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And my experience mirrors Steve's. I began cold-storing my new film supplies when I first visually noticed base darkening of my older non-cold-stored films after they were developed. This was later confirmed by densitometer readings, as detailed earlier.
Given this particular aging behavior exactly matched the manufacturer's warnings, I began cold-storing and over similar time frames to date have experienced no further degradation.
Ken
i was wrong about the film
it is plus x with an exp date of 3/2006
its been roasting and freezing in the car since it was new
(i found it in the car door cubbyhole )
and its in my camera now ...
i'll post an image or 2 to this thread when i process it ...
In my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I don't think it makes a huge difference. With that said, I do refrigerate my film.
I recently was asked to sell a camera for a friend. It was his father's, and had been sitting in a closet since 1967. Seriously. In the bag were 2 rolls of 120 Pan that had expiration dates of 1969 and 1970. I shot the roll from 1969 to test the camera mechanics (and for fun).
I have about 40-50 rolls of assorted film (B&W and color, all sorts of brands) that were most likely ambient stored until I came into possession of them about 5 months ago. All are expired by at least a few years (they are in my store's cooler, so I can't tell you the exp dates at the moment), since Forte went out of business in 2007, and lots of it is from Forte. I just last night developed a roll of the Forte.
So I have film that expired in 1969, and probably 2010, and here is a sample of each:
120 Pan exp 1969, ambient stored (Florida by the way)
View attachment 90622
Fortepan 400 exp 2010+/-, ambient stored except for the last 4-6 months
View attachment 90624
So, yes, there is a difference, but to me, not a huge difference. I won't hesitate to use old expired film, not matter how it was stored, but I will probably continue to store my film in the refrigerator.
I don't see how those samples, both of mostly ambient stored film, of different types, different speeds, and over such a wide range of time frames prove or even indicate anything at all (except that 40 year old film deteriorates, which we knew.)
The only valid comparison would be images from two rolls of the same type of film, with the same expiration dates, one cold stored and the other ambient and stored for long enough for the ambient one to show noticeable deterioration. Then we could see if the cold stored one showed less, and subjectively how much less. Anything else is pretty much useless.
With that being said, I have always, and will continue to, store my film in a fridge.
In my opinion this is the wisest course of action, as it preserves the greatest number of possibilities down the road. It's the common sense least-common-denominator approach.
For example, if at some point your photographic vision requires a low-fog near-new-quality negative for, say, subtle shadow details not drowning in base fog, you're covered. You don't need to repurchase additional new film stocks because you have already stored your original stocks according to verifiable best practices.
On the other other hand, if your photographic vision requires a base-fog-compromised negative to achieve your goals, say, perhaps removing shadow detail to leave more to the viewer's imagination, then it's a simple matter to pull a couple of rolls or sheets from cold storage and stick them in the oven at 250F/121C for several hours. Bingo. Compromised film on demand.
But if you intentionally compromise all of your film stocks at the beginning, you obviously limit your possible choices later on if you find you really do need uncompromised negatives. (Note that limiting choices may also refer to simply reselling your film at a later date. There's a reason that poorly stored, fogged film sells for less.)
And since virtually everyone already owns at least one refrigerator/freezer unit for perishable food, with modest film quantities there are no real financial penalties involved in following best practices for storing your also perishable film. Just sandwich bag it and toss it in the back corner. Done.
BTW, I just looked, the Fortepan sample above expired in 2002, so that's 12 years passed expiration.
thanks dennis!
is that duplicating film the same as SO-132 or the photowarehouse equivalent ?
john
I am not sure what film you are referring to but my film is long discontinued Kodak 2422 direct duplicating film. I have both a 9.5 inch roll and 5 inch roll, probably a life time supply if the freezer can keep it safe. It is very slow extremely fine grain high resolution film.
Dennis
I actually do have a side by side comparison of sub zero stored and the same emulsion stored on a shelf in my basement for a few years. It is different type film but still silver emulsion on a base.
I have direct duplicating film in a roll that I once chopped a bunch of 5x7 sheets and put them in a film box and put the roll back in the freezer. Unfortunately I forgot about the box and left it out of sight on the back of a room temp shelf. About 4 years later I found it coincidentally at a time I was going to make some dupe negs. I tried to use the unrefriged stuff and it had lost a lot of it's ability to make d-max. Especially all along the 4 sides the density was very weak. The part of the roll that I had put back in the freezer was perfectly good with much better contrast.
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