Carrying around your film

kodachrome64 · Jun 19, 2008

I am relatively new to this and have quite a few films that I like to have with me at all times. I carry my camera with me in the car everywhere and likewise it makes sense to have the film with me. If I want to use a different film for the given situation, I simply do a manual mid-roll rewind and put another roll in.

The problem is that it's quite hot and I know film does not like the heat. Surely there must be others who carry their film around with them...how do you protect it from heat while in the car? Do you bring it in with you everywhere?

Thanks,
Nick

P.S. I tried to search but am finding the search function on this site very useless for some reason. I know how to search but I swear it pulls up the same stuff no matter what I search for.

Paul Howell · Jun 19, 2008

When it really hot, like today-112, I keep film in a cooler around 80 degrees, a little ice in baggy in a baggy, not too cold and you might get condensation. I also keep a roll or 2 in my camera bag, on the camera strap, which I carry with me when I am out shooting. But I also keep a camera in my trunk or the back of my SUV and a roll of film in my pocket just in case.

justpete · Jun 19, 2008

I use Film-Stor boxes from Porter's - http://tinyurl.com/3wnax8

Six rolls to a box and it fits in your back pocket. Not perfect but they get the job done.

fwiw, Pete

Lee L · Jun 19, 2008

I keep a number of rolls or holders in the camera bag if I'm carrying one, and a roll or two in a pocket if I'm not carrying a bag. On a day out shooting I also take along a cooler for the car. If it's going to be hot, I'll use one of those freezable plastic water bottles that screws into the cooler lid or use plastic drink bottles with frozen water in them. I also use coolers (eskies) that my camera bags fit into when travelling, but no ice in those. I put film in plastic zip lock bags when in the same cooler with frozen water.

Lee

Vonder · Jun 19, 2008

I know that they sell regrigerated underwear (for men, sorry ladies!) to help infertile men keep their testicles cool to maximize sperm production. Perhaps you could buy a pair and keep film in it. Then simply keep the camera in the car and when something interesting strikes your fancy, whip it out.

kodachrome64 · Jun 19, 2008

Wolfeye said:
I know that they sell regrigerated underwear (for men, sorry ladies!) to help infertile men keep their testicles cool to maximize sperm production. Perhaps you could buy a pair and keep film in it. Then simply keep the camera in the car and when something interesting strikes your fancy, whip it out.

Great suggestion! ;-)

I think refrigeration is probably the way to go, and I may combine the film box idea with the cooler idea and just change the ice pack/water bottle out every day.

Keep 'em coming!

Thanks,
Nick

pentaxuser · Jun 19, 2008

I have solved all of the problems mentioned above at a stroke. I live in the U.K.

pentaxuser

Mike Crawford · Jun 19, 2008

Round The Horne

Wolfeye said:
when something interesting strikes your fancy, whip it out.

Oh blimey. Reminds me of Kenneth Horne's broadcast on BBC radio from the 60s often repeated on BBC Radio 7 on the internet. "I am all for censorship. If ever I see a double entendre, I whip it out!"

removed account4 · Jun 19, 2008

i don't store any of my film anyplace special.
glovebox, storage under the seat,
side pouches in the door,
back seat, on the floor, pockets, jacket ...
on a shelf or in a drawer.
pro film, consumer film its all in the same place.

john

Lee L · Jun 19, 2008

pentaxuser said:
I have solved all of the problems mentioned above at a stroke. I live in the U.K.

pentaxuser

Meaning you wear a kilt to maximize fertility?

Lee

Christopher Walrath · Jun 19, 2008

I take my camera bag inside when I am going to be there for a while. If I'm just running in and out I'll leave it. But extreme heat will affect the film and make processing problematic.

PHOTOTONE · Jun 19, 2008

Film is happy in any temperature that you are happy in. Any air temperature that you can tolerate is going to be OK for short term storage of film. People were shooting world-renowned award winning images long before air conditioning. Film does not travel in chilled storage from factory to distributor, and from distributor to retailer...it just goes by regular truck or parcel delivery. No problems. Keep your bricks of film in the fridge, but the dozen or so rolls you might use (of all different types) in a few days shooting (or a 2 week vacation) are just fine in your camera bag.

kodachrome64 · Jun 19, 2008

PHOTOTONE said:
Film is happy in any temperature that you are happy in. Any air temperature that you can tolerate is going to be OK for short term storage of film. People were shooting world-renowned award winning images long before air conditioning. Film does not travel in chilled storage from factory to distributor, and from distributor to retailer...it just goes by regular truck or parcel delivery. No problems. Keep your bricks of film in the fridge, but the dozen or so rolls you might use (of all different types) in a few days shooting (or a 2 week vacation) are just fine in your camera bag.

That makes sense, but the temperatures inside the car during a Texas summer can easily reach 120 degrees (or more, probably). I don't shoot professionally right now and it may take me a while to get through all the film in my bag, because I try to put a lot of thought into every shot. (Time to start using sheet film.) I like to have the variety of film with me, though, so I think some sort of cold storage may be good for me.

But I love hearing everyone's suggestions.

Thanks,
Nick

Steve Roberts · Jun 20, 2008

PHOTOTONE said:
Film does not travel in chilled storage from factory to distributor, and from distributor to retailer...it just goes by regular truck or parcel delivery. .

Indeed, in the retailers it just sits on the shelf at whatever temperature for however long. Just use the stuff quickly enough that it doesn't have time to suffer!

Steve

panastasia · Jun 20, 2008

kodachrome64 said:
That makes sense, but the temperatures inside the car during a Texas summer can easily reach 120 degrees (or more, probably). I don't shoot professionally right now and it may take me a while to get through all the film in my bag, because I try to put a lot of thought into every shot. (Time to start using sheet film.) I like to have the variety of film with me, though, so I think some sort of cold storage may be good for me.

But I love hearing everyone's suggestions.

Thanks,
Nick

Nick, the heat will ruin your color film. I've been shown heat damaged film by friends who traveled in your area during the summer months (vacations).

I use a small insulated lunch type pouch with a zipper closure, insulated with 'Thinsulate'. It can also keep meat frozen for most of the day. If they make one with a silver reflective material, I would go for one of those. Avoid the color black which would absorb more heat. That's my best suggestion.

Paul

Lee L · Jun 20, 2008

In the stores I used to work in, Kodak shipments were delivered by Thermo-King transport company trucks, specializing in refrigerated transport. We had a walk in cooler in the basement at one store and glass door refrigerators on the selling floor for professional materials and color papers. At smaller stores we had a standard household refrigerator/freezer for professional films and papers.

The stores I shop in now all have their pro materials and color papers in cold storage. Consumer films are designed and released to be stored at room temps, pro films are expected to be cold stored.

Sitting in your car all day in Dallas in the summer with the windows closed can kill you. It can also heat damage your film, consumer or professional. Why would you take any care with taking photographs and then be careless about storing the film when it's cheap and easy to treat it properly? A nice cooler costs 2 rolls of film. A cheap styrofoam cooler is cheaper than a single roll of cheap film.

Lee

benjiboy · Jun 20, 2008

I should worry ?

pentaxuser said:
I have solved all of the problems mentioned above at a stroke. I live in the U.K.

pentaxuser

If only, I don't know about you in Daventry , but speaking for myself I wish it was hot enough in the U.K to worry about film overheating, today more than half way through June I'm sitting at my computer in my study, having to wear a fleece to keep warm without putting the heating on, there was a period one July a couple of years ago when it was about 90 degrees all month, but these incidences are rare in this country.
If it ever gets warm again as has been said you can keep your film in an insulated box with ice packs, or small fridges that fit in the boot (trunk) of a car and run off the car battery are available from caravan shops

Terrence Brennan · Jun 20, 2008

Keep that film cool!

I keep mine in a small insulated lunch bag, and I place an ice pack on top.

It would be a good idea to package your film for the conditions. If memory serves, if a film can has not been opened, you can refreeze the film. If it has, refrigeration is recommended.

I make up packages of film which have five rolls (in their original cans) in a plastic milk bag. The bag I am referring to is the one that the milk has actually been packaged in. For the benefit of our readers in the United States, milk in Canada is sold in 4-litre bags. There is one of those annoying little plastic clips on the top, and inside are three 1.333-litre bags of milk. If you do the math, 1.333-litres equals (approximately) 45-US ounces. After drinking the milk, I wash and dry the bags; they have a variety of uses around our house, and get used and reused many, many times before they are finally tossed into the trash bin. No, the local recycling people won't accept them. For example, a half-sandwich fits neatly inside one of these bags (my wife me makes MONSTER sandwiches).

These bags are sealed with a vacuum sealer we have for freezing food (another use for the milk bags), and I place a making tape label, indicating type of film, et cetera. They are waterproof, and if the bag has condensation forming on it when it is removed from the lunch bag, it won't get on the film or the film can.

Check out this link; pay careful attention to the alleged spelling on the subject line: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...w=98&prev=/images?q=milk+bag&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G

Here's another: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgu...?q=milk+bag&start=21&gbv=2&ndsp=21&hl=en&sa=N

arigram · Jun 20, 2008

Lowepro used to make a couple pouches that I use all the time on the road and even in the studio.
One of them had a closure with a metallic leaf which snapped open and close really fast and the second had a sort of an cloth aperture iris where the film fit inside the hole by pushing it in, which kept the ones inside in total darkness while being always open.
I think they must have stopped making them.

benjiboy · Jun 20, 2008

Aiming Point

Steve Roberts said:
Indeed, in the retailers it just sits on the shelf at whatever temperature for however long. Just use the stuff quickly enough that it doesn't have time to suffer!

Steve

Having worked in photographic dealers for years, you're right Steve, they rotate their stock making sure that the oldest expiry dates are sold first ,so it's best to check the dates on any film you buy before leaving the shop.
Aiming Points -Amateur films are not "ripe" when they leave the manufacturers and are intended to be on the dealers shelf for about three months before sale .
Professional films are at aiming point before they leave the factory and should be kept refrigerated before sale, most pro. dealers do that, very few amateur ones do even the big ones, I think purely out of ignorance, I more than doubled the sale of pro films in one of the shops I managed by installing a second hand ice cream fridge, and putting up a sign that said " Our professional films are fridge fresh ", scoring points from the country's biggest retailer who had a shop round the corner, and sold them off the shelf.

srs5694 · Jun 20, 2008

benjiboy said:
Amateur films are not "ripe" when they leave the manufacturers and are intended to be on the dealers shelf for about three months before sale.

Photo Engineer, whose word on such matters I consider very authoritative, has denied this claim several times. A quick search turned up this post, for example:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

More generally to the topic at hand, if the temperature in the car is too high, why not simply remove the film from the car? That seems like less hassle than dealing with ice bags or refrigerated underwear! This presumes, of course, that you've got a car with air conditioning. If you've got an un-air-conditioned car in Texas, then you have my sympathies.

kodachrome64 · Jun 20, 2008

srs5694 said:
More generally to the topic at hand, if the temperature in the car is too high, why not simply remove the film from the car? That seems like less hassle than dealing with ice bags or refrigerated underwear! This presumes, of course, that you've got a car with air conditioning. If you've got an un-air-conditioned car in Texas, then you have my sympathies.

Rest assured, I have air conditioning! (Even though it takes MORE than the ride home for the car to cool off!)

I do bring the film with me inside sometimes, but I "operate" out of my vehicle and it would almost be easier to switch out a freeze-pack every day than to drag my film around with me every time I park the car. The internal temperature of the car reaches hazardous levels in just a few minutes in sunlight around here. When I go into work, it's not that big of a deal to bring the film in with me. But I go to a few other places where it wouldn't be practical.

The testicle A/C has been the best suggestion so far I think.

Thank you all!
Nick

srs5694 · Jun 20, 2008

I see -- so it's a short hop, let the car sit, another short hop, etc.? In that case, it's conceivable that an in-car fridge would be helpful. I vaguely recall hearing of such things, intended for vacation roadtrips and whatnot to refrigerate a couple cans of soda. You might try doing a Web search. Actually, I just tried and got a few hits: one, two, three. They're pricier than I'd care to spend, and I don't know how they'd handle the on-and-off cycles to which you'd presumably subject them, but they might be a viable option for you.

Jon King · Jun 20, 2008

Phototone has it right:

PHOTOTONE said:
Film is happy in any temperature that you are happy in.

Cheap Styrofoam coolers from Walmart in the trunk/back of car - out of the sun - has worked well for me. Working well has included a 5 week driving trip out West - including over 2 weeks of driving between West Texas and the Mohave desert in late July. Big Bend N.P. is quite a toasty place! I carried many dozens of exposed and unexposed rolls of ISO 400 film for the entire 5 weeks, keeping a day or two's worth of film out of the cooler.

Even with the car baking in the midday sun for a few hours.. the interior of the cooler was very reasonable - it might have gotten into the 70's, but no worse. Developing the film and printing the negatives? I see nothing that suggests any fogging, either due to heat or the airplane flights.

kodachrome64 · Jun 21, 2008

Jon King said:
Phototone has it right:

Cheap Styrofoam coolers from Walmart in the trunk/back of car - out of the sun - has worked well for me. Working well has included a 5 week driving trip out West - including over 2 weeks of driving between West Texas and the Mohave desert in late July. Big Bend N.P. is quite a toasty place! I carried many dozens of exposed and unexposed rolls of ISO 400 film for the entire 5 weeks, keeping a day or two's worth of film out of the cooler.

Even with the car baking in the midday sun for a few hours.. the interior of the cooler was very reasonable - it might have gotten into the 70's, but no worse. Developing the film and printing the negatives? I see nothing that suggests any fogging, either due to heat or the airplane flights.

Hmmm...I'll have to see what kind of temperatures can be maintained in an insulated container even without a source of refrigeration. If it stayed in the 70s I would be OK with that.

Thanks,
Nick

Carrying around your film

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency