Handling expired Film after removing from Freezer

Hey all,

 

I have rolls of Tri-X, Portra, and Astia slide film that I’ve stored in the freezer for 4 or 5 years. All or most of it has an expiration date Oct 2013. I shot and developed a roll of the Portra, and it seems fine. If I take a roll out for a shoot but don’t end up using it for a few days or weeks, should I stick it back in the freezer or just put it in the fridge for that time? Most of it is 120 film.

 

Thanks in advance

I take rolls in and out of the freezer all the time-some in date, some a whole lot older than what you've said here.

 

My opinion is that the most important thing is to just make sure it's warmed up to room temperature before opening the package(whether the plastic can on 35mm or the foil on 120). The same could also be extended to taking film from inside an air conditioned house outside on a humid day.

 

Aside from that, all but my instant film, before processing, is either in the freezer or in the camera bag ready to be loaded in a camera.

The way I see it is that my film is frozen in time. When I pull it out of the freezer the clock starts ticking again. If I put it back it, it stops again. Yes, an over-simplification, but it has worked for me. Rarely, do I put it back. When our home flooded and my film freezer died, I pulled my film out and kept it with me in a box. About one month later I bought another freezer and stuck it back in. I've used some of it since and it was fine.

I would never put an opened roll back into the freezer whether partially exposed or not exposed at all. Condensation could ruin the film. Of course, unopened film has the air content of the factory. So as long as you bring it up to room temperature before opening, you should not have a problem with condensate.

Once the seal is broken, you must be careful with humidity. Condensation will

ruin film much faster than moderate temperatures.

 

If the original seal isn't broken, and you expect to use it within some weeks or months,

refrigeration is fine. For most ordinary uses, even years at refrigerator temperatures

will be fine.

I would never put an opened roll back into the freezer whether partially exposed or not exposed at all. Condensation could ruin the film. Of course, unopened film has the air content of the factory.

 

Exactly.

 

It's especially bad if you live in a very humid environment like most of the Southeastern US. Once the can or the foil is opened, you're much better to simply use it up.

How about the time passed after the expired film is shot and before it is developed? I have lots of Sensias and Velvia 50s and because of the developing practices in my city my roll may wait weeks before it is developed. I just shot a roll of Velvia 50 last week and it has still been in my bag, waiting to be sent to the lab. Does this delay affect the expired film?

How about the time passed after the expired film is shot and before it is developed? I have lots of Sensias and Velvia 50s and because of the developing practices in my city my roll may wait weeks before it is developed. I just shot a roll of Velvia 50 last week and it has still been in my bag, waiting to be sent to the lab. Does this delay affect the expired film?

Yes the delay marginally affects the film, but it usually isn't noticeable if the time period is reasonably short (a month or two) and the exposed film isn't exposed to extreme heat.

I've developed exposed Velvia 50 at a lab a year later and didn't see any particular difference.

It went through hot and cold periods sitting in the trunk of my car in the summer and winter.

It went through hot and cold periods sitting in the trunk of my car in the summer and winter.

 

As long as the summers are not too hot, but it's still not advisable to leave film in even moderately hot conditions. I've also developed color film a year after exposing but they were in the freezer in the interim. The images were fine, actually much better than I imagined they would be. Of course I made sure the films were protected from moisture by "double" bagging them, two zip bags to make sure.

 

There was a thread that Alan Marcus posted in and he said that film needs 72 hours after exposure for the light to have it's full effect on the emulsion. I take that to mean that the emulsion is still going through it's "change" up to 72 hours after that fraction of a second of light hit it when the shutter opened then closed. So 72 hours is the minimum I leave films now before developing, double zip bagged and just left in the fridge. For longer times, they go in the freezer, after the initial 72 hours.

 

I think films are better left in cold conditions rather than varying uncertain conditions while they're waiting to be used, whether that's a long time or a very short time, to be on the safe side. When we buy expired film, don't we prefer to buy it knowing that it's been frozen ?

Yes the delay marginally affects the film, but it usually isn't noticeable if the time period is reasonably short (a month or two) and the exposed film isn't exposed to extreme heat.

Good to hear that.

I've developed exposed Velvia 50 at a lab a year later and didn't see any particular difference.

It went through hot and cold periods sitting in the trunk of my car in the summer and winter.

Well. That's relieving. Because of the currency exchange and the price of the chemicals labs wait for 5 slide films to pile up before developing them in my city.Tha

As long as the summers are not too hot, but it's still not advisable to leave film in even moderately hot conditions. I've also developed color film a year after exposing but they were in the freezer in the interim. The images were fine, actually much better than I imagined they would be. Of course I made sure the films were protected from moisture by "double" bagging them, two zip bags to make sure.

 

There was a thread that Alan Marcus posted in and he said that film needs 72 hours after exposure for the light to have it's full effect on the emulsion. I take that to mean that the emulsion is still going through it's "change" up to 72 hours after that fraction of a second of light hit it when the shutter opened then closed. So 72 hours is the minimum I leave films now before developing, double zip bagged and just left in the fridge. For longer times, they go in the freezer, after the initial 72 hours.

 

I think films are better left in cold conditions rather than varying uncertain conditions while they're waiting to be used, whether that's a long time or a very short time, to be on the safe side. When we buy expired film, don't we prefer to buy it knowing that it's been frozen ?

That's a very interesting information. I might try to test it. Thanks for pointing that out.

One other point on frozen film - back in the day, when Polaroid was a going concern, they had a research group in Cambridge, MA. A Polaroid representative who had worked in that group told me that their tests showed that freezing film would stop the aging process, but that after previously frozen film had been thawed, the aging process returned and even accelerated to some degree.

 

The shelf life of film is set by the manufacturer based on his subjective criteria for acceptable performance. So what the Polaroid test means is that if you have a film that is rated by its manufacture to have a shelf life of 5 years, and you freeze that film, you can keep it for 15 or 20 years without any deterioration, but once you thaw it, you have no more than the original five years, and possibly less, to use it before it deteriorates to the point where the manufacturer would consider it to no longer be usable.

One other point on frozen film - back in the day, when Polaroid was a going concern, they had a research group in Cambridge, MA. A Polaroid representative who had worked in that group told me that their tests showed that freezing film would stop the aging process, but that after previously frozen film had been thawed, the aging process returned and even accelerated to some degree.

 

The shelf life of film is set by the manufacturer based on his subjective criteria for acceptable performance. So what the Polaroid test means is that if you have a film that is rated by its manufacture to have a shelf life of 5 years, and you freeze that film, you can keep it for 15 or 20 years without any deterioration, but once you thaw it, you have no more than the original five years, and possibly less, to use it before it deteriorates to the point where the manufacturer would consider it to no longer be usable.

Does the aging process continue if your re-freeze it?

Like high quality meat, I would never refreeze film -- all the more if the packaging has been opened....

If you put the film in a sealed container with a dessicant, it might be fine.

Maybe let the dessicant dry up everything before freezing it.

But then also, you need to be sure that the container maintains the seal frozen.

As with factory sealed film, be sure it is all the way warm before

opening the seal.

 

At most temperatures, moisture is worse than temperature.

Condensed drops can cause big problems.

 

But if you are in a high humidity area, it is probably worth keeping it in

a dessicated container, and then refrigerated is probably good.

Freezing isn't that much better than refrigerated. (It isn't like bacteria

that grow slow or not at all.)

Does the aging process continue if your re-freeze it?

 

Freezing stops the aging process, but it resumes when the film returns to ambient temperature.

 

In theory, it is possible to freeze/thaw film repeatedly, but in practice, most people are concerned about the problem of condensation that occurs as frozen film is thawed, so the usual practice is to reserve freezing for one-time long-term storage. If film needs to be stored for shorter periods, and periodically used, then simply refrigerating is probably a better solution. That slows down the aging process, but doesn't stop it, but refrigerated film comes up to ambient temperature faster with less risk of condensation.

Freezing stops the aging process, but it resumes when the film returns to ambient temperature.

 

In theory, it is possible to freeze/thaw film repeatedly, but in practice, most people are concerned about the problem of condensation that occurs as frozen film is thawed, so the usual practice is to reserve freezing for one-time long-term storage. If film needs to be stored for shorter periods, and periodically used, then simply refrigerating is probably a better solution. That slows down the aging process, but doesn't stop it, but refrigerated film comes up to ambient temperature faster with less risk of condensation.

I wasn't clear in my original question. What I meant was if I thaw sealed film and then re-freeze it before opening and using it, will the freezing stop the aging process? I may take out a few rolls to go shooting. Then I return home and some rolls were not opened or used. So I replace it back into the freezer.

 

Would there be any damage to the film. DO I stop the aging? I use Velvia 50 and Tmax 100.