Kodak's "New and Improved" Royal Gold 400 Film?

I used to use a LOT of unhypered Royal Gold 400 film for my astrophotos.  Recently, however, Kodak have changed the chemistry of the film.  Unfortunately, its usefulness for astrophotography has, as a result, been totally destroyed.  These pictures show graphically how different the response of the "new" Royal Gold 400 film is from the "old" Royal Gold 400.  Note the total absence of red in the "New" Royal Gold 400 exposures.

All test exposures below were taken during the evening of Sunday, September 1, 2002 and all were 15-minute exposures using Olympus OM-1 camera bodies at f/6.3 prime focus on a Celestron C8 Deluxe.  All were taken on private rural land in Greene County, Ohio, in 70-degree weather, with occasional thin clouds, and seeing conditions of 3/5 darkness, 3/5 transparency, and 4/5 steadiness.

Notes	"Old" Royal Gold Select 400	"New" Royal Gold 400
Object:  M20, the Trifid Nebula.  Note that the levels of both exposures were adjusted in Photoshop to bring out a bit of the color recorded, since both were a bit underexposed.  (Double stars in "Old" exposure were due to clouds obscuring for part of exposure length, preventing adequate tracking.)
Object:  M57, the Ring Nebula.  No adjustments except for cropping.
Object:  M27, the Dumbbell Nebula.  No adjustments except for cropping.  Note the very faint blue response in the "New" Royal Gold.

How to tell the difference between the two versions of Royal Gold 400:  The "old" film clearly indicates the words "Select Series" on its packaging and film cartridge.  The "new" film does not use "Select" at all.  Also, inside the box, the film canister on the "new" film has a very bold "4" silk-screened on it, whereas the "old" film does not.  On the developed film itself, the "old" film indicates "Royal 400-3" and "RC 400-3 Kodak" along the sprocket edge, while the "new" film indicates "Royal 400-4" and "RC 400-4 Kodak".  The "old" film generally has an expiration date prior to mid 2004.  The "new" film all has expiration dates of about 1/2004 and higher.  For this test, the "old" film used had a 3/2004 expiration and the "new" film used had a 1/2004 expiration.  In this case, the "Select Series" indication proved to be a more reliable indication of the film's response.  Please note:  some hang-packaging (outer box for pegboard display) on the "old" film indicates "New!  Sharp Pictures with Natural Colors".  Do not be confused -- it's still the "old" film!