[pure-silver] Re: Stockpiling Film, what kind of refrigerator?
- From: Ron Schwarz <rs@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 21:44:46 -0400
09:27 PM 9/11/2004 -0400, Beth Rogers wrote:
>I have film in my refrigerator to keep it short term. But I just bought
>some Efke that I will not use right away. Can I put this in my
>self-defrosting freezer? I saw a message recently that said that it would
>not keep as long there but will the defrost cycle do harm? I believe I have
>also seen in this list hints that some of you have darkroom refrigerators.
>Are they self-defrosting? If not, what kind? Are they the little dorm
>'fridges for beer???
If you keep it away from the heater (assuming your freezer self-defrosts
via the use of a heater), you should do fine.
In any case, I would urge you to seal it in plastic before freezing it. I
use plastic bags that I melt off a roll and heat-seal, using my vacuum food
sealer. I *don't* apply a vacuum, I just moosh out most of the air, and
then heat-seal the bag, so that no matter what happens, my film won't get wet.
It seems like refrigeration devices are endowed with an innate
intelligence, as well as a peevish streak a mile wide. Thus, they *only*
fail when you're out of town for a few days. And, if at all possible, they
ensure that they've built up a nice crust of frost, too, so that it'll melt
a mess up the stuff you've stored in it.
If you seal it in plastic, you don't have to worry about excessive humidity
(esp. in a non-frost-free unit), or excessive dryness (in a frost-free
unit), or, horror of horrors -- a soaking.
You *don't* want to rely on the film's packaging, because while it's
sufficiently robust to keep the "factory air" intact in normal situations,
it won't really protect you against prolonged high humidity, expecially
over the long term, with repeated changes in atmospheric pressure (enhanced
by the frost/defrost cycle in *any* freezer.
In the case of foil-sealed film (i.e., rollfilm), humidity *will*
eventually work its way through the paper/foil wrapper. In the case of
35mm film, it's not like days of yore, when our Kodachrome came in nice
metal cans with screw-on lids with gasket material around the edge.
The plastic pop-top cannisters can't be expected to keep the factory air in
(and the real-world air out) when put to severe environments, particularly
over a period of time, especially when cycled through repeated in/out
(frost/defrost) cycles.
Bulk film and sheet film is the most fragile of all, protected by a fold or
two of plastic and a piece of cloth tape.
I heartily recommend *against* using ziplock type bags except for *very*
temporary storage, because they're not really much better protection than
the snap-top cannisters that 35mm film comes in. They aren't hermetically
sealed, and there'll consequently be a steady migration of ambient air
into/out of the bag.
Second best solution (next to melt-seal bags) would be freezer containers
that have a really good seal at the lid. How to determine which are good
and which aren't is an exercise left to the individual consumer.
--
Website: http://www.michi-kogaku.com/
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