Girlfriend got coffee at the bottom of my rolls in the fridge

j-dogg · Jun 28, 2014

How screwed am I? 35mm cartridges, caught it within 15 minutes. All on the same side with leader side facing top. I set them several times on paper towels and drained a lot of it, a couple of them had black or pink coloration at the base of the light seal.

They were in barely a mm or 2mm of coffee liquid but I'm afraid the light seals soaked up the coffee....it was cold brew and all of the rolls were completely exposed, some 24ex and most were 36ex

BrianShaw · Jun 28, 2014

What a shame, but the truth is that you might not know for sure until you develop the film. It depends on penetration of the liquid.

This is a sad lesson to have to learn but the thing to remember in the future is the value of putting film in a protective sealed plastic bag. That keeps both coffee and humidity away from your film.

Tom1956 · Jun 28, 2014

You mean you put rolls in the fridge bare? That would mean their ruination in and of itself, coffee notwithstanding. I'm quite sure they're ruined now. Sorry.

Xmas · Jun 28, 2014

Id not blame your friend.

Film in fridge should be unopened and in zip lock bag with silica gel

Exposed film should in a development tank with D76 or whatever.

Once film has been unsealed at ambient relative humidity taking it down to 5C is very risky as condensation kills film much faster than heat.

You need to now process immediately.

Pat Erson · Jun 28, 2014

Stay single, buy more film?
Works for me...

Brian C. Miller · Jun 28, 2014

Hard to say. The black or pink coloration is the antihalation layer. It might be only from what was touching the light seal. If the coffee got wicked up into the roll, then maybe only the sprocket area was affected.

But you haven't said if these rolls were unexposed or not. If they were exposed, develop them now!
If they were unexposed, you won't know until you use the film. I would sacrifice one of them and see the actual condition of the roll.

And after this, keep them in containers!

j-dogg · Jun 28, 2014

The more you know.......most of them are test rolls to make sure internal film motordrives worked properly on cameras I have bought and sold but there's still pictures on them.

It wasn't all for loss literally the day before I grabbed a bunch of Ektachrome 64 circa 1980's which has actual pictures I've shot on it that are worth developing and they were spared from disaster.

Tom1956 · Jun 28, 2014

You better develop them now.

lxdude · Jun 28, 2014

Here's your chance to try caffenol!

Sirius Glass · Jun 28, 2014

lxdude said:
Here's your chance to try caffenol!

All kidding aside about the preprocessing, shoot the film. Crop out any bad spots and do not raise the subject to your girlfriend. You can always buy more film and if the relationship will work, it will work; otherwise it will go its course.

Tom1956 · Jun 28, 2014

Sirius Glass said:
All kidding aside about the precessing, shoot the film. Crop out any bad spots and do not raise the subject to your girlfriend. You can always buy more film and if the relationship will work, it will work; otherwise it will go its course.

I'll second that. Never speak of it again. It's easy enough to get into trouble over things you didn't say or do.

BrianShaw · Jun 28, 2014

Was the coffee good? I've become curious about cold brewing and coffee extract making but haven't researched it yet or tried.

removed account4 · Jun 28, 2014

lxdude said:
Here's your chance to try caffenol!

dude,
i was gonna say all he has to do is FIX the film now, since they stand developed
( but seeing you and your GF don't drink cheap robusta coffee and good arabica coffee ...
you probably just need to rinse and develop your film normally
its robusta beans will process your film, arabica doesn't )

sorry to make light of your situation JD

i guess all you can do is develop them and see.

- john

MattKing · Jun 28, 2014

I would suggest a presoak as part of your developing regime.

Most likely, some of your shots will be affected, but the result is more likely to be a problem with uneven development then with no development at all.

Your problem will be if you like the results - they may be hard to duplicate.

Now aren't you glad that it wasn't a digital camera in that coffee?

AgX · Jun 28, 2014

Xmas said:
Id not blame your friend.

Film in fridge should be unopened and in zip lock bag with silica gel

Exposed film should in a development tank with D76 or whatever.

Once film has been unsealed at ambient relative humidity taking it down to 5C is very risky as condensation kills film much faster than heat.

-) if film is unopened, what effect that silica gel should have?

-) unsealed film its cannister is as save as unsealed film without canister as long as in the fridge

Photo Engineer · Jun 28, 2014

Remove the film from the cartridges in the dark. Wash well with distilled water, about 10 mins with lots of changes of water. Hang to dry in the dark or go right into the process. This should work. Film dumped into the Atlantic ocean survived using this treatment, so it should save your film.

PE

Xmas · Jun 29, 2014

AgX said:
-) if film is unopened, what effect that silica gel should have?

-) unsealed film its cannister is as save as unsealed film without canister as long as in the fridge

The tub seals are not as effective as the hermetic 120 film seals. If you cool a tub the air pressure is lower inside and it tries to suck... The silica gel holds the relative humidity in the zip lock low outside tub, while it is fresh. Oven it regular...

The film is packed in very low relative humidity if you open tub in hot high humidity and let it acclimatuse and remake the cap do not put back in fridge as...

Condensation destroys film in a few hours. Relative humidity is temperature dependent at 'dew point' you get condensation.

Lots of the old film I get for archive processing is impossible to unwind...

So the answer to your 2nd question only unsealed before loading into camera then shoot and then process don't store. The digital people chimp immediately... though they don't need to.

Yes some old film is grey fog with no image and some has poor images that will need scan and processing...

Lastly don't fridge the Ilford bulk if it is in cardboard boxes...

AgX · Jun 29, 2014

Fillm is packed at about 50% RM that may be low for some and high for others.

That suction effect is of minimal effect as the fridge is a rather dry playce.

Xmas · Jun 29, 2014

Are you sure about the relative humidity and what temperature is this at?

My fridge goes to 100% after the door has been open and then drops as it condenses on the heat exchanger and freezes.

If the power fails it goes back to 100 % as it warms up.

The cycle destroys the cardboard box if you don't use a zip lock bag and silica gel.

Some fridges have an auto drain auto defrost system where any melt water is drained externally not sure what this does for the relative humidity.

If you are going to cold store Id be cautious most very old film from cameras does not unwind and the UK climate is very temperate.

Steve Smith · Jun 29, 2014

Brian C. Miller said:
The black or pink coloration is the antihalation layer.

35mm film doesn't have an anti halation layer. It has a base tint instead.

Steve.

Xmas · Jun 29, 2014

Steve Smith said:
35mm film doesn't have an anti halation layer. It has a base tint instead.

Steve.

http://www.adox.de/english/ADOX Films/Premium/CHS100_II/index.html

AgX · Jun 29, 2014

Steve Smith said:
35mm film doesn't have an anti halation layer. It has a base tint instead.

AH-layers and base-tint can be employed single or combined. The base tint even serves two purposes.

Steve Smith · Jul 1, 2014

I learn something new every day. I have never seen an anti halation layer washed off of 35mm film before.

Steve.

Xmas · Jul 1, 2014

Kodachrome (&ECN) had (have) a REMJET backing.

lxdude · Jul 1, 2014

Steve Smith said:
I learn something new every day. I have never seen an anti halation layer washed off of 35mm film before.

Steve.

The anti-halation layer between the base and emulsion becomes clear during processing. And, as just mentioned, a rem-jet backing layer on the side opposite the emulsion is used on some films.

Girlfriend got coffee at the bottom of my rolls in the fridge

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