Develop Before date in disposable cameras

[Clayton_e]

I just recently found a camera in the back of a box of stuff I never even unpacked in my attic from the last time I moved.. It had a camera in it with a "Develop Before 12/05" date written on it. I don't care too much about picture quality, I'd just like to see what photos are on the camera. If I get it developed will I have shot after shot of just gray blurs or will it generally be ok?

What is the reasoning behind a develop before date? I thought once the last shot was exposed the end of the strip was pulled into the sealed film container, preventing any further contamination from light or anything else.

[Harlequin]

When I developed a really old roll of film what I got was something like three photos from a 36-picture roll, with pictures like what you'd expect when meshing 12 photos into one.

[Giles]

The chemicals in photographic film have a use-by date because they slowly change over time, and gradually the quality of the pictures on them will degrade. (The effect that Harlequin got is not connected with that, but is connected with some problem with the film advance mechanism.) If you develop 4 years after the use-by date, there will be a noticeable loss in picture quality, but the pictures should still be recognisable and usable.

[Harlequin]

The effect that Harlequin got is not connected with that, but is connected with some problem with the film advance mechanism.

That would be an amazing coincidence, since the camera never had a similar problem before or since. I wasn't the one who got the film developed so I don't know exactly what the guy said, but my impression was that it was the film's age.

[chacoguy]

Sorry Harlequin, Giles is right. If you have multiple exposures one one piece of film, that's a film advance problem. On disposable cameras, the film does get pulled into the metal film cassette. The "develop by" date is not connected to light contamination. Film emulsion is an animal based product and it will spoil over time. The biggest enemy to exposed, undeveloped film is heat. If your disposable camera was stored in a cool, dark place, you should be able to recover images even decades later. The color will likely have shifted towards the red, but the images will be recognizable. You can then have the images scanned digitally the clean them up if you want a good quality print. If the camera was left in the glove box of your hot car, then the image quality will be significantly reduced.

[Harlequin]

I guess I'll have to yield, but it seems mighty strange that the one time it happened was also the one time the roll was left for years before being developed.

[WhyNot]

Film emulsion is an animal based product and it will spoil over time. The biggest enemy to exposed, undeveloped film is heat.

Wow. Do the vegans know about this? I thought I'd heard all the Hidden Animal Product stories there were!

IME, Walgreens will only charge you for the prints that are printable. I do the same thing all the freakin' time, and sometimes I'll get four photos back in a miserably skinny little envelope, and sometimes I'm lucky and get a big fat one full of mostly red/orange but still recognizable photos. But they don't charge me a full roll fee on the four photos back.

[pulykamell]

Sorry Harlequin, Giles is right. If you have multiple exposures one one piece of film, that's a film advance problem.

Exactly. The develop by date has nothing to do with multiple exposures on the same frame. (Besides, by what mechanism would twelve photos all converge onto the same frame over time?) I've developed film as old as ten years past when I originally exposed them without any major loss of quality.

And, yes, to my knowledge there is no vegan film, as it contains gelatin, an animal product.