[pure-silver] OT: Condensation on frozen film
- From: "Michael Healy" <emjayhealy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 15:40:44 -0700
Sorry to go OT. I'm having a dispute with my (ex-?) lab, and hope someone can
give me
some thoughts/evidence/etc one way or another.
The 35mm film I use, I purchase once a year (early spring or late fall because
of the
Phoenix heat), in quantities of 40-50 rolls. It gets frozen straight out of the
UPS package
- in original canisters, every one inside its original box. When using it,
particularly for a
client, I am anally careful to follow the same procedure every time: I pull
rolls out of the
freezer as needed, and let them come to room temp - for absolute minimum 3-4
hours, if
possible overnight. I have never had a single problem doing this, or so I
thought.
Today a roll I got a roll from the lab had weird puddle-like and large
drop-like marks
across the middle of a number of the frames, on the emulsion side. In addition,
about
1/3 of all frame had these sprocket-sized bubblle-like marks sporadically
appearing just
inside some of their sprocket holes, along one side only.
The guy running the shop said yes, clearly something had happened during their
drying.
To him, the swirls indicated some sort of splashing in their dip/dunk process.
As for the
holes, he said, these have been known to hold liquid like a bubble, then pop
during the
drying.
Later he changed his mind, though, and told me he thought that the sprocket
marks had
to be the result of condensation that collected when I used the roll straight
out of the
freezer. Case in point (he said): most of the "sprocket hole" problems occur in
the latter
1/2-2/3 of the roll, where it would have been tighter on the core, and that's
why you get
condensation problems. Well, he sure had me on that argument. I have never had
a
single such problem, so I wouldn't know; but I would have expected condensation
to
collect nearer the opening of the cassette, that is, on the first several
frames. Those,
tho, are fine.
But I'm not convinced anyway.
1) I did not use this roll for 6 days. In fact, it was one of two I pulled out
six days ago for
one job. The first of them, which I shot the next night, turned out fine. This
2nd roll had
to sit next to the camera - in box and plastic container - for another four
days while I
awaited client approval on the first roll of shots. While I cannot absolutely
rule out
condensation, it does not SEEM like a likely explanationgiven my work
procedures and
especially my handling of these two particular rolls.
2) I have never had this problem on a single one of the 300+ rolls of frozen
35mm film
I've ever used. I've never had it on rolls of 120, either, nor on sheets of 4x5
NOR on
8x10, all frozen and thawed. And the one and only roll this might conceivably
ever have
happened on, is one he admits also got splashed in the dip/dunk procedure.
BTW, in this case, my film is not b&w, it happens to be Fujichrome T64, so it
involves
E6. I assume that the principles are the same, though. (Well, and I've never
had a
problem with any rolls or sheets of my b&w out of the freezer, either, and I've
processed
gazillions of these right here at home under less-than-idea conditions.)
So what exactly DOES a roll of film look like if you use it before letting it
come to room
temp? And has anyone had experience with the above situation, who might be able
to
comment on the problem, and/or the range of its impact on the film? Could I
have gotten
condensation even though the film was still double-boxed? And supposing I had,
would
it still be sticking around, messing up the film nearly a week later? It's been
nearly 100
degrees here since about May 1st, with humidity in the minus numbers. Is this
guy's
scenario legitimate, or is he generously trying to share some blame?
Thanks for any input.
Mike
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