Some Old Fujicolor Press 800

Every once in a while, I find a gem among expired films.  When it comes to color emulsions, it's almost always a guessing game, unless I know the history of the film - how it was stored, and when it expired.  While there are general rules of thumb about exposing out-of-date films, some films age better than others (slow black and white films always age the best), and I end up having to estimate the "ideal" or realistic ISO for exposing a particular film.

In this instance, my friend Bill Pivetta handed me a roll of old Fujicolor Press 800 - a color emulsion that is at least 20 years old.  I've shot it before, but it was a long time ago.

Here is the blurb about the film from Fujifilm:

"This is the first ISO 800 film to feature a fourth color-sensitive layer. It also incorporates the Fine Sigma Technology to attain outstanding fine grain quality and sharpness. Other features made possible by the addition of a fourth color-sensitive layer include excellent gray balance, remarkable fluorescent light suitability, and high color fidelity. Boasting wide exposure latitude, it is able to produce prints with high image depth and fidelity even from underexposed negatives." 

That all sounds pretty good, right?  Most 800 ISO color films are a bit grainy and lack some the latitude found in a 400 ISO C-41 film.

But how old is this film?  Bill wasn't sure, so I guessed about 20 years.  It may have been cold-stored for some of that time...or maybe not!  Since color films, especially high ISO color films lose their sensitivity more so than slower emulsions, I decided to shoot it at ISO 100 - that's 3 stops overexposed from 800.

I loaded the Press 800 film in my Vivitar V2000, a very reliable K-mount SLR.  I used several lenses, one of them being a 135mm Sears lens with close focus for up to 1:5 "macro", which has interesting bokeh when wide open, as you will see below.

The film was processed by the Reformed Film lab in Florida.  I scanned the negatives on my Epson V700 scanner.

My first impression is that I probably could have shot this film at ISO 200 with good results.  Some of the images looked overexposed in full sunlight.  Now one typically uses an ISO 800 film in low-light situations, and I did not do that, especially since I was rating it at ISO 100.

Here are some examples from the roll.

Overall, the results were pretty good.  I probably could have had good results at ISO 200, as well. It just goes to show that you can sometimes be surprised in a positive manner by an expired film.  I'd certainly try another roll, Bill!