Testing some 10 year expired 7x17 Ilford HP5 film

When the 7x17 got mothballed over a decade ago I had a few boxes of film to put aside. In an ideal world these would go in a freezer. The next best place would be a fridge. I didn't have either of these to spare so I had to improvise and hope...

The boxes were sealed in bin liners to reduce the risks of dust, damp, mold and light. Then wrapped in sheets and towels to help maintain a reasonably consistent temperature and popped in a box in the coolest room in the house. Over the intervening years this was then typically used as a clothes horse and covered in daily detritus of life as is the usual way.

The first film to try after the Ritter 7x17 was restored to use was the slowest and most likely to be in a usable state, some Era 100. This has seemed to have survived nicely. No apparent loss of speed and no emulsion damage. I'm not that great at metering, or very consistent in developing but the negatives have looked great and no obvious fogging.

Most of the rest of the film I have is Ilford HP5 plus which is ISO 400 and the most likely to have seen a drop in speed and/or an increase in fogging. If these had deteriorated badly I would need to stock up again so it needed testing.

Much credit must be bestowed upon Ilford Photo who do a yearly ULF and unusual film size runs which enables these ULF and other cameras to continue to be used. The pre-sale window was still open but due to close in a few days so I needed to check some of the HP5 out. As I'm experimenting with 7x17 in Vertical format, why not test on the tree at the bottom of the allotment... 🤷‍♂️

Not a particularly interesting composition but a good enough subject to test out the film by trying to place the shadows under the branches in Zone 3. Results look OK, plenty of detail and texture in those places. 👍

Ritter 7x17

355mm G-Claron

Ilford HP5 @ ISO 400

1/2 @ f/45

Paranol S 1+25 in Jobo 2850