refrigerate exposed film?

[d. arthur thomason]

Hello photo gurus.

I have a simple question, would anyone know if refrigerating exposed

tri-x and acros 100 will stave off fading? I would normally develop

it within the first few days but certain factors negate this

possibility, however I can chuck it in the fridge for a couple of

weeks if it will make even a marginal difference.

Thank you all for your advice!

[mark feldstein]

Hi David: In my view, and that of the manufacturers, I guess, it never hurts to place exposed film in the fridge (protected from humidity of course) to prevent image fading. As I recall, they recommend processing within 72 hours of shooting and you can probably do fine without cooling (assuming the environment is around room temp. or less or not excessively hot) for that initial 3 day period. After that, I'd toss it in the cooler and even during the first three days if you've got an icebox or ice chest handy just as an added precaution. Take it light. Mark

[f._madali]

I always put any film in my fridge if I can't have it developed within a couple of hours after the roll is exposed. I am not an expert on this subject but the 'rule of thumb' is to store film in a constant low temperature whenever possible, wether exposed or not. This means about 18 degrees Celcius or lower if possible, the typical fridge temperature is about 4C to 7C, so this is ideal for storing film. For long term storage (1 year or longer), my advise would be to put your film in a freezer. Whatever you do, keeping your film in a fridge will never do any harm to it, so you are always on the safe side by doing so. The only thing you should'not forget is to let the film come back to room temperature for a couple of hours before you remove it from the cannister to take it to your lab.

[richard_ilomaki]

DAvid

 

Post exposure delay is much worse for the image quality than pre exposure aging. Latent images are less stable than unexposed silver. By all means put it in the fridge until a hour or so before processing.

[john_stockdale2]

Is condensation a likely problem? I suppose it would depend on the climate. When you would most want to refrigerate is in very hot weather, but wouldn't that be when humidity would be highest?

[bruce watson]

There's enough conflicting information out there that I ran my own experiment. I took a series of photographs on 4x5 Tri-X making in-the-field duplicates. One set of sheets I processed immediately. The duplicates I tossed in the 'fridge for six months then processed just like the first set (XTOL 1:3 in a Jobo CPP-2 with 3010 tank, 20C, 8 minutes, 30 rpm).

 

Under a 10x loupe, there is little difference. If anything, the delayed processing group gained a little shadow detail, maybe a third of a stop. Sharpness seemed uneffected. Tonality seemed uneffected. Grain looked exactly the same. Dmax measured exactly the same.

 

Just for fun I scanned one negative and its duplicate on a drum scanner and examined with Photoshop at 100% - couldn't tell them apart. I then made prints from a section of what would have been a 10x enlargement (40x50 inch print) from each scan. Couldn't tell the prints apart.

 

So... I found storing film in the 'fridge for a while before processing to be quite safe indeed. Make of my experience what you will.

[d. arthur thomason]

And in the frige it went, thank you all for your input.

[joe_casey5]

<p>Thanks for the input! I just finished 1300 miles of Northern, CA driving and have about a week of shooting let to do in Los Angeles area before I head back to Austin, TX and didn't want to develop my chrome here. The exposed rolls (about 15) only sat in my car about two days in mild weather, while driving. Now in my mother-in-laws fridge for the next week.</p>