Well-seasoned 20th-century film.

In negotiations with Photo Opp about compensation for conducting a workshop, I cleverly got them to agree to give me a sealed, five-roll box of 220 format Kodak Pro 400 MC, which I knew was in their freezer.

It had expired in November 2000. I've used quite a bit of outdated film, some another decade older than this. My general impression is that it's fine. It may be a little slower, maybe lower contrast, and might exhibit some color shift. You could correct those changes printing with the right filter pack (which would be expensive to experiment with). It's pretty simple with digital color editing tools.

Included in the box was an ad for Kodak's new series of professional color films, Portra. There was a table recommending which of the new films to replace the Pro 400 MC with - Portra 400 NC, which happens to be the film I previously had used last year in 220 format, which was discontinued in 2011 and wasn't even in the foil wrapper when I got it. 

The professional 220 format gives 24 6x6cm exposures, twice the normal 120 format. In order to squeeze that much film on the same reel, there is no opaque backing paper, so your camera has to be particularly light-tight. I had completely lined my Morton camera with old backing paper to accommodate that.

That also means no numbers to tell where you are. Those previous experiments led me to advance the take-up one and a quarter turns for the first 8 pictures, one and an eighth for 9-16, and a single turn for the last third, measured by a white dot on the winder.  (The circumference increases as you put more film on the take-up reel.) That worked great. The full 24 pictures and no overlap. I kept track in a little notebook.

I rated it at ISO 200, but I wasn't any more careful about timing the exposures than I usually am. 

The contrast mask on the negatives is a little darker than usual and almost purple rather than the orange base most color films exhibit. Is that the age of the film or a feature of professional color films? The scanner software didn't have any trouble bringing me close to the right color, although I'm not too worried about correct color as long as it's not too distracting. Most of the exposures done in daylight haven't had any color correction at all. Despite the need to pack all that film on the same reel, it's got a substantial film base and the negatives dried flat enough to get in the scanner without tape.

Trying to expose for the shadowed side in the morning, this blossoming crab got pretty overexposed. Like most fast films, it gets noticeably more grainy when it's overexposed.

Testing out the blues with just touch of green and gold.

Combining daylight and incandescent.

Looks like an Orange amp to me.

The Toad Witch surveys the dining room. Most of this was incandescent balanced LEDs and the film responded as warmly as you might expect for daylight film.

The white crabapple in the back.

The pink crabapple next to it.

Thorns and ribbons to keep them out of my hair.

Some shadows under the hydrangea.

Under the lilies of the valley.

The Wisconsin State Wildflower.

Abstraction with weeds, hay under netting and crumbling asphalt, in the front of the house.

A dazzling display by the lilacs.

New white equipment is a good test of the color balance.

The loveseat, enlightened by a sunbeam and literature.

Another very warm response to warm white LEDs.

Out to the lake again, overexposing another eastern sky in the morning.

The overexposed, less detailed background, blurred by the wind, gives a good impression of shallow depth of field.

Foreboding sky over Menomonee Drive.

Behind Oshkosh.

I've always thought this church was odd because of its almost square footprint with the entrance on the corner. I never realized it had the indentation on this side.

In one of my previous experiences testing whether a bunch of old film was worth using, I used flat, grey architectural elements to assess color accuracy. Have I mentioned recently that my camera has a square format?

As part of their "Community Oriented Policing" effort, the small storefront at 101 Algoma, just across from Opera Square, has been occupied by the Oshkosh Police. I thought about doing a picture if no one was there, but when I saw this K9 officer surveilling the area, I went ahead and took my chance. The two human officers never looked up from their computers.

In the only other time I got 24 exposures from a roll of 220 film, the last frame was severely cropped by the end of the roll. I didn't want to put any effort into that last picture, so I decided to make it easy and document my Wisconsin bona fides wearing shorts and sandals in 65-degree F temperatures. 

Looks like I can use the other four rolls without concern, and there's another box back at Photo Opp.

Morton has two .25mm pinholes, on the axis and 11mm above it, 30mm from a 6x6cm frame. The film was developed in a Cinestill powder C-41 kit. Paterson adjustable-width reels are designed to take 36-exposure 35mm rolls, so there's no problem getting the long roll loaded.