A few weeks ago my very, very kind cousin gave me a huge bundle of film all of which had expired over various dates.
One of the oldest was a roll of HP5+ that expired back in 1995, as none of the film had been either fridge/freezer stored for quite a while I was expecting pretty hit or miss results but I love the unexpected.
I loaded up my Mamiya 645 and popped out to see what I would get.
I exposed as if it was 200 iso and processed accordingly using ilfotec HC 1+47 dilution for 8 minutes and the negatives came out fine at 1st sight.
But on close inspection the sharpness and contrast were just fine but the grain in the lighter areas was pretty soft and mushy, not that I minded it was fine and towards the end of the roll the circles of the paper backing were evident in 2 of the frames.
As you can see in this crop…
Nevertheless I was really impressed with the film, I love grain and contrast and this roll had not really lost either, I could have most probably developed a little longer and got it even more contrasty.
I love HP5, its my goto film most of the time and even if it expired 20 years ago its still great in my book…… thank goodness that Ilford are still flying the flag for film.
Thanks for looking
Click on an image to view larger…….
You can also find more film goodness over at my “Film Only” blog at:
tim dobbs photography 
wow, that’s impressive for 20 year old film. lovely results!
Such beautiful results. I love these contrasts and sharp details
I love HP5…. its my favourite film to shoot…so versatile
I purchased 5 120 rolls last week and going to rock it with my hasselblad ;-)))
Found 3 for cheap, and wanting to load them to my rolleiflex automat 4, but I needed to see your samples first, I’m scared but at the same time excited.