Photographic paper- does it keep?

[DeeJay]

I just found a milk crate of probably 6"x8" photographic paper in approx a dozen boxes, some unopened, all probably 30 or more years old.Mostly Ilford & Kodak.
There are no use by dates, all before that came in, I guess.
It can get up to 40 Deg up there, I suppose that will ruin them ??
One for Ebay or the dumpster??

[JDNSW]

If it is B/W it may still be usable (if it has been dry) but if colour, forget it.

John

[tomalophicon]

If you have any colour please send it my way!

[DeeJay]

It's from my fathers darkroom & whilst he processed colour slides, he never did colour prints..

[superquag]

If its sealed and dry... more than likely its still useful. But the only way to find out is to try out some samples.

Do you or anyone nearby have the expertise to do the honours ?

[tomalophicon]

DeeJay, visit apug.org
There are heaps of Melbournites there who I'm sure can help you with testing.
I'd be more than happy to if you sent me a sample.

[Chucaro]

The technology back then was not as good as it is today.
If you value your photography work do not use them.

[austastar]

Hi,
I would think some degradation would be evident with that amount of time.
I did have a call for some B&W printing some 4 years after I had considered our dark room redundant.
The paper was about 6 years old and the chemicals were even older, but were mixed just before use and I was happy with the results.
You could run a test, put one piece of unexposed paper straight in to the fixer and then take another and develop it for the usual time in your favourite paper developer, wash and fix as per normal.
Check for any greying on the developed sheet.
Personally I wouldn't bother using D&P any more, I know some people get a lot of satisfaction from the silver chemistry, but I'm happy to leave it in the past.

cheers