Film storage tips

Ben johns

Ben johns

Suspended / Banned
Messages
957
Name
Ben
Edit My Images
No
Soon I’m going to be buying 5 packs of provia here and there when I have the money laying around. I intend to keep it in the freezer. Would a putting the film in freezer bags inside lunch boxes be fine?
 
I'd recommend not storing it at the back of the freezer, I recently discovered a roll of film when defrosting the damn thing a couple of months ago
 
VirtualAdept said:
I'd recommend not storing it at the back of the freezer, I recently discovered a roll of film when defrosting the damn thing a couple of months ago
Click to expand...

Freezer bag inside an ice cream container, stored (eventually) at the bottom of the freezer. Found when freezer died. Now the bag of Kodachrome, IR Ektachrome, GAF etc. is in the fridge...

I just try to keep moisture out. A freezer bag works for me.
 
I've been kicked out of the freezer. Now I have a mini fridge in the office. It's not big enough to store it all, so I had to sell some... And still I buy more.... But when you see that price....

Jeez... I've got GAS, PAS and now FAS.
 
I’ve very generously been given a whole drawer in the freezer. I store everything in big freezer bags, and that seems to work fine.
 
All of our film is in the fridge in freezer bags and mainly in Tupperware boxes. There are some boxes of sheet film which is double bagged as I found that one bag meant the boxes became damp, possibly due to condensation, two eliminated the problem.
 
I don't store film in the freezer, all of mine is just in the drawer in the fridge. I never thought to put them in bags either as the rolls are individually wrapped. I just stick 'em in the drawer in their boxes... maybe I should have a sort out and do it properly haha.
 
When our old fridge broke down and in the freezer....all the 35mm and 120 film was loose in water :eek: lucky the film was in water tight containers\foil.
 
I take the view that, if the film is in unopened packaging (rolls of 120), or in a properly closed cannister (135) then it doesn't really matter. My main concern would be moisture getting onto the film, which shouldn't happen if it's still sealed in the wrapper or in its cannister.

I do use ziplock bags too, but it's mostly to keep stuff from getting mixed up.
 
Thin (and even thicker ones) plastic bags are hygroscopic, so film not in sealed containers (in plastic bags) could be ruined, but would of course depend on humidity etc.
 
Unless you intend to keep the film for a long time(Beyond their expiry date keeping them in a fridge is perfectly adequate. There is no need to freeze it. I have even used (A long time ago now) Fuji Velvia 100 which was nearing its expiry date when I bought quite a lot of it cheaply and used the last cassette when it was 2 years out of date. There was no problem at all. The benefit of not using a freezer is you can use film out of the fridge more less immediately (no more than 15 mins later after letting it acclimatise to the ambient temp.
 
excalibur2 said:
Thin (and even thicker ones) plastic bags are hygroscopic, so film not in sealed containers (in plastic bags) could be ruined, but would of course depend on humidity etc.
Click to expand...

The original snap top plastic tubs are more than adequate.
 
Fridge and zip bags for me. ( I no longer own, or have need, for a freezer.

I find that one bag usually suffices tbh

Some are also inside a tupperware box but that is simply to arrange the 5x4 together.

13x18 and 10x8 are located in the door shelves.
 
In light of the announcement about Kodak's 2nd significant price hike in 2 years, I'm considering fitting a combination lock on my fridge-freezer!
 
Last edited:
Mr Badger said:
I'm considering fitting a combination lock on my fridge-freezer!
Click to expand...

Bah, I wudn't bother.......It's not like your miniature formats have any REAL value:exit:unlmess of course you're scared that someone might nick your fishfingers:LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Asha said:
Bah, I wudn't bother.......It's not like your miniature formats have any REAL value:exit:unlmess of course you're scared that someone might nick your fishfingers:LOL::LOL::LOL:
Click to expand...
I prefer quality, not quantity! :p
 
Mr Badger said:
In light of the announcement about Kodak's 2nd significant price hike in 2 years, I'm considering fitting a combination lock on my fridge-freezer!
Click to expand...
That’s why I want to keep some provia in storage. Don’t know how true it is but I’ve read Fuji have stopped making it
 
StephenM said:
Since you're using 35mm, I fixed the typo. :)
Click to expand...
Insert roll of film into camera, take photo, wind on, all ready for next photo, repeat process whenever you want to for up to 36 times before rewinding and unloading the film... No, I can't imagine how that caught on instead of all the faffing about you LF lot have to do! ;)

It would be a dull world if we all liked the same things though, so I wish you all the best, may all your film holders always contain film (the right way round) and may none of your darkslides ever slip. (y)
 
It's going to stay that way too! I've enough film in my fridge and freezer without adding sheets of the stuff to the collection. Besides, don't you think I'm poor enough already without tearing up £10 notes under a black cloth!
 
Last edited:
On a side note, how should one go about defrosting film?
Is moisture going to be an issue.
 
MrDrizz said:
On a side note, how should one go about defrosting film?
Is moisture going to be an issue.
Click to expand...


Take out of freezer and put it in the fridge overnight (to reduce the possibility of thermal shock).
Put it in camera bag and it'll be up to ambient temperature by the time you want to use it.
If it's still in the original packaging (plastic tub or foil "envelope"), moisture shouldn't be a problem as long as it's up to ambient temperature before unwrapping.
 
MrDrizz said:
how should one go about defrosting film?
Click to expand...

Microwave defrost mode for half hour :thinking::exit:

Disclaimer...... DO NOT DO THIS !!!!!
or if you do, don’t hold me responsible for any ailment due to the handling of radioactive negatives:LOL:
 
MrDrizz said:
On a side note, how should one go about defrosting film?
Is moisture going to be an issue.
Click to expand...

If it's frozen, I usually take it out the day before I plan on using it and let it reach ambient temperature overnight, but about five hours should be sufficient (three hours if from the fridge).

I think the biggest concern for me would be, if you're in a humid environment, then condensation could form and damage your camera if you don't let the film reach ambient temperature.

Roger Lowe released a video where he shot film straight from the freezer recently and had no ill effects whatsoever.

View: https://youtu.be/i8bUCh5MQd4
 
Last edited:
My only concern with using film (specifically 35mm) straight from the freezer would be a sprocket ripping through the edge while it (the film) was still brittle.
 
If there is one piece of advice I can stress, it’s to use some form of water tight container/bag for your frozen film. Woke up this morning to find the freezer door open by a cm or two. Thankfully the freezer as a whole had not defrosted fully, but the film drawer at the top had clearly risen to above 0 degrees c and partially refrozen. All my film was sat in pools of water or patches of ice, and there was refrozen water pools sat on top of the bags containing the film. Thankfully, given that it would not have been a fast defrost or refreeze, and indeed given that the freezer bags had fully protected the film from liquid water, I’m not worried about the film at all.

The message therefore: please please please use a waterproof container if you don’t already!
 
I tend to store mine in sealed plastic bags or in plastic, sealed, lidded containers that once had a Chinese takeaway meal in them - thoroughly washed first of course, as I'm not keen on sweet and sour Kodak!
 
Woodsy said:
If there is one piece of advice I can stress, it’s to use some form of water tight container/bag for your frozen film. Woke up this morning to find the freezer door open by a cm or two. Thankfully the freezer as a whole had not defrosted fully, but the film drawer at the top had clearly risen to above 0 degrees c and partially refrozen. All my film was sat in pools of water or patches of ice, and there was refrozen water pools sat on top of the bags containing the film. Thankfully, given that it would not have been a fast defrost or refreeze, and indeed given that the freezer bags had fully protected the film from liquid water, I’m not worried about the film at all.

The message therefore: please please please use a waterproof container if you don’t already!
Click to expand...
Take fright, rush out to The Range (controversially still selling non-essential products in lockdown areas), buy cheap and cheerful Wham food storage boxes , load with Acros (already in ziplock bags) and return to freezer. (y)
 
Last edited:
I was looking through my library of pdfs on technical stuff in photography and came across an article on freezer storage. It can be downloaded here:

archive.org

On the Cold Storage of Photographic Materials in a Conventional Freezer Using the Critical Moisture Indicator (CMI) Packaging Method : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Mark H. McCormick-Goodhart
archive.org

If anyone is further interested in some research done on storing IR Ektachrome in a freezer, a search on the Internet Archive will find one.
 
VirtualAdept said:
I'd recommend not storing it at the back of the freezer, I recently discovered a roll of film when defrosting the damn thing a couple of months ago
Click to expand...
it's amazing what you find when you're cleaning out the freezer, I've just found this little lot, can't remember the last time I used a roll of film, but reading an article about storing film in the freezer, I think these will be ok, some are used by dated 2002, the Fuji are dated 2005.IMG_20201130_165406_296.jpg
 
Nikon photographer said:
it's amazing what you find when you're cleaning out the freezer, I've just found this little lot, can't remember the last time I used a roll of film, but reading an article about storing film in the freezer, I think these will be ok, some are used by dated 2002, the Fuji are dated 2005.View attachment 300409
Click to expand...
Well, there's only one way to find out! Get that film camera out, check it's still working, thaw a roll of that stuff out and come on in and join the rest of us... it's bloody good fun and there's no one judging your results but yourself! :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top