The older you get, the more frequent trips to the doctors can become and if you’re lucky, the more you’ll hear the title of this issue “It’s your age”. Which in medical terms basically means “tough”, whatever it is is wearing out, we can’t fix it, or in some cases we can fix it but you’re too young and you might wear it out if we do it now!
Another budget 35mm compact arrived a few weeks ago and after the usual ritual of light seal replacement it looked pretty good. However, an attempt to rectify corrosion in the battery compartment for the built in flash, which needed the alkaline batteries extracted by deft use of a screw being inserted in to them and a pair of pliers to extract them, naturally enough failed miserably. The corroded terminals probably too far gone to be worth the effort, but at least the battery compartment for the meter was ok and the camera itself seemed to work fine.
For those who are new to film or can’t remember the last time they used a roll, like most foodstuff, there’s a best before date on the box, though fortunately its a little longer than a few days or weeks!
I’ve used old film stock before and not had a problem, but the last roll I tried displayed exactly why you shouldn’t keep some brands much beyond the date specified. All film is a very exacting blend of chemicals layered onto the “plastic” carrier paper, regardless of size. Exposure of these chemicals to light and then to the developing process changes the chemical composition to produce colours or monochrome tones, be that a negative if it’s print film or a positive for slide.
Much like the joints and their surrounding muscles and tendons in your body, age has an impact on the structure or in the case of film, the reaction that takes place when exposed to light and especially to developer. Some film emulsions will keep longer than the recommended expose by date, the images in the previous post were taken on Fuji Velvia that was a good few years past the recommended date and I’m hoping for the same results from another roll once it’s processed.
However, Kodak Gold does not age gracefully and unless you’ve a penchant for very grainy film with a distinct cast, use it within the recommended date…
