35mm film - From the fridge to the freezer?

benjiboy · Mar 8, 2012

ME Super said:
We have an upright freezer in the basement at home. I can usually defrost it in 4 hours. I don't have a problem with stuff melting because I catch it when there's not a whole lot in it and I stick the stuff in coolers. Here's the secret to doing it in 4 hours that I learned from my mom before we got a frost-free refrigerator. Boil water on the stove. Once the water begins to boil, turn it off and put the pan in the freezer. This method works best with at least two pans of water. One is on the stove while the other is in the freezer. Rotate pans frequently. The steam melts the frost above it while the bottom of the pan melts the frost under it.

ME Super

I doubt if the manufacturers approve of this method, it can't do the freezer and it's electronics a lot of good.

BrianShaw · Mar 8, 2012

I remember my grandmother doing that... way back when.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 8, 2012

Just put the film in the freezer. It'll be fine.

tkamiya · Mar 8, 2012

Just put the film in camera and shoot.... It'll be better.

holmburgers · Mar 8, 2012

Goodness, what a circular conversation. Freeze it or refridge it, it does not matter.

The only things you should freeze are instant films and Ektar 25, which I heard can grow crystals or some other such bugaboo.

Steve Smith · Mar 8, 2012

holmburgers said:
The only things you should freeze are instant films and Ektar 25, which I heard can grow crystals or some other such bugaboo.

I assume you mean shouldn't freeze.

Steve.

thuggins · Mar 9, 2012

I recall having read a posting by Kodak some years ago to never freeze film, only refrigerate it. I have searched on-line for this reference but have not been able to find it.

clayne · Mar 9, 2012

thuggins said:
I recall having read a posting by Kodak some years ago to never freeze film, only refrigerate it. I have searched on-line for this reference but have not been able to find it.

You might be confusing this with already exposed film - and even then it's debatable if freezing would actually affect it.

TexasLangGenius · Mar 9, 2012

Well, I've taken most of my film, wrapped it into bricks with enough aluminum foil to protect it, and stuck it all in the freezer (with a small amount of slide, b&w and color negative film in the fridge to go through while I save for a MF).

All I hope now, is that I will be able to purchase a medium format camera and pray that E-6 will still be around by the time I can burn though my stock of Velvia and Ektachrome in 120.

Poisson Du Jour · Mar 12, 2012

Use, buy again and use film continuously. Stuffing reams of it away in the freezer achieves nothing in the short term. MF cameras are cheap, cheap, cheap relative to the overpriced, overhyped digi cousins, and reversal film can still be used in 35mm cameras. There is absolutely no reason not to be 'out there' shooting film on a very regular basis. My advice to anybody on APUG is to get out of the hoarding, sitting, vegetating mindset and actually shoot film rather than blink admiringly at it through glass windows.

Klainmeister · Mar 12, 2012

I believe the type of fridge that was damaging to films were the freezers that slowly radiated your food, etc. That and the x-ray freezer, that was a pain to store film in....all that lead.

LJSLATER · Mar 12, 2012

MattKing said:
Ideal would be two manual defrost freezers, where each is less than half full (so you can transfer film from one to the other when you do a manual defrost every year or so).

But if your resources are stretched, an auto-defrost freezer is better than none, and definitely better than just using a refrigerator.

Personally, I'm saving up to buy a salt mine to store my film in.

I too have a small cache of Fuji T64 and Ektachrome; I keep the canisters in their boxes and double-bag them in ZipLoc freezer bags. With an automatically defrosting freezer (like mine), I think condensation is a much bigger threat to the film than the changes in temperature.

Sirius Glass · Mar 13, 2012

Unopened 35mm film can move from the refrigerator to freezer without a problem.

E. von Hoegh · Mar 14, 2012

I'm building a cryogenic vault that will keep my film at 1.5k and shield it from all known radiation. This should extend it's storage life by billions and billions of years.

This seems to be one of those eternal questions, similar to the "is the .30/30 adequate for deer?" debate. The answer is, yes, you can move your film from the refrigerator to the freezer, from the freezer to the refrigerator, from the refrigerator to the basement, from the basement to the coffee table in the livingrooom, from the coffee table to the freezer, from the freezer to the patio, from the patio to the garage.
Just make sure condensation cannot form on the film. It really is that simple. And don't thaw it in the microwave.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 14, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
I'm building a cryogenic vault that will keep my film at 1.5k and shield it from all known radiation. This should extend it's storage life by billions and billions of years.

This seems to be one of those eternal questions, similar to the "is the .30/30 adequate for deer?" debate. The answer is, yes, you can move your film from the refrigerator to the freezer, from the freezer to the refrigerator, from the refrigerator to the basement, from the basement to the coffee table in the livingrooom, from the coffee table to the freezer, from the freezer to the patio.
Just make sure condensation cannot form on the film. It really is that simple. And don't thaw it in the microwave.

What about the garage?

E. von Hoegh · Mar 14, 2012

Thomas Bertilsson said:
What about the garage?

Can't you read?:confused:

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 14, 2012

E. von Hoegh said:
Can't you read?:confused:

No. Only type...

E. von Hoegh · Mar 14, 2012

Thomas Bertilsson said:
You do know that we can edit what we quote, right?

Diapositivo · Mar 15, 2012

A freezer can be defrosted in 1 hour or so, without causing stress to it, by unplugging it from the electricity plug, emptying it (I normally put the content in a pic-nic thermic bag with "synthetic ice" inside, the blue bricks), putting a fan in front of it which will blow air at ambient temperature into it. Put some cloth on its base to avoid all the melted water to go to the floor. Easy and fast.

http://c2.alamy.com/thumbs/4/{2081085E-EE1F-46B5-870A-88A528C2B849}/BXXJF7.jpg

Fabrizio

derwent · Mar 15, 2012

I keep most o my film in a freezer and a few rolls in the fridge.

As for use it don't freeze it, well I've got several good deals on a dozen or more rolls of near expires or just expired at super cheap prices and I'm not gonna shoot a hundred rolls in quick time so in the freezer it goes and gets used as fast as I shoot it.
Next time I see 20 rolls of Sensia for $2 a roll I'll jump on it and freeze it like last time!

ambaker · Mar 17, 2012

Before I do something stupid, I thought I would ask the dumb question.

We have a vacuum sealer here, and I wondered if putting film in a vac bag and sealing it before it went in the freezer would be a good idea? Would the vacuum hurt the film? Hate to have nice dry film that is all messed up from being in a vacuum. (worried about air bubbles and swelling etc.)

Diapositivo · Mar 17, 2012

ambaker said:
We have a vacuum sealer here, and I wondered if putting film in a vac bag and sealing it before it went in the freezer would be a good idea? Would the vacuum hurt the film? Hate to have nice dry film that is all messed up from being in a vacuum. (worried about air bubbles and swelling etc.)

I don't know about the potential harm this can cause, but I see no benefit either. Vacuum sealing is good for cheese and the like because it takes away air and so it also drastically cuts the bacterial charge around the cheese. If you freeze (cheese or film) bacteria will be frozen in any case and will do no harm for a long time. Heat is the source problem for film, rather than fridge mould. In any case your film should be in a sealed container and not come in contact with the fridge - or freezer - air.

Fabrizio

clayne · Mar 17, 2012

Guys almost all film will put up with reasonable handling in a freezer. Yes maybe not the best idea to store free rolls but at the same time they don't need to be vacuum sealed or anything of that nature. It won't hurt if you do either. But it's not as if you pull a roll out and a bunch of water immediately condenses inside the canister. One just wants to reduce the effects of condensation.

Even keeping boxed roll film in there is good enough for most cases.

35mm film - From the fridge to the freezer?

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