Storing film in the fridge?

"Michael A. Covington" wrote
in message ...
You should hang onto that Panatomic-X. T-Max 100 is not really a
substitute!

Yes, but Ilford Pan F+ is better than Panatomic-X.

"Michael A. Covington" wrote
in message ...

"Ron Andrews" wrote in message
...
As others have said, refrigeration will allow you to keep film
longer.
One word of caution: Don't expect to keep high speed film beyond its
expiration date. Refrigeration will slow down the chemical reactions,
but
it
will not stop background radiation. (Lead bags wont either.) I don't use
any
400 speed film that is beyond its expiration date even if it has been
frozen. I don't use 800 speed film if it has less than a y/ear left
before
it expires. I have not found a radiation problem with 100 and 200 speed
films. I've kept them in the freezer for years.


Theoretically, in fact, refrigeration might *increase* the effect of
radiation, by reducing the reciprocity failure which would otherwise
mitigate it. But the refrigerator probably absorbs some radiation. So
it's
hard to say...

But 400 speed film doesn't go kaplooey immediately on its expiration date.
Tri-X Pan is good for about 5 years past expiration, for instance, if
you're
willing to make small adjustments to the development time.

I haven't used enough Tri-X in recent years to have an informed
opinion, so I'll defer to your experience. My comments were based on color
neg films.
There aren't any films that go bad suddenly, but all films will slowly
degrade with time. I should also add that my rules are what work for me.
"Your mileage may vary." A lot of my photography is of sporting events so
film speed is important to me. I've seen pictures on 800 speed film a year
past its expiration date. Most of the frames were well exposed in bright
sunlight and were acceptable. The one flash picture had terrible grain in
the shadows. If I'm shooting sunny landscapes, I'll use 200 speed film. For
sports, I like 800 speed film. In these cases, I'm more likely to sample
more of the toe of the characteristic curve so I pay attention to things
like radiation that affect that part of the curve.

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 16:19:46 -0700, "Mark A"
wrote:

"Michael A. Covington" wrote
in message ...
You should hang onto that Panatomic-X. T-Max 100 is not really a
substitute!

Yes, but Ilford Pan F+ is better than Panatomic-X.



Curious, having no experience with either.

"Better" in what sense?


Best Regards.

*****************************************
Boycott list:

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Hollywood, San Francisco, Massachusetts, New York City, Sierra Club, ACLU,
Movies of the first blacklist, Turner, Madonna, S. Crowe, Dixie Chicks, Cher, U2, rapp,
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Foods, Ontario & Quebec provinces,

Sometimes the only influence you have is to say, "No, I'm not buying."

For those who are unclear about the situation, California is the Clinton - Davis model for the rest of the United States of America.

You should hang onto that Panatomic-X. T-Max 100 is not really a
substitute!

Yes, but Ilford Pan F+ is better than Panatomic-X.

Curious, having no experience with either.

"Better" in what sense?

Best Regards.

I used Panatomic-X extensively in the 1970's and until the mid 1980's (some
35mm but mostly 120 format). When it was discontinued, I tried TMAX-100 for
a while and then started using Pan F+. Better is always subjective when
judging film, but I think Pan F+ just provides a more 3-dimensional look
than Panatomic-X, which usually had a very thin look to it. Sometimes
TMAX-100 works OK, but it is very finicky and often did not work well for
me.

I think that many films, which were not very popular or well thought of
during their existence, all of the sudden become legendary as soon as they
are discontinued.

Why I bought over 2K feet of it and put it in the freezer.



In article , "Michael A. Covington"
writes:

You should hang onto that Panatomic-X. T-Max 100 is not really a
substitute!


"Mikesphoto" wrote in message
...
Yeah brain fart time or senior moment.


Mike Babcock
Mike's Photo

All my data is for pan X. Took me about 6 months of working with chemicals
and densitometers to get the pan X to where I knew what it would do. Don't
want to invest another 6 months if I do not have to.



In article , "Mark A"
writes:

Michael A. Covington" wrote
in message ...
You should hang onto that Panatomic-X. T-Max 100 is not really a
substitute!

Yes, but Ilford Pan F+ is better than Panatomic-X.


Mike Babcock
Mike's Photo

Why would you store film in a refrigerator?

A freezer is better. At 0 degrees F. the aging of film emulsions is arrested
for practical purposes.

However, freezing does not stop gamma radiation, which is with us all the time
and even penetrates lead.

So it is somewhat of a tradeoff between making the emulsions last longer, and
having them bombarded by gamma rays longer which tends to raise the fog level!


But I have High Contrast Copy Film frozen since before 1980, and Ektachrome 200
frozen since before 1979, and I still get acceptable results with both.

Best regards and Happy New Year--

[Andrew McCall wrote in rec.photo.film+labs]
I have seen people on the web and read in books about keeping film fresh
by storing it in a refrigerator. I have just been bought a mini
desk-side one by my girlfriend, and on the side of the box it came in it
even says that it can be used for storing film.

It's where I've got five rolls of Velvia and ten rols of NPH right now
in fact. Well, my fridge, not yours.

You're trying to stop the film from changing because of atmospheric
differences, if I stored the film in my office, which changes temperature
lots and lots between day and night, I would be risking damaging the film.
Keeping it at the same conditions - cool conditions at that - is much
less risky.

It did surprise my housemates the first time they saw my little habbit
though.


--
regards, Andy Davidson

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 07:30:57 +0000, Andy Davidson wrote:

[Andrew McCall wrote in rec.photo.film+labs]
I have seen people on the web and read in books about keeping film fresh
by storing it in a refrigerator. I have just been bought a mini
desk-side one by my girlfriend, and on the side of the box it came in it
even says that it can be used for storing film.

It's where I've got five rolls of Velvia and ten rols of NPH right now
in fact. Well, my fridge, not yours.

You're trying to stop the film from changing because of atmospheric
differences, if I stored the film in my office, which changes temperature
lots and lots between day and night, I would be risking damaging the film.
Keeping it at the same conditions - cool conditions at that - is much
less risky.

It did surprise my housemates the first time they saw my little habbit
though.

I usually keep mine in the freezer, it allows you to buy a brick at a
time, rather then a roll at a time. Just keep it sealed in the original
packaging and make sure you take it out the day before you want to use it.
If you do your own processing, you can put completed rolls back in the
cans (35mm) or seal them in plastic bags, and put them back in the
freezer. Take them out the day before you want to process them and do a
whole bunch at a time.

What can be an issue though, is if your using a far off lab, few post offices or
couriers will guarantee temperature control, so the film you carefully
stored in the fridge or freezer can end up in the back of a courier van at
40C (~110F) for three days while being shipped. You can get insulated
containers wrap the film in plastic making sure that no water can get in,
then use some ice, don't count on one side of the container being
considered the top, it will not happen. So you need to make sure the film
will not get wet floating in water. Best is to use a container that is
large enough that you can add lots of newspaper or other absorbant
material inside so that water is absorbed before it reaches you plastic
encased film. Ship the container by next day air. Make sure it is
labeled that it contains ice.

The alternate is to use a local lab where you can deliver the film in person.

W