I got one as a gift four years ago. It took me 3 years to fill it in (the whole time i lived in Germany). And then i didn’t print those out because I brought it in too late and it takes a week to print. So now it’s been four years, and the expiration date is 03/2022
Does it mean they won’t print the pictures if I hand it in now? Or is it still possible?
by JustRequirement1449
3 comments
It’s definitely still possible. The film inside the camera is impregnated with light-sensitive chemicals, which can degrade over time. Depending on how you stored your camera during all this time, your photos may be perfect, or they may have a strange colour cast — they might look a bit yellowy or orangey, for example.
So your photos might look great, but the manufacturer can’t now guarantee it.
It should be fine.
Last year we found the 10-15 year old analog camera from my grandmother and the pictures turned out fine but had a greenish tone.
It was surprising and entertaining to see some pictures of a family reunion in 2008.
It’s no problem to get the film developed. The labs don’t check the expiration date of your film. A film that expired two years ago is usually still good, I’ve already tried 40 years old films and got decent images. The problem isn’t the age of the film, but the timespan between exposure and development. Exposing the film creates a latent image which is not very stable until the film is developed. This means that your photos could come out a bit pale. But as long as the film is not an Ilford Pan F (which it certainly isn’t), the photos should still be fine.