Recently I finished and developed a couple of rolls of expired 120 color film. I was expecting some effect from both age and heat exposure, but surprisingly, the result was uneven, and varied as I progressed through the roll.
Here’s a shot from the start of the film roll.
Here’s one about 6 frames in, taken a day later.
A similar thing happened with a roll that sat for a couple of years (!) from the first shot taken, to eventual development a few weeks ago. One of the first frames:
A shot from the end of the roll (note that the blurriness here isn’t grain, it’s camera shake because I accidentally switched the Holga to bulb mode):
A (slightly less expired) roll of black and white had the opposite progression. Here’s a shot taken last November:
Followed by one shot in January:
My theory about the color film is that the outer layers of the roll, which are used first, had more exposure to heat and thus more color effects. I don’t know why the black and white roll seems to get grainier toward the end, though. It only sat in the camera for a couple of months, and wasn’t exposed to any extreme temperature changes in the meantime. Just a fluke, perhaps?
