Photography with expired film is always an adventure that I relish. I set my expectations low and hope for something interesting. Especially when I further add the unexpected color shifts that result from cross processing. I had a roll of expired (1999) Fujifilm Provia 100 E6 slide film that I wanted to use up. Since it was expired film, I figured the colors were not going to be accurate so cross-processing the film in C-41 chemistry would add a flavor of mystery to the results.
With cross-processing in mind, I decided to photograph at a local car show full of brightly colored vintage and exotic cars. I felt that a variety of bright colors would further exaggerate or amplify the color shifts and maybe create images with a more artistic flair.
I used a 1949 Rolleiflex Automat 6×6 – Model K4/50 with its Tessar f/3.5 lens. I enjoy using this camera because it is lightweight, reasonably compact, and easy to use on bright sunny days. The camera also turns a lot of heads and I had several people approach me and ask about it. For scanning, I used a Nikon D610 DSLR and Nikkor 105mm Macro lens on a copy stand with an LED lightpad for illumination.
Post-processing was done using Negative Lab Pro and Lightroom Classic. Most of the tuning was with Negative Lab Pro and even that was minimal because I really like the way the images appeared right after conversion.
I typically find with expired 120 size films that the backing paper may sometimes chemically bleed into the film layer causing a double-exposed look with numbers, lines, and dots that were printed on the backing paper appearing in the images.
In the case of this film, it also added a magenta color cast that is visible in the lighter areas of the frame. In this case, I liked the effect it produced and I was very happy with the results.
~ George
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2 responses to “5 Frames… From psychedelic expired Fujifilm Provia 100F (EI 100 / 120 format / EI 100 / Rolleiflex Automat 6×6 – Model K4/50)”
Oh, MAN! I’m STOKED on these! I just loaded (literally 20 hours ago) my first roll of film into an Imperial Savoy I’ve had sitting around waiting for some 620 spools- Provia 100F that expired in 2013! My plan was also to cross process in c-41, so I appreciate getting a sneak peek at what I might expect!
Expired film and cross processing is a fickle mistress but responsible for some of my favourite photographs. I’d love to see how you get on 😀