How long can blank camera film be kept before being unusable?

Do any photographers use old film for any reason i.e. quality, effect, etc?





Is there a chemical etc process to check how old the camera film is? (Say for instance a dead body was found with a roll of negatives in a plastic tube, or in the camera, would the Police be able to test it?)





Please help.|||I agree that freezing film is the best way to keep it usable "indefinitely." I'll make no bets how long that is, since film can be affected by abusive shipping and storage conditions prior to freezing. I've kept film in good condition for about a year past the expiration date by freezing before using it up, but YMMV...





I had used old unrefrigerated film on several occasions, basically because I had ran out of fresh film and scrounged up some expired stuff out of the proverbial sock drawer. Based on those experiences, IMHO the use of "over age" film (unexposed, unrefrigerated, and long past the expiration date) is likely to produce disappointing results. There'll be a likely shift to a blueish hue upon normal development (for color film), along with lowered contrast and rated speed (both color and black/white). The amount of the above is random judging from my experience. Sure, you can experiment with unrefrigerated outdated film for artistic reasons, but why bother? If you're looking for some special effect, it's easier to be knowledgeable and use the proper lighting/filters/developing procedure/etc. to being with.





To my knowledge, there's really no direct chemical way to specifically date film or an individual photograph. However, quite a lot of film had a lot number put along the edge, next to or near the manufacturer's name and brand of film. That information could be used to determine the manufacturing date, which could be used to say the photos could not been done before that time. Also, some higher end film cameras from about the mid 1980s onwards had an embedded device that could time/date stamp the edge of each photograph. Outside of that, it's most likely a guessing game....|||Unexposed ("blank") film can be kept indefinitely, even past its expiration date, provided it's been frozen.





As to whether any photographers use such expired film for creative purposes, I don't doubt they do, but I cannot think of anyone off the top of my head.





To the best of my knowledge, no such test exists; in that case, as outlined in your hypothetical example, it's "develop it and hope for the best."|||I wouldn't worry too much about expired film producing a serious change to the image. This is a post somebody did on a forum showing images taken recently with film that expired in 1986..





http://forum.manualfocus.org/viewtopic.p鈥?/a>





I have just bought some expired film from eBay, 5 rolls for 拢2 including delivery!. Expired Mar 2009. I have no concerns at all that it will be just fine, I will of course keep it in the fridge for the time being.





.|||. . . and they say dead men tell no tales . . .





I've used expired (a few years) unrefrigerated 35mm negative film and results look just fine. Though I'm sure if you kept them on the car dashboard they would get worse faster.