Today’s Post by Joe Farace
excerpted from a post on JoeFaraceShootsCars Blog:
I expect the results from shooting (expired) Fujicolor NPH 400 to look a lot like Fuji’s version of Kodak’s Portra 400 that all the cool kids on the Internet shoot. The Amazon film zombies sell Portra 400 for $31 per 35mm roll. B&H might, maybe, possibly sell you a five-pack for $64.67 as I write this but suggest (with a button) that you “request assistance” because “we are no longer accepting online orders for this item.” Which may be why people on eBay are selling long expired rolls of NPH 400 for $35.98 plus $5.40 shipping, I guess, because the film box is so heavy.
I recently shot an expired (2004) roll of Fujicolor NPH 400 in my Contax 167MT at the monthly Espresso & Exhaust event at the Vehicle Vault in Parker, Colorado. You can read more about my experience shooting the film in an upcoming post on my car photography blog.
So as today’s post’s title says: Why Expired Film? I believe that there are at least two reasons why people shoot with expired film. As Mary always says, there is always a good reason for anything and then there is the real reason.
The good reason is the one that all of die-hard film aficionados will probably give you if you ask: Unpredictability. Shooting expired film adds another layer of randomness to the inherent Phase I volatility of shooting film. So, in other words it’s fun. And you know how I feel about that.
The second reason, and I suspect that its the real reason why many people and I’ll admit this is absolutely true for me is that we already have the film and don’t want to spend the money—see above—on buying fresh in-date film. But, that’s just my opinion, I may be wrong.
How I Made this Portrait: I photographed Leslie for the first time when she was 18-years old. She had not, in fact, ever worn lipstick before; she borrowed her mom’s for this shoot. The camera used was digital not film and was a Canon D60 with the the EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM lens (at 83mm.) The camera’s pop-up flash was used to provide some fill. Exposure was 1/60 sec at f/5 and ISO 100. Right now, I am casting for an 18-year old model, aspiring model or maybe just a young woman who would like to give it a try to do a shoot with me using some Fujicolor NPH 400 that’s the same age as she is. See the box at the bottom of this post for details.
I’ve beat the whole hobby horse of shooting expired film to death before and you can read more, different thoughts on the subject in my post The Mystique of Shooting Expired Film.
In it I quote Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter who had this to say about shooting expired film, which may, or may not, answer the question: “The problem is heat and radiation; that tiny but constant dose will eventually turn film into a fogged mess. And even with that degradation, that slow collapse, expired film can still take fantastic pictures. Colour shifts and lack of sharpness can elevate some shots from ordinary to surreal.”