Processing Film

[c._h._h.]

Hello,

 

I would like to know how long after film is exposed should it be

developed? How much picture quality does an exposed frame loose, in

say, one month after the shot has been taken? I ask this because

sometimes it will take me two or three months to use one roll of

film. Either because I will use half of the roll and then let my

camera sit for a month or two and then use the remaining shots, or

because I can switch rolls of film during mid-roll on my camera and

sometimes take advantage of this feature and let the half used roll

sit on the counter for a month or two, or even three months before I

use the rest.

 

 

Thank you, CHH

[marklcooper]

CHH,<p>

 

It all depends on your storage conditions. If you keep your camera in the trunk of your car in July and you live in Phoenix, AZ it will deteriorate a whole lot faster than if you live in Anchorage and keep it in the same place.<p>

Mark<p>

[bill_tuthill]

I once let a roll of Supra 800 sit in a broken camera for one year,

including summer, and when finally processed, results were

totally unacceptable. "Process promptly" -- three months is risky,

although less so for slow film.

[lex_jenkins]

I routinely swap partial rolls in and out of cameras. The latent image appears to be mostly dependent on film speed. (Yeh, environmental factors would play a part but let's assume room temperature, no extremes of heat or humidity.)

 

A partially exposed roll of 100F Provia sat in one of my cameras for a year (room temperature in a drawer), apparently indicating that I have too many cameras. I finished up the roll and processed it immediately. No difference between the old and new exposures. The entire roll was comparable to any other roll of Provia 100F I've shot.

 

At the other extreme, I shot half a dozen or so frames on TMY (T-Max 400) at EI 1200 and set the camera aside for a month before finishing the roll. The latent image of the first few frames had deteriorated enough that there was no shadow detail, while the remainder of the roll, freshly exposed and processed, was fine.