Agfa Apx25

<p>Hi,<br /> <br />Here's my doubt.<br /> 3 or 4 month ago I purchased for cheap a 17mt roll of Agfa Apx25 expired in 1998. I put it in my freezer immediately.<br /> Today I decided to try the film, I loaded a cassette with 12 exposures.<br /> Attached you find the picture.<br /> I never experienced fog problems so I have no idea what it looks like.</p>

<p>For me the film looks just fine, am I right?<br>

<br /> Thanks for the input</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>You got hit with the myth of storage. It's not a freezer you want, but a fridge. It looks like the emulsion is breaking down from condensation, which happens in a freezer. I had worse happen with a 2 month old roll.</p>

<p>Here is an extreme example. It's the leader, where all should be black.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2814/8941251980_7778d2bd18_n_d.jpg" alt="" /></p>

Peter,

I can't spot where the emulsion is breaking... my negatives look completely

fine, black where it should be back, nothing like yours.

I always thought freezing would do no harm....

 

Thank you

<p>Condensation occurs in freezers all the time. In the fridge is even worse. The 35mm rolls aren't vacuum-sealed in their plastic containers. Putting them in the freezer does much more harm than storing them at ambient temperatur imho.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I see nothing wrong with that photo.<br>

17 meter (50 foot) spools of film come in metal or plastic cans with an air-tight tape seal around them. So condensation is not going to happen, so long as you give the can 24 hours to come to room temperature after taking it out of the freezer.<br>

Freezing does not prevent base fog, at least not over 10-20 years. Base fog is caused by cosmic rays, which are so energetic you can't buy enough lead to shield your film from them. That said, slow films like APX25 are barely subject to base fog. It is really hard to ruin slow films like APX25 and Panatomic-X.<br>

If you want to know your base fog, send me a strip of unexposed but processed film, and I'll tuck it in my densitometer.<br>

What freezing does protect against is loss of film speed with age, and decomposition of the sensitizing dyes that make the film panchromatic.</p>

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>What freezing does protect against is loss of film speed with age, and decomposition of the sensitizing dyes that make the film panchromatic.</p>

 

</blockquote>

 

No, that's what cooling does. Freezing is just an unessecery extreme.

 

 

 

.... After research it looks like I am both right and wrong....

 

 

<a href="http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/US_plugins_acrobat_en_motion_newsletters_filmEss_12_Storage_and_Handling.pdf">http://motion.kodak.com/motion/uploadedFiles/US_plugins_acrobat_en_motion_newsletters_filmEss_12_Storage_and_Handling.pdf</a>

 

 

<p><a name="pagebottom"></a></p>

<p>"Since a small amount of vapor leakage through the closure of a taped can is unavoidable..." this is what Kodak says.<br>

So, "in metal or plastic cans with an air-tight tape seal around them. So condensation is not going to happen, so long as you give the can 24 hours to come to room temperature after taking it out of the freezer" it's not true.</p>

What did you develop the agfa in?

Thank you for the replies.

The film was developed in rodinal.

<p>In my fridge there is a 10mtr tin of Agfa Ortho 25 with an expiry date of Jan 1990. A few months ago I wound a short length into a cassette to see if it was still usable. I shot a indoor scene of the same subject I had shot with film from the same roll when it was new. At 6 ASA it was developed in Rodinal 1+200 for 10 minutes, same as before. The resulting negs and prints were as near identical as possible to the ones made 23+ years ago. During a lean photographic spell a few years ago I had several other films (HP5 & FP4) in the fridge which were about 5 years past their expiry date and when used were perfectly OK.</p>

<p>The only old b&w film I have had problems with is some Pan F+ motion picture stock. If I shoot it at 25 and increase the developing time the results are good. A minimal amount of fog can be printed through. Films like TP and Imagelink might last indefinitely. My film freezer is not a frost free model so I don't worry about freeze/thaw cycles. On the color side, I just shot a test roll of unrefrigerated/unfrozen Kodacolor 100 which is three years past its expiration date. I rated the film at 50 and the results are fine.</p>

<p>Well, I have about 3 years of continuous shooting worth of film in my fridge. I love bulk and even when I buy it fresh, it always seams to be past date before I use it.</p>

<p>The only problem I have seen is when people buy stock from unknown sources. The example I posted was an oddity (ORWO and was fresh) and has not happened since. In that example, I bought a 100' spool to burn off testing developers for it.</p>

<p>Now, there is a known problem that you should NEVER freeze Kodak Ektar 25, since some batches were prone to crystal formation in the emulsion when frozen. (I am a victim of this -- little sparkly spots all over the image. Ruined film.)<br>

By the way, Kodak 35mm film plastic film cans are vapor tight.</p>

<p>Ludwig<br>

You got lucky when you found your APX25. It and its predecessor Agfapan 25 were in my opinion the best slow panchromatic film ever. I exposed it at 12 asa and developed in Perceptol 1+1 for 9 minutes. Very sharp and almost invisible grain.</p>