Using expired Super 8mm film?

F

funkmusicinstitute

Active member
I'm wondering if anyone here has shot anything w/ expired Super 8mm film. I have a number of reels of Kodak Vision2 color negative 500T/7218 and 200T/7217 that I bought in 2006. Has been stored at room temp, not in a freezer, unfortunately. I might also have some B/W from the same period laying around. My thought was to use it for B-roll, but wondering if the risk of using old film is worth the cost.
Many thanks!
 
a lot of people like shooting with expired film b/c it will come out weird. Given you're shooting super 8 to begin with I wouldn't worry too much about it. Color will probably be all over the place but you should get an image.
 
Many thanks for the response! I also have some B/W stock that is KODAK Tri-X reversal 7266. It was also purchased in 2006. Basically I'll be shooting a large band in a rehearsal space, not great light, but decent.
 
The marked expiration date on a film stock is the manufacture's recommendation of use date, where a film stock, stored under recommended conditions, will create images, when exposed properly, within established specifications. If the film stock has not been exposed to temperature extremes, I don't think that you are going to have any issue shooting with it. If you were to expose fresh film and compare it side by side with the stock you have you would probably see changes in the film's latitude, saturation, gamma curve, contrast and color rendition (accurate color reproduction). Modern film stocks are manufactured to very high tolerances and I would be willing to bet that any changes to the film would be consistent across the lot you have, if they were stored under the same conditions, and what you shoot will cut together well. I don't think you will have any problems.

When you are done, post the footage, I would love to see it.
 
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funkmusicinstitute said:
I'm wondering if anyone here has shot anything w/ expired Super 8mm film. I have a number of reels of Kodak Vision2 color negative 500T/7218 and 200T/7217 that I bought in 2006. Has been stored at room temp, not in a freezer, unfortunately. I might also have some B/W from the same period laying around. My thought was to use it for B-roll, but wondering if the risk of using old film is worth the cost.
Many thanks!
Click to expand...

High speed stock that hasn't been refrigerated goes off very quickly. The 500T in particular will be OK, but you should aim to overexpose it by about a stop. You'll likely not notice much of a difference visually aside form needing twice the light ! Basically the stock will be grainier and less sensitive.

jb
 
i has 2 reels of super8 that i bought from a car boot sale that had expired in 1976 - sent it off to be developed as it was included in the initial purchase - was amazed how well it held up, interesting effects colour wise
 
You should be fine, especially if the footage is going to be experimental in nature. Emulsion is much more volitile after exposure so be sure to refrigerate if you can't get it processed right away.
 
Here's something you could do, if you were thinking about maybe just throwing it away. Use the film to shoot something static, like a grey card, or something else like that. Use the whole roll. Then, once it's exposed, you digitize it, and bring it into after effects. Add that to any footage to make it look like it's been shot on expired film. I'm sure there are even people who would pay money for a 10 minute long video file that they could apply to their footage to give it a film look.

It wouldn't be exactly the same, but it could possibly work, right?
 
You might even consider having the lab cross-process the film and it will come out in a more artistic result.
 
markblasco said:
Here's something you could do, if you were thinking about maybe just throwing it away. Use the film to shoot something static, like a grey card, or something else like that. Use the whole roll. Then, once it's exposed, you digitize it, and bring it into after effects. Add that to any footage to make it look like it's been shot on expired film. I'm sure there are even people who would pay money for a 10 minute long video file that they could apply to their footage to give it a film look.

It wouldn't be exactly the same, but it could possibly work, right?
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I have about a 30 second shot of Kodak 4X B&W reversal 400 ASA Super 8 stock (since discontinued), that was pushed one stop. I use that to add film grain to video. The shot I use was exposed with the lens cap on and then developed. I added it as another film track in FCP, above the main track(s) and cut the opacity down to about 20% or less, usually. I keep adding the shot, with about a half second cross dissolve between each, to cover the length of the original video. It works pretty good. I call it the "7269 Film Look Process" and have actually added that to the end credits of a couple of projects I've done. It always raises questions from other filmmakers. The "72" is for the Kodak code number preceding their 16mm and Super 8mm stock #s and the "69" is for... well you know!!! :lipsrseal !!

Shooting a grey card might get similar results, but I think it might really change the contrast of the original video quite a bit and kind of look liked flashed film (Not necessarily bad). It would be worth a try. I would also e run a good 30 second or minute of the stock with the lens cap on and try that footage also.
 
I don't have much experience with film, but I just figured that if the age of it was going to cause any discoloration in random spots, the grey card would pick that up, and than you could do a subtract or add or whatever it is you do in the adobe programs so that the grey becomes neutral, and anything on the film that stays the same grey color won't have any effect.

I'm certain if you did this, either with the grey card or the lens cap, you would find a lot of people interested in getting digital copies of it to help add to the "film look" that everyone thinks you need 35mm adaptors to get. This would be a way to help get the "film look" by actually using artifacts from real film!
 
John Brawley said:
High speed stock that hasn't been refrigerated goes off very quickly. The 500T in particular will be OK, but you should aim to overexpose it by about a stop. You'll likely not notice much of a difference visually aside form needing twice the light ! Basically the stock will be grainier and less sensitive.

jb
Click to expand...

I have heard that the negative stocks that are daylight balanced lose the orange layer very quickly after expiration date, but I think the negative stocks that are tungsten balanced hold up better.
 
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markblasco said:
I don't have much experience with film, but I just figured that if the age of it was going to cause any discoloration in random spots, the grey card would pick that up, and than you could do a subtract or add or whatever it is you do in the adobe programs so that the grey becomes neutral, and anything on the film that stays the same grey color won't have any effect.

I'm certain if you did this, either with the grey card or the lens cap, you would find a lot of people interested in getting digital copies of it to help add to the "film look" that everyone thinks you need 35mm adaptors to get. This would be a way to help get the "film look" by actually using artifacts from real film!
Click to expand...

I just went back and looked at the stuff I put the film grain I have over and it looks pretty good playing out as DV, and I like it much better than the "Aged flilm" filters available in a lot of apps. The commercial filters seem to add scratches and gate weave, which I find to be distracting. The way I did it just adds a grain pattern, which I like. The one project where I did it the most was directly projected from DV onto a 20' screen and it also look very good. I just now tried to compress it for Youtube and post a sample, but the internet codec (Compressor, YouTube sharing H.264) did not like the grain AT All and it looks like sh*t when compressed. So judicious use of it would be in order I guess.
 
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