Expired film
Expired film is stock sold past the date the manufacturer guaranteed it to, and it behaves differently from fresh film: slower, grainier, and often shifted in colour. For some photographers that unpredictability is the whole point, and for others it is simply a cheaper way to shoot. Filmproof tracks expired stock as its own listing rather than mixing it in with fresh, so a discounted expired roll never gets compared against a fresh one on price alone.
![[ 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 film
What is expired film?
Every roll of film carries a process-before date, typically two to three years from manufacture, which is the point up to which the maker guarantees its rated speed and colour balance. Film does not stop working on that date, it simply stops being guaranteed. The emulsion degrades gradually from the moment it is made, and the date is the manufacturer drawing a line rather than the film going off in any sudden sense.
What actually changes is the silver halide crystals in the emulsion, which slowly lose sensitivity while background radiation and heat build up a base fog across the film. In practice that means expired film tends to be effectively slower than its box speed, grainier, lower in contrast, and, in colour stocks, shifted towards whichever dye layer has held up best, often producing the green or magenta casts expired film is known for.
How well film keeps
Storage matters far more than the date on the box. Film kept frozen or refrigerated ages very slowly and can shoot close to fresh decades past its date, while the same stock left in a warm loft or a car can be visibly degraded within a few years of expiry. A roll expired in 2015 and kept frozen will usually outperform one expired in 2022 and kept warm, which is why the storage history is worth asking a seller about.
Film speed and type matter too. Faster film is more sensitive to background radiation, so ISO 800 and 3200 stocks degrade noticeably quicker than ISO 100. Black and white film keeps best of all, often shooting near normally long past its date, colour negative shifts more visibly as its dye layers age at different rates, and slide film is the least forgiving, since its narrow exposure latitude leaves little room for the extra fog and speed loss to hide in.
Shooting and buying expired film
The usual working rule is to overexpose by roughly one stop for every decade past the expiry date, so a ten-year-expired ISO 400 film gets metered at around ISO 200, and a twenty-year-expired roll at ISO 100. That compensates for the lost sensitivity and lifts the image clear of the base fog. Film you know was cold-stored often needs less than that, or none at all, and bracketing the first roll of any batch is the most reliable way to find out what a particular lot actually wants.
Expired stock is usually cheaper than fresh, but it is one-off inventory, whatever a shop happens to have found, so availability moves faster than it does for current stock and a listed roll can sell out quickly. Two shops selling expired stock of the same film are not necessarily selling the same thing either, since expiry dates and storage differ by lot. Filmproof lists expired film separately from fresh across UK retailers so you can see what is actually about and compare prices per roll before you buy.