# Paper expiration?



## Tangerini (Feb 20, 2007)

Forgive me if this has been asked... I didn't find anything in my search.
I have some paper that is 10 years old and I'm wondering if there is will be a difference in its effectiveness.
It has been stored well, so that shouldn't be a problem, I'm just concerned about its age.

Thank you


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## Hertz van Rental (Feb 20, 2007)

Colour or B&W?
Paper, like film, will keep for a long time if hermetically sealed and kept in the freezer.
If it hasn't been then other factors like stability of temperature, humidity and air quality (there are some chemical fumes that can come from decomposition of plastic for instance that can fog film/paper) will affect what you get.
With age B&W materials tend to lose film speed and build up base fog (making the whites appear grey on paper). The warmer the environment the quicker this happens.
The same happens with colour materials but the three layers change in different ways so the colour balance goes.
As there are so many different factors that can affect things all you can do is to try it out.
I have successfully used paper 10 years old - but I wouldn't use it for important prints, just for contact sheets.

You might find more pronounced fogging down an edge or on the top few sheets. Discard two or three and process an unexposed one. If you see no fogging then do a test strip with a neg in the enlarger (best to use a whole sheet for this). If the results appear OK then use it.
If you get fogging (or any strange markings) then discard another couple of sheets and try again.
If you still get fogging or marks then you can repeat the same process - but by this point I would be inclined to file it in the bin.
Use your own judgement.


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## Tangerini (Feb 20, 2007)

The paper is B&W
Thank you very much for your all of your input.  I do realize that testing the paper is the best way to really know how effected (if any) it has been by time/etc, but it's nice to have a heads up as to what I can expect.


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## Majik Imaje (Feb 21, 2007)

I always bought outdated paper and film. It was a great way to save money. Working on large construction projects,presented me with many opportunieis.. Polaroid, General Electric, Westinghouse.. etc.. Places like this use enormous volumes of paper, film etc and they are alwsys throwng out, large amounts also. Sometimes, if you meet the right person, you can eaisly get thousands of dollars of recently outdated film or paper.. THIS should never be used for important, shoots but rather to compare against existing images that are printed. then you can get a "feel" for what you have to work with.

Kodak says latent image retention with PROPER storage, can be up to as much as ONE YEAR.  IF .. it is stored properly.

I want to show you an image. the film was exposed. it was NOT STORED PROPERLY. http://majikimaje.com/AapaNAakaweb.JPG

I am not advocating anything or implying anything. I was lucky here.

Five years is along time.. I almost threw these rolls out. because when they were finally found. I BELIEVE what  I had read... but I took the chance.. and developed them anyway!  whew!

And the most amazing part of this is / was.. this was done using Vericolor film!  WHICH  proper storage is CRITICAL!... according to Kodak.!


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## Hertz van Rental (Feb 21, 2007)

Majik Imaje said:


> Kodak says latent image retention with PROPER storage, can be up to as much as ONE YEAR.  IF .. it is stored properly.



I think you'll find that the question was about the keeping properties of _unexposed_ paper


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## Majik Imaje (Feb 21, 2007)

Two things have expiration dates in the "darkroom" actually three but chemicals were never mentioned

Paper & film.. I am sorry if I stepped over the "line" so to speak and added my comments.

I will do my best to make sure that never happens again.

Thanks for pointing that out to me!


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