Exposed 120 film - can i freeze?

rayonline_nz · Jun 23, 2016

I usually collect 2 rolls of b/w film and 10 rolls of color slide film before I dispatch them to the lab using mailorder. With 35mm I've able to freeze them with the snap plastic containers. Since this is absent with 120 film ... what do you guys suggest?

AgX · Jun 23, 2016

Put them into an airtight container as small as possible (as foil bag ).

Nige · Jun 23, 2016

how long between exposure and developing? I personally don't put exposed film back in the fridge or freezer... too worried moisture will condense on surface and ruin it

Poisson Du Jour · Jun 23, 2016

APUG has a virtual library of this and similar questions through the Search function:

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

Lots of bedtime reading!

rayonline_nz · Jun 23, 2016

Nige said:
how long between exposure and developing? I personally don't put exposed film back in the fridge or freezer... too worried moisture will condense on surface and ruin it

Slides maybe 6 months.

rayonline_nz · Jun 23, 2016

Poisson Du Jour said:
APUG has a virtual library of this and similar questions through the Search function:

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

Lots of bedtime reading!

Cheers

Jesper · Jun 23, 2016

Some 120 films are sold with plastic containers, just like 135. You can also buy a set of containers without film, if you want some to freeze films in waiting for the sufficient amount to send of for processing.
Fotoimpex sells empty 120 containers and I suspect that any company selling Adox films also provide empty containers.
https://www.fotoimpex.de/shop/filme/mittelformatfilme-120/

BrianShaw · Jun 23, 2016

Nige said:
how long between exposure and developing? I personally don't put exposed film back in the fridge or freezer... too worried moisture will condense on surface and ruin it

Ditto

BrianShaw · Jun 23, 2016

I don't know your. Situation, but the additional cost I pay to process film "ahead of schedule" is only $6. It's worth it to me to pay that as assurance that nothing happens wile exposed film is in storage.

MattKing · Jun 23, 2016

Keep it cool and dry and protected from bright light.

If you intend on using the freezer or fridge for this, you need to take steps to protect from condensation.

Don't store it under the ice cream - power failures happen!

Slixtiesix · Jun 23, 2016

You can buy containers for 120 film. Some films even come with this from the factory, mostly Rollei and Maco I think. However, I would not put 120 film back in the freezer after exposure. I had once stored an exposed 120 film in the fridge and forgot it there for almost 4 years. It showed some strange bands near the edges after development that protruded into the negatives. This is not to say that re-freezing after exposure might definitely hurt, but I would make a test before re-freezing really important stuff.

Poisson Du Jour · Jun 23, 2016

rayonline_nz said:
Slides maybe 6 months.

That is really too long. I don't think freezing exposed film is valid. The objective after exposure is to process the film, then and now, or as the earliest opportunity. Every photographer should get into the habit of looking after unexposed film correctly and appropriately, and organising for exposed film to be processed in a sensible amount of time. It defeats the purpose of photography to go to any amount of effort pursuing it, then stash the results away not to be seen again for many months. By that time you've probably forgotten just what it was you photographed (I certainly would, but I do keep notes!).

moto-uno · Aug 30, 2016

I develop my own slide film at home and it can take a while to go through 10 or so rolls of E-6 , specially when I like using C-41 also . Not being able to afford throwing away all that chemistry pretty much dictates how long film remains undeveloped. Regards,Peter

Sirius Glass · Aug 30, 2016

I keep all exposed undeveloped film in a ZipLok bag in the refrigerator, never the freezer.

tedr1 · Aug 30, 2016

Use any container that is airtight. The important step is the thawing process. The exposed roll of film must stay in the unopened container until it has stabilized at room temperature, maybe an hour or two, this prevents condensation forming.

LAG · Aug 31, 2016

rayonline_nz said:
... what do you guys suggest?

Excuse me rayonline_nz

For that period of time (six months or so), I would keep them cool, dry and protected from dust and light (120, 135, ...) as simple as that. Even out of the fridge (but only with that same conditions all the time, if possible in the area where you live) will help you not to mix them with the unexposed film.

LAG · Aug 31, 2016

Poisson Du Jour said:
APUG has a virtual library of this and similar questions through the Search function:

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

Lots of bedtime reading!

I neither knew this function. Thanks Poisson Du Jour!

guangong · Aug 31, 2016

Movie film, somewhat more finicky than still film, has been frozen for fifty years and processed with little effect. A couple weeks well wrapped in the freezer should do just fine. Heat is the great enemy of film.

EdColorado · Aug 31, 2016

I leave exposed film in the freezer all the time, sometimes for quite some time. I've had some that was over a year old. Not in bags or canisters just loose in the freezer with all the rest of the film. Its all always processed just fine. Really, film isn't all that fragile. Keep it cold and in a dark place (like a freezer for instance) and try not to forget about it.

rayonline_nz · Sep 1, 2016

BrianShaw said:
I don't know your. Situation, but the additional cost I pay to process film "ahead of schedule" is only $6. It's worth it to me to pay that as assurance that nothing happens wile exposed film is in storage.

I will report back and see. Where I am to process a roll of slides cost $15US, mounting is extra at perhaps $10US. I also seem to get marks on my film so I now pretty much send them to Dwyanes Lab in the USA. I am from New Zealand.

mrosenlof · Sep 6, 2016

I would worry about humidity condensing to water and then freezing. I don't freeze opened film, but I don't normally have a six month gap between exposure and processing.

If I were going to freeze opened film, I would get a silica gel packet of some kind. Put it in an airtight container with the film. Let it dehydrate the stuff in the container for a day or so and then freeze.

trondsi · Sep 7, 2016

I don't know what is best here, but my intuition would tell me to pack several rolls into a ziplock bag, with as little air as possible, and then put it in the fridge (not freezer)

Poisson Du Jour · Sep 7, 2016

rayonline_nz said:
I will report back and see. Where I am to process a roll of slides cost $15US, mounting is extra at perhaps $10US. I also seem to get marks on my film so I now pretty much send them to Dwyanes Lab in the USA. I am from New Zealand.

Why are you sending your films to Dwaynes in the US?
You could send the film to either Michaels or Vanbar in Melbourne. Either/both regularly handle work from New Zealand (virtually all work from NZ I think) and as far away as Johannesburg.

Alan W · Sep 7, 2016

leave it in an air conditioned space.Send it to be developed when you're ready.Don't worry.I've had exposed undeveloped film go for months and even over a year.No problem.Remember Garry Winogrand?It never bothered him.

Harry Stevens · Sep 8, 2016

Not just being sent off for development but also to save up so you can crack open a 5 litre packet of ID 11/D76 and use it all.I have toyed with the idea of shooting my B&W 120 /35mm film and developing only in the summer because of the temperature of my water which is constant around 22C. I would store exposed film in the fridge in a container and some of those small moisture retaining bags.

I keep my bulk loader in the fridge when it as film in wrapped in a plastic bag.

Exposed 120 film - can i freeze?

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