How to shoot your own film?

How should I shoot Kodak Tmax 100 film that expired in 15 years ago in 1997?

• My photography professor gave me about 4 rolls of film from back in the day (1997, 1998 and 1999). All Tmax 100 and 400. Since.. my high school never had a dark room and every photography class is digital at my college, darkroom experience and knowledge is not with me. I'm hesitant to shoot with this film because it's so old, but also very eager. I know a photo lab that does b&w photo processing by hand and custom to your request. Should I shoot this film at the asa that matches the film.. or.. I suppose just blow an experimental roll? I just don't want to waste the rolls.

• Answer:

  I like these types of questions, much more interesting than the gazillion questions that the only suitable answer is "read the manual that came with your camera" and "learn about exposure". This is a genuinely interesting question. So thankyou! It does depend on how it was stored, if it was kept frozen for the whole time then you can shoot at box speed with no problem. Otherwise, the general rule of thumb for expired film is overexpose by 1 stop for every decade to compensate for loss of speed caused by ageing. So I would overexpose those rolls by 1.5 stops. Film has plenty of lattitude so you won't blow any highlights. Jlb, pulling is overexposing and under developing. What you described is just over exposing.