Velvia storage during a long road trip?

[m_d10]

This upcoming summer, I'm going to be taking a road trip that'll last

about 5 days, travelling from Texas to Tennessee, and back. I'd like

to take my large format camera and shoot some velvia 100 during the

trip, but I'm worried about the conditions in which the film would be

stored. Summers can get quite hot in this area, and I feel really

uncomfortable leaving film in the car, but I don't know if I'll have

any other options.

 

What is the recommended method of storing the film in the absence of a

refrigerator? I'm currently thinking of loading as much into film

holders as I can, ziplock-bagging them, and putting them in an

insulated cooler w/ a bunch of dry ice. Is this a bad idea? Will the

film hold up without color shifts? Thanks for any advice.

[William Kahn]

The ziplock bag/cooler/dry ice is probably the best solution. Even withoug the ice, the cooler would help keep temps down.

[david_henderson]

I typically carry Velvia unrefrigerated for two/three weeks at a time in the US and other warm locations. I keep it in backpack out of the sun and mostly take it into my air-conditioned hotel room at night. I've never seen a problem.

 

Three years ago one of my daughters spent five months in Belize working on a project in the rainforest, living outdoors. She took all her film from UK, and each roll of professional quality print film was fine.

 

I don't see your trip as posing any sort of issue unless you leave the film in the sun.

[steve_dunn2]

<p>It would be good not to heat the film up to the sort of temperature that the inside of a closed car will reach on a hot sunny summer day in Texas! But for a five-day road trip, you don't need to keep it frozen, either. Do your best to keep your film cool and you should be fine.</p>

 

<p>Waterproof bags full of film, in an insulated cooler with regular ice or those refreezable cooler packs, should do the trick if you have a chance to refreeze the cooler packs or pick up fresh ice along the way. If you're camping and have no access to fridges or ice machines, maybe you'll have access to a convenience store with a fridge full of bottles and cans of various drinks; a few bottles of refrigerated water should help. If you don't even have that, but if it gets somewhat cool in the evening, put a bunch of bottles of water in the cooler, leave it open at night to cool off, and then close it the next morning; water has a high specific heat capacity (i.e. it takes a lot of energy to warm water up) and even room-temperature water will slow down the rate at which the cooler warms up.</p>

[discpad]

I have this problem all the time when I shoot E-6 film at race tracks in the south and midwest.

 

 

1) Dry ice can be too cold, and cause condensation when you take it out.

 

 

2) Ziplok bags -- especially with the zippers -- invariably leak, destroying hundreds of $$$ worth of film.

 

 

3) Ziplog storage containers are ideal, since you can snap them shut. BUT, some off-brands can leak; and in fact I've had Ziplog containers leak as well: Test them by filling up with water and turning them upside down, BEFORE putting your valuable film in it;

 

 

4) Stop at any chain motel along the interstate and fill your cooler with ice every day: The ones with room entrances on the outside are the best, since the ice machines are usually NOT in the lobby. :)

 

 

5) Loading film holders in advance and chilling them causes them to stick from condensation, necessitating you to drop them into a tub of water in the darkroom and processing right away.

 

6) Repeat after me: Ziplok bags WILL leak and will damage film in a cooler with ice.

 

Ziplok bags WILL leak and will damage film in a cooler with ice.

 

Ziplok bags WILL leak and will damage film in a cooler with ice.

 

Ziplok bags WILL leak and will damage film in a cooler with ice.

 

 

Hope this helps! Dan

[discpad]

Steve wrote: "Waterproof bags full of film, in an insulated cooler with regular ice..."

 

There is no such thing as a "waterproof bag."

 

It may be waterproof the first couple times you reseal and reopen it; but eventually it WILL leak.

 

Rigid-sided poly containers are the way to go.

 

After the THIRD time it happened to me -- wetting about 40 rolls of 135-36 Velvia, I finally got the hint.

[calebcondit]

I had this problem in spain...Used a cooler with rubbermaid containers with the film. Try to get a cooler with a cooling pack and don't let the film get too cold or humid. Just cool will be fine. Just out of the sun is also normally fine.

 

Temperature shifts do cause condensation and if film isnt room temp sometimes won't function normally and colors or exposures will be off. Ie- freezing the film like crazy and then bringing it into warm,humid tenessee air.

[bill_pearce1]

Go back about two or three years. There was an article testing the effects of this kind of storage on a variety of films, written by Ctein. In his usual obsessive-compulsive testing, he found that there was virtually no advantage to cold storage.

 

I know, I still keep in in coolers, too.

 

Bill Pearce

[michael erlich]

The method I use is to put the film in a thermo-electric cooler (widely available at discount stores like Wal-Mart) that plugs into a 12V cigarette lighter outlet in my car. It takes a couple of hours to cool the contents down to 40 degrees F below ambient, but the cold air is dry and there is no danger of wetting the film from melting ice.

 

When I park the car at night I either take the cooler into the motel room with me and use an AC adapter to power it, or simply unplug it and leave it in the car. The cooler is well-insulated and the contents stay cold for a long time. Leaving it running in the car at night will result in a dead car battery in the morning.

 

You can get a pretty big one for well under $100, and you can also use it to keep food and drinks cold while you are on the road.

[roger_hicks1]

I'm with Michael Erlich -- those 'mini-fridge' things are brilliant. I bought mine a couple of years ago from Leclerc here in France (nearly as unpleasant a chain as Walmart) for a month's trip in Central Europe in summer. When it dies (as it will one day) I'll replace it immediately: it was under 40 euros/$50.

 

DO remember to unplug it overnight though. A few weeks ago I didn't, and had to start the car with the starting handle (fortunately it's a 1972 Land Rover and has one).

 

Cheers,

 

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com, where you'll also find pictures)

[Ed_Ingold]

When on the road, I use an ordinary, insulated cooler, without ice. This keeps the film at a relatively constant temperature and avoids exposing the film to extreme temperatures, even if left in the car when stopped.

 

A thermoelectric cooler is not necessary when you're driving (the car temperature stays at comfort levels), and will quickly run down your battery when the car is stopped. Ice or dry ice is not advisable. The film will collect condensation unless you let it warm to ambient temperature before opening the package, which can take a long time.

[roger_hicks1]

Um...

 

Edward: HOW does the car stay 'at comfort levels'?

 

I've driven across the USA six times, four of them in non-air-conditioned cars, and even when I have a/c I prefer not to use it because if I want to stop for a few minutes to take pictures, I don't want to get from a cold car into a hot world and then back into a cold car.

 

Even if you have a/c, I'd not like to bet on how warm a cooler get in direct sun: remember, sweat evaporation helps you cool off.

 

You are absolutely right that it will 'damp' temperature variations, but if it gets hot during the day, it'll keep the film warm at night too.

 

You are also absolutely right that the cooler will flatten the battery in a couple of hours -- so pull the plug if you stop for more than (say) half an hour.

 

I remember once going from Dharamsala to Delhi, in a heat wave at 114 degrees C, and packing the exposed film in the middle of a Halliburton case surrounded with clothes. At 9 that evening the film was warm to the touch when I unpacked it.

 

Quite honestly 5 days at this sort of temperature shouldn't matter much but I'd still advocate the cooler for the exposed stuff and whatever you're not expecting to use that day.

 

I'll second the advice against dry ice, though: condensation problems. And against wet ice: leaks.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[discpad]

Roger,

 

Why do you Brits drink warm beer?

 

Because Lucas makes refrigerators, too!

[michael erlich]

Roger,

 

114 C ???

 

I'm surprised you survived, much less your film. <G>

[roger_hicks1]

Dear Dan,

 

Ah, the old jokes are the best!

 

Sadly (or to be more accurate, fortunately) Joe Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, does not appear ever to have made refrigerators.

 

And of course there is the retort that British beer tastes good at room temperature (NOT warm, as anyone who has spent much time in the UK will confirm) whereas American beer (and indeed most foreign beer -- everyone knows you can't trust foreigners) has to be half frozen so you can't taste it...

 

Actually I've just been drinking German beer at around 5 degrees (41 degrees in old money) and that's fine too. But only a barbarian would chill Arthur Guinness's Dublin Extra Stout or (of course) Marston's Old Roger.

 

Dear Michael,

 

Well, there's sweating for you! No air-con (it was a Maruti) just open windows and a (very slight) cooling breeze.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger