Expired colour film
Expired colour film is where age shows most plainly. Colour negative film carries three dye layers, and they do not fade at the same rate, so as a roll ages past its date the balance between them drifts and the whole image takes on a cast. That shift is the reason a lot of people shoot expired colour deliberately. Compare expired colour film prices from UK retailers on Filmproof.
![[ Short Expired ] Fujifilm Colour C200 35mm Film, (Set of 3)](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0014/2314/7055/files/short-expired-fujifilm-colour-c200-35mm-film-24-exposures-set-of-3.jpg?v=1689247618)
About Expired colour film
How expired colour film shifts
Which way the colour goes depends on the stock and how it was kept, but the direction is usually consistent within a batch: the cyan layer tends to hold up longest and the yellow to fade first, which is why heavily expired colour negative often prints green or magenta, and why the orange mask can look denser than it should. Alongside the shift you get the same base fog and speed loss any expired film picks up, which flattens contrast and mutes saturation.
None of this is a defect to be corrected away, and scanning software that auto-balances every frame will fight you for it. If the cast is the reason you bought the roll, scan flat and set the balance yourself rather than letting the scanner neutralise it.
Shooting and buying expired colour
Colour negative has wide exposure latitude to begin with, which is what makes it the most forgiving type to shoot expired. The usual one stop of extra exposure per decade past the date applies, and the latitude absorbs a fair margin of error on top of that, so a roll metered generously will almost always give you something. Overexposure also lifts the image clear of the fog, which is where the muddiness in expired colour comes from.
Everyday consumer stocks turn up expired far more often than professional ones, simply because they sold in much larger numbers. Filmproof lists expired colour film separately from fresh across UK retailers, with live prices per roll updated daily.