Exposed film and heat

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How does exposed film react when subject to extreme heat? What kind of result do will i get if i keep a roll of Portra VC or something similiar in a black metal box in on the balcony for a couple of weeks? Clues, anyone?
 

MikeSeb

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Nothing good will happen, though film is more resilient than you think.

Would you yourself be comfortable sweltering for weeks in a black box on a sunny balcony? If not, then why on earth would you subject your film to such treatment?

Keep it as cool and shady as you can.
 
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If it must be kept as such, then at least make the box white to reflect as much light/heat as possible. But I must advise against it.
 

nickandre

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Are you trying to achieve interesting effects?
I know that exposed film loses contrast and effective speed as it's left to sit. It's much less stable than unexposed film. You might get color shifts with color film as well.
 

nicefor88

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I was always told that exposed film was more sensitive to heat than an unexposed one. In addition, grain would normally show bigger than normal after such mistreatment. Color film should be affected. I would say with a predominant magenta.
 

railwayman3

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The effect on the film is probably too unpredictable to produce or repeat any specific result.

If I really wanted to duplicate some particular effect, I'd probably start from a "normal" negative and see what I could do in the darkroom printing. (Or dare I say that there are times when even I have to concede that Photoshop is the best and quickest tool for the particular job. :wink: ) It depends, of course, whether you want to enjoy experimenting, or if you just want to get a similar result to the photo on Flikr in the easiest and most economical way. :smile:
 

Vonder

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An interesting question, one which I have pondered recently. Last Fall I came across a roll of Tmax 400 that I'd had for several years but never shot, so, rather than throw it out as "too old" I put it in a Canon F-1, took out the camera battery, and tossed (gently) it into the glove box of my car. That's where it remained, taken in and out for shooting on occasion, from subzero Winter weather to Spring warmth. I finished the roll this weekend and it turned out fine... but this is B&W of course. Now that Summer is here I believe I will have to use a digital for my car camera. Not sure exactly how hot my car gets under the Summer sun but I'm sure it would ruin any color film I might use... maybe not B&W? I don't know.

I have heard that film is even more affected by radiation than heat, so perhaps you might want to invesigate that instead.
 

JBrunner

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Im doing this on purpose, just to see what happens. The result i really would like to achieve is something similar to this ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/8746365@N02/2361989729/ but that's probably wishful thinking. I'll post the results when the film is processed.

You could probably achieve something similar with color neg by just underexposing 3 stops and pushing it. That is a loose reciprocation of how age affected film behaves.
 
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You could probably achieve something similar with color neg by just underexposing 3 stops and pushing it. That is a loose reciprocation of how age affected film behaves.

Thanks for the tip, will try this. Great videos btw.
 

nworth

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It has color shifts and may become fogged. But modern films can stand an awful lot of abuse. I've abused exposed film very badly in closed cars in the desert southwest, and it's always turned out OK. Maybe there is a bit of deterioration (not often), but it is always corretable and the negatives or transparencies have always been quite printable.
 
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