Film Canisters

Those of us who live in Florida are familiar with power outages. Last year my power was off for four days. I had a plastic shoebox filled with a mix of new and exposed 35 mm film in canisters. Everything was stored in small zip lock bags. Somehow the box collected the defrost water. I had greater concerns at the time and just poured the water out. Much to my horror when I opened several of the cans they were filled with water. The affected cans were from Kodak, Ilford and Ansco. Out of 40 odd rolls sixteen were ruined. So my advice to people is do not assume that zip lock bags and film cans are water tight.

I get certified water tight storage boxes for just such an emergency.

PE

We had a week last summer here without power. In fact the power went just as I was pouring the fixer in. The last thing left in my freezer was my stash of film...

I have used the Fuji 35mm film canisters as containers of liquid and once the lid was firmly pressed down, nothing leaked out. I have used then both at home and at work (I own a minilab). My son even used them to carry liquid and powder ingredients to school for home economics class. If liquid won't leak out then it shouldn't leak in. However I never tried the Kodak or Ilford canisters.

BTW sorry to hear about your films being ruined.

Gerald C Koch said:

So my advice to people is do not assume that zip lock bags and film cans are water tight.

Click to expand...

Inside the containers we have two spaces, one (film cans for instance) occupied by the film canisters and the rest, which we will call free space, occupied by a mixture of air and water vapor ... In your case power cut changed the temperature.

The air expands, the air evaporates. The non-evaporated water dilates, increasing its volume, which decreases the free space and increases the pressure. It is important (to know) to control the differential pressure between the inside and the outside of any closed containers, sometimes that preasure is enough to achieve a cap deformation in the case of the rigid packages (from one cold state to a hot state is more difficult to take care of that control than the other way around). Defrost was a visible sign and effect!

So, it was not (only) a question of whether or not they are water tight (they could be up to a point), but the conditions in your case have neither been suitable/appropriate nor controlled. IMHO_OC.

Best

Kodak 35mm cannisters (black or grey plastic) are light tight and contain 25 - 30 ml of solution. They are perfect for me for small amounts of emulsion for tests.

They are water tight to about 60C and I have used them for sensitizing emulsions.

PE

I use them to test-develop single frame exposures. - David Lyga