at one stop overexposed for every decade expired, there isn’t such a consensus for shooting expired transparencies. Some say to overexpose, others so there is no need as this is a much more stable form of film. Either way I decided to just give it a go and not to worry too much, seeing as I paid so little for it.
Parakeets are also partial to apples as well as peanuts. 1/50s 50mm F2.8.
Whatever the parakeets don’t get, the pigeons clean up. 1/125s 50mm F2.8.
Looking out across Piccadilly Circus. You can clearly see the people crossing the road were overexposed. 1/200s 50mm F8.0.
Leicester Square often attracts street artists and buskers. 1/200s 50mm F8.0.
My decision ultimately was to expose it one stop over (at ISO 100), as I wanted to see if this did actually work and how it compared to the expired colour negative film I had shot previously. As Sensia is no longer available I don’t know a great deal about how it fit into Fuji’s range at the time. It was available in at least three forms (ISO 100, ISO 200 & ISO 400), so there was a bit more choice for when you were shooting in different conditions. I believe it was also a bit cheaper than Provia (and Astria which was also available at the time). This was a stock more for general everyday photography, than the careful work that Velvia would be reserved for. I shot it all in a single afternoon in London as this was the last film that needed to go through my camera before I sent off all my rolls for development.
A rickshaw driver (or perhaps peddler) awaits his next customers. 1/100s 50mm F5.6.
A well decorated shop in Camden. 1/125s 50mm F5.6.
Camden Locks. 1/160s 50mm F8.0.
Camden Bridge. 1/160s 50mm F8.0.
When I got the developed images back, I was actually surprised I had something useable. I really wasn’t sure what would happen, seeing as this roll had not been stored properly in a fridge before I bought it. Now having never shot an unexpired roll of this film I don’t have anything to compare it to. There’s certainly a fair amount of purple tint in many of my images but I don’t know whether that is part of the true nature of the film, or whether it comes from degradation from being expired. When I shot the expired roll of Fuji Superia X-TRA 400 it also came back from the developers with a lot of purple. However, I wouldn’t say the original colours have been completely lost, they are there, just a bit washed out.
No prizes for guessing where this photo was taken. 1/160s 50mm F8.0.
Camden market has plenty of places to order food. This image is a good example of the washed out colours this expired roll of film produced. They are somewhat reminiscent of Pro 400H colour negative film. 1/125s 50mm F4.0.
There was little room for social distancing in the indoor section of Camden Market. 1/125s 50mm F5.6.
A broad range of Classic Cameras from yesteryear for sale. Somehow I missed that this stand also sold rolls of film. 1/80s 50mm F1.8.
The writing above the entrance welcomes visitors to this small shop selling all things Japan. 1/80s 50mm F1.8.
Though I have tried to correct for it on the computer (increasing blacks & contrast, decreasing highlights) I can safely say that many of my images came back overexposed, which to me demonstrates that it isn’t necessary to shoot an entire stop over when slide film is expired. Would a third of a stop be better than no adjustment at all? I can’t say for sure until I try it myself, so if I do get my hands on more expired slide film that’ll be the first thing I try. It is exciting though, as it may mean I can actually shoot this type of film expired and not take too many penalties on image quality or ISO. There’s a fair few types out there on the second hand market that are no longer available so it perhaps opens the door to picking up some cheap rolls for experimentation. However, having said that, it isn’t normal to be able to buy expired slide film as cheaply as I did. Perhaps I am the last person to have come to this realisation.
The most modern of cars (MG5 EV) shot with old-school technology. 1/80s 50mm F8.0 with polariser.
We managed to find a scenic location to photograph the Vauxhall Omega. Overexposing means the difference in contrast between the land and the sky has been minimised. 1/80s 85mm F8.0 with polariser.
All in all, it was great fun to shoot and I’m just happy I got something back that wasn’t an explosion of overexposed white. Though the expired roll of Kodachrome that sits on my shelf continues to taunt me, even more so now when I think I could actually shoot it normally if only I could get it developed.
A pleasant sunset, though any detail in the sky has been completely lost. 1/80s 50mm F8.0.
Surprisingly this cloud has been well exposed and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Had it been a digital image I would have removed the small distraction in the bottom right hand corner. 1/200s 50mm F8.0.
What do you think of the images? Have you shot expired slide film before and have any advice for me? Let me know in the comments down below.
Field poppies bathed in golden light. 1/125s 50mm F2.8.
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