How long will color film last in the freezer

[mtjade2007]

Definitely. I usually ate the ice cream in the freezer before handling my films there.

I am worrying my 46mm 400VC films now. This is the best film I ever used (except that there is Ektar 100 now). Does school photography still use this format of film? I got mine before they expired and has since been in the freezer. Now they are 4 or 5 years past expiration. Will more ice cream help?

 

[alexmacphee]

Should I cool it down before I put it in the camera, or should I keep it at fridge/freezer temperature? Will I notice any difference at all?

Let the film come up to ambient (room) temperature before putting it in the camera. You otherwise risk moisture condensation forming on the film.

 

[mattmoy_2000]

46mm? Is that a typo for 35, or the width of 127?

 

[mtjade2007]

No, it's not a typo. It is a 46 mm roll film, 200 feet long. It is for a Camerz school photography camera. I got a camera too. Actually I have two Camerz cameras, one for 70 mm and the other for 46 mm films. Tried on the 70 mm one with a short strip of 70 mm VC400. The image quality came out stunningly beautiful. The final images are equivalent to 6x4.5 format. I shot the test strip under sunlight (not strobe light). It made me realize how good Camerz cameras are.

 

[domaz]

According to (there was a url link here which no longer exists) older C-41 (pre 2003?) processes have to be stablized in a different manner, so if you have old rolls processed at commercial labs they are not being stabilized correctly. A good reason not to bother with really old color film unless you plan on scanning or copying them immediately.

 

[mtjade2007]

Yes, thank you for reminding me. I can stabilize the film with an old stabilizer. It will do the job for both new and old films. I believe my 46 mm 400VC roll is post 2003 though.

 

[ericdan]

I am hording Provia 400X. Anybody know how long high speed slide film will last?
I have it sealed in the freezer, but I assume it won't have the same shelf life as 100 speed film.

I just shot a roll of Kodak slide film that's been expired for 5 years and sitting at room temperature.
To my surprise it was absolutely fine.

 

[removed account4]

ericdan

your experience matches mine both for color film and for black and white

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

about halfway through the thread you will see information posted by a appugger named "mr bill"
he worked for a major portrait company and he and his workmates did all sorts of "destructive testing"
on color film ( "hot box" ). it was interesting to see that color films are quite robust and they did not degrade
as one might imagine they would.

me, personally i only shoot expired film these days, some old, some very old, and while i don't use a densitometer
(and don't care to use one ) i haven't found much trouble in my expired emulsions. YMMV thought, because
others in the thread posted their findings ( B/W ) from using a densitometer, and posted #'s but even after they were
asked what the numbers meant their meanings were never revealed ... so my guess is that "there was a little fog" ...
and too much for their taste?

as for your provia ( i have about 300+ sheets at room temperature as well ) it might suffer a little contrast loss? maybe a little speed loss
and maybe a little color shift ... i'm processing all mine in b/w so i rate it slow ( way less than half box speed )
and processing it in dilute print developer first and then coffee developer.


good luck

john

 

[benjiboy]

A simple answer to the O.P's question is "not long enough".

 

[mtjade2007]

I recently shot some old Kodak PR-100 220 rolls. I was very surprised that they came out with colors as good as (absolutely no worse than) the Konica (Konica Minolta) not old (frozen when it was still fresh) KN-400 that I also shot. The interesting thing is the PR-100 rolls had been left in my backpack for 2 years unattended. I guess I took the pack out of the freezer and then left it in the backpack totally forgot about it. I actually thought they had practically gone beyond usefulness even for snap shots. They came out beautifully.

I just looked at the PR-100 box and the expiration date was in 1999. The KN-400 had been frozen since 2006 with the expiration date of 2008. Konica KN-400 is a great film. The old Kodak Pro-100 after all the years in the freezer with 2 years left in the backpack turns out to be as good or better. I believe the films were already expired when I bought them on eBay. I still have a few 5-rool packs. The only hassle to use these films is I have to use Kodak Stabilizer which is no longer available. These films (KN400 and Pro-100) is a solid proof to me that their colors are superior to the digital camera images I got from my 17 mega pixel Canon for dummies. I now use the Canon only when I need to sell something on eBay.

By the way I processed theses films by myself with my Jobo ATL-2300. I believe the processing is a significant factor that the films came out so great. I have finally figured out how to use the Jobo correctly. I used only 470 ml of Kodak C-41 developer for 2 rolls of 220.

 

[removed account4]

there are so many people who equate using ambient temperature stored
films ( color and black/white ) with a doomsday scenario ...

its nice to read others personal experiences with expired films.
because sometimes its not doomsday yet, and its just any other day ...

 

[Fixcinater]

I shot a 35mm roll of old Elite Chrome 100. 10+ yrs expired, unknown storage before I got it. Just a bit of color casrt, but less than what a yellowed Takumar 50/1.4 throws onto an image.

2 rolls of '87 and '91 Kodachrome 64 and 200 were way out of whack.

Color neg has to be really abused before it gives.