When To Freeze & Refrigerate Film?

I've read many posts here at PN on the subject of freezing & refrigerating film..Most posts seem to deal with the

long-term effects that freezing has as regards to a particular film's longevity..

 

What I'm not truly getting a sense of is how long after purchasing film should it be frozen or refrigerated?..

 

I'm planning to start shooting later this summer using Ilford HP5 Plus in 120 format..I will be purchasing a

supply of Pro-Stor 120 film tubes from Porter's Photography to store & transport the film in..

 

http://porters.com/

Sorry!

 

Hit the submit icon before completing the post..

 

At what point after purchase should I consider freezing as opposed to refrigerating newly purchased film..Will the film's expiration date have a determining factor?..I am considering purchasing film from Adorama in lots of 50 boxes.. If film won't be used for X number of days after purchasing should it be frozen as opposed to refrigerated?..Anyone know how cold can film be safely frozen?..

 

Thanks for any & all answers..

 

Bruce

It's been exposed to heat a couple of times already (overseas shipment, travel via shipping company, etc) - it'll be fine. I keep mine refrigerated only if I think I might not expose it for a year or more, other than that I just keep it in the pack with it's camera. I've never frozen film, but I imagine that it would be fine in there too. Just be sure to let it reach room temperature before opening the packaging to prevent condensation.

 

- Randy

I've used b&w and color films that were frozen at 20F for more than 10 years and gotten good results. In my experience modern films are remarkably durable and resistant to temperature and humidity variations. I've frozen, thawed and re-frozen films and still experienced no failures.

 

ISO 400 and slower films should be safe to store for many years, either frozen or refrigerated. Faster films need to be shielded from the ordinary radiation the entire Earth is exposed to daily, so it's not practical to store films like TMZ or Delta 3200.

 

The only credible failures I'm aware of with modern films involve static electricity light "fogging" when film is rapidly wound inside a camera in very cold, dry weather. Fogging doesn't really describe the phenomenon - these are more like very distinctive marks resembling sparks or spider webbing.

 

I've heard a handful of reports of film breaking in use in extremely cold environments, but haven't experienced this myself.

My normal procedure is to purchase a brick or 100 feet, spool it up or partially spool, put a few rolls in the frig, balance

in freezer. As i use one from the frig, I replace it with one from the freezer.

 

I try to buy a film a year at a time in early spring. Brown trucks are still cool and the stores hopefully have sold off the

stuff they got when it was hot. I am overcareful.

 

I have kept some 3 years without a problem. Just seal the film well from freezer moisture and let it warm. My pants

pocket works fine for 1/2 hr defrost and is not that uncomfortable.

Mine hits the freezer as soon as it get to the house. I take it out and put it in my bag the day before I head out.

Lex and Bruce, yes film does get brittle in cold weather. I always fold over the leader of a used roll so I know which is used and which isn't. It our cold Adirondack winrters, the leader will snap off, but I've never had a problem with the rest of the roll, but I suppose things could happen. Best advice is to rewind slowly; if you have manual rewind.

If you intend to use the film soon, as in the next few days or week, then refrigerate. If the use will be further in the future, freeze.

Here's a shot on Fujichrome that had been frozen/refrigerated for 8 or 9 years. I pushed it a stop, made an interneg and then the print.<div></div>

Sorry, didn't mean to take up so much space.

I've frozen, thawed, and re-frozen all kinds of Ilford and Fuji film with no problems, both 120 and 35mm. I don't have enough room in my freezer for my sheet film and, well, FOOD, so the sheet film goes in the fridge. It takes me a while to go through all the film I buy, so I usually throw it in the freezer immediately after I buy it. If I knew for a fact that I was going to use up all of the film within a few months, I might store it at room temperature away from any heat sources, but as I'm not a professional that is very unlikely so I hedge my bets by storing it in the freezer or fridge.

It is real easy:

 

You refrigerate film normally.

 

You freeze film when you bought so much of one film you can't possibly shoot it all in time before it expires.

Not to be critical, but it seems to me from my own experience that the only time cold storing film is really required is if you plan on using it long after it has expired. I recently finished using some E-6 film (100 asa) that I bought in bulk at a going-out-of-business sale. It was over 6 months out of date when I exposed the last sheet and the box had been sitting on a shelf in an air conditioned house since I bought it a few years ago. None of the sheets show any color problems that I can see when compared on the light table side by side with the first sheets I used out of that same box. I honestly don't see the point in cold storing film for short periods of time (6 months or less), but I suppose that since I use film fast enough that it generally doesn't expire I never see the deleterious effects of age. Obviously do what you feel best, but I really don't think that it is something to get overly concerned about.

 

- Randy

Thanks for all the answers..Since I plan to use the film up before it expires, I'll just refrigerate it..I plan to purchase a small under counter refrigerator just for my film..

 

Bruce

I don't know whether the effects of aging are lower contrast or color shifts or fog or all of the above, but

refrigerating or freezing film slows and stops the effects of aging respectively. Kodak's professional films are aged at the factory to

be optimal when they are shipped to the user. They should be used and processed as soon as possible, or refrigerated. The

consumer films are expected to sit in a consumer's camera during all sorts of temperature conditions. Consumer films are

engineered to age for some (unknown to me) length of time in the camera before being processed.

So if you want your film to be as good as the manufacturer intends it to be, buy professional film and get it processed right away.

Otherwise refrigerate it or freeze it until you're ready to expose and process it. Give your frozen film about 3 hours to defrost before

using it.

 

Peter

Is it OK to take frozen film out of the freezer directly into ambient room temperatures for defrosting; or should it be put into a refrigerator for a period of time before being brought into room temps?..

Toss it in the freezer or fridge when you buy it, and keep it in its original packaging (if nothing else, you won't be left wondering what the expiry date is when you pull it out several months later). I double-wrap bricks in freezer bags for additional protection from moisture and food smells. As a rule of thumb, I allow film to warm up for an hour out of the fridge before opening the packaging, three hours for straight out of the freezer.

I agree with the above - put it in the frig or freezer once you get it. Take it out as you use it, just make sure to give it time to warm up to room temperature before opening the cannister/bag, so you don't get condensation on it. I've got a whole drawer of 3-4 year old film, with no negative effects noted.

 

On the other hand, if you shoot sheet film, be careful. I had an entire box of 8x10" RDP (color 8x10" is hard to find, I bought this when they just discontinued it) get ruined... by footstuff dripping down to the bottom shelf where it was stored!

There is no need to refrigerate B&W film if you're going to use it before its expiration date. B&W is extremely tolerant of storage conditions short of leaving it in a hot car for days at a time. I've used unrefrigerated B&W five years past its expiration date with no problem. As for long term storage, you probably simply shouldn't buy more film that you're going to use before it expires. Expiration dates are typically a couple of years beyond the date on which you buy the film. Color film is much more critical. Also, don't waste your money on the 120 storage tubes from Porters. They serve no purpose at all. Just keep the film in its box and wrapper before use, and dropped exposed rolls into a ziploc bag until you're ready to process.

Depends on the ambient temperature, Craig. When I lived in a large rural home it was very expensive to keep things cool so the end of the house where my darkroom was usually hovered around 80-85F in summer. I had a bulk roll of Tri-X begin to show signs of fogging before its expiration date. It was a problem only with pushed Tri-X in Diafine, but did show that even b&w film needs to be kept cool if the ambient temperature is rather warm.