Froozen Film to Room Temp

Gary892 · Jan 18, 2007

Frozen Film to Room Temp

I was completing my yearly inventory of my photo equipment and film supplies and began thinking (always bad for me).

If I remove a 25 sheet box of 4x5 B&W Film from the Freezer, how long does it take before it is at a temperature ready for use.
Then I really started thinking (now I am in real trouble), if a box of 4x5 takes 24 hours before it is ready for use, how long does a 25 sheet box of 8x10 film take before it is ready for use.
To me, there is more surface area on the 8x10 box that is exposed to room temperature vrs the 4x5 box.
So is there a chart somewhere that shows the different times or is the film ready for use in 24 hours no matter what size it is.

Just one of my late night musings.

Gary

jim appleyard · Jan 18, 2007

I've always waited 3 hours.

Neal · Jan 18, 2007

Dear Gary,

Why worry about it? Take it out the night before.

Neal Wydra

Ole · Jan 18, 2007

That's one thing I stopped worrying about last winter.

I realised I was thawing the film out gently over 24 hours, then taking it out into -18C to shoot - same temperature as in my freezer.

You can load the film frozen, if you like. And shoot it frozen, too!

jstraw · Jan 18, 2007

Ole said:
That's one thing I stopped worrying about last winter.

I realised I was thawing the film out gently over 24 hours, then taking it out into -18C to shoot - same temperature as in my freezer.

You can load the film frozen, if you like. And shoot it frozen, too!

I hope you're loading that frozen film outdoors in the cold! Otherwise...condensation...

Roger Hicks · Jan 18, 2007

Ole said:
That's one thing I stopped worrying about last winter.

I realised I was thawing the film out gently over 24 hours, then taking it out into -18C to shoot - same temperature as in my freezer.

You can load the film frozen, if you like. And shoot it frozen, too!

Dear Ole,

At the risk of sounding -- what? Racist? Nationalist? -- 'froozen' sounds somewhat Nordic, and altogether colder than just 'frozen'.

But to answer the question, I've always found that two or three hours was plenty.

Cheers,

R.

smileyguy · Jan 18, 2007

That's hilarious! I never thought of that before. I was planning on going out yesterday to shoot in -5C (or so) and wanted to shoot some film that I had in the freezer so I pulled it out and put it in my breast pocket for the morning so it would warm up before loading it. DUH!! Just hadn't realized that I could have been going from one temperature to the SAME temperature for shooting conditions.

Ole · Jan 18, 2007

Roger Hicks said:
At the risk of sounding -- what? Racist? Nationalist? -- 'froozen' sounds somewhat Nordic, and altogether colder than just 'frozen'.

"Frossen" is the local spelling of choise. Short "o", long "s".

And then we have a dozen or so othe words for when it's really cold.

Stew · Jan 18, 2007

Neal said:
Dear Gary,

Why worry about it? Take it out the night before.

Neal Wydra

I think Neal has the right idea. Better safe than sorry!!

Daniel_OB · Jan 18, 2007

Freezing/unfreezing is not depend of an area (in yor case). It depend of mass you have to unfreeze. More films in the pack will take longer time. 1000 sheets will req. twice time than the same 500 sheets. for differnt size (area), calculate mass in the same way.

www.Leica-R.com

Roger Hicks · Jan 18, 2007

Ole said:
"Frossen" is the local spelling of choise. Short "o", long "s".

And then we have a dozen or so othe words for when it's really cold.

Dear Ole,

'Frossen' sounds more than cold enough to me...

Cheers,

R.

Nicholas Lindan · Jan 18, 2007

Gary892 said:
If I remove a 25 sheet box of 4x5 B&W Film from the Freezer, how long does it take before it is at a temperature ready for use.

FWIW, I take the film from the freezer and put it straight in the holders with nary a problem. Ditto with 35mm and 120.

I once _tried_ to get condensation on the film that would show up in the picture and failed. I have never seen a picture with condensation marks - whatever mark it is that condensation may make. Anyone have one?

I put wiating for film to thaw in the same catagory as waiting 2 hours after eating before wading in the surf.

Gary892 · Jan 18, 2007

Just to clarify, I am not worried about how long it takes to thaw film.
My standard method, if I am going out photographing on the weekend, is to
take the film out of the freezer Thursday evening, load the holders Friday evening and I am ready to go.
I was just curious if there was any scientific data on the subject.

Thanks for all the responses.

Gary

Woolliscroft · Jan 19, 2007

I tend to allow 24 hours come what may. It's usually more than needed, but better safe than sorry. By the way, don't try what one of my students did and defrost it in the microwave

skygzr · Jan 19, 2007

We mostly use freezers for stuff that has water in it, so we get used to thinking that everything freezes at the same temperature (32F, 0C).

Film doesn't freeze, not like water does. Within reasonable limits, it just gets cold. So, it doesn't need to thaw.

Given that, it probably makes sense that the film is close to ambient temperature when you shoot it. Unless you're an old-school astrophotographer, of course. They used to pack their cameras in dry ice.

Helen B · Jan 22, 2007

The problem isn't so much with condensation affecting the image, it's the effect of moisture on the physical properties of the emulsion surface. If you are loading sheet film holders this shouldn't be a problem as long as nothing touches the emulsion between the time that it is open to warm moist air and the time at which it reaches the local dew point or slightly above it. There's usually no harm in avoiding the risk altogether by allowing the package to warm up, of course. It's also unwise in very humid places where the amount of condensation on an open stack of film at freezer temperatures will lead to water droplets on the film and in between the film edges.

With other formats you run the risk of physical damage to the emulsion as it passes over rollers and then comes into contact with another surface as it is rolled.

Best,
Helen

Neanderman · Jan 22, 2007

The warmup time depends upon two factors: the mass of the package and the temperature differential.

For a 50 sheet box of film:

From 0 F -> 70 F: 3 hrs
From 35 F -> 70 F: 3 hrs
From 55 F -> 70 F: 2 hrs

Times don't quite double with a doubling of the package size:

100 sh times are 4 hr, 3 hr & 2 hr.

Source: Kodak Publication E-30, February, 2005.

eddie gunks · Jan 23, 2007

Neanderman said:
The warmup time depends upon two factors: the mass of the package and the temperature differential.

For a 50 sheet box of film:

From 0 F -> 70 F: 3 hrs
From 35 F -> 70 F: 3 hrs
From 55 F -> 70 F: 2 hrs

Times don't quite double with a doubling of the package size:

100 sh times are 4 hr, 3 hr & 2 hr.

Source: Kodak Publication E-30, February, 2005.

sounds about right to me. figure how long does it take ice to become water at room temp? not too long (well, not too long if it is about the size of a 4x5 box. obviously if you have a block of ice the size of an SUV it will take longer:) )

recently i have been leaving my film in the car and taking it out and shooting it. i figure it is 12Foutside and in my car so there should be no problems....so far so good.

eddie

Xmas · Jan 24, 2007

Cold soaked film can shatter like glass, in cameras which impose stress, e.g. leitz reverse wind. It is best to keep spare film in inner pocket of outside jacket.

Noel

Froozen Film to Room Temp

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