Kodak C-41 Control Strips

Hello,

I have a box of Kodak Control Strips for Process C-41. There is a warning on the box: "Do not freeze". Why am I not supposed to freeze this film?

If you do not freeze control strips, they age the same way as the stock on the market. Very, very simplified.
Thus the process control would be more apt for those very films processed than a frozen standard which would not represent the actual stock.

Convincing? Not very much to me…

Thus I informed at Kodak:

“- Do not freeze recommendation for KODAK Film Control Strips, Process C-41 -

KODAK Control Strips, Process C-41, have excellent keeping properties. As a result, we have changed our temperature recommendations to a range of 40 to 55°F (4.5 to 12.7°C). This change is indicated on all Process C-41 film control strips packaging beginning with Batch Code 5011.

Freezing Process C-41 controls strips can cause problems if they get damaged, corrupt derivation of your process aim, and result in even more effort to correct.”

Though the second paragraph is enigmatic to me. In the context referred to I don’t see any difference between freezing and cold storage. They could be damaged in both kinds of storage. Or does this mean they corrupt your process just because of freezing, which would be contradictory to the first paragraph? Is there another hidden meaning in that paragraph?

The new Kodak C41 films keep well in a refrigerator, thus the temperature range of 40 - 55 F.

If you freeze an open package you risk damage from moisture condensation much more than you do if just kept refrigerated. There is no magic in that.

The strips are specially aged at Kodak to even out all latent image keeping and raw stock keeping problems.

PE

The greatest enigmas are solved by the most simple explanations...

To me the condensing issue seems so much known to professional photographers that I not even considered this sort of damage.
But you are right, a package being opened and refrozen repeatedly runs a higher chance of being handled the wrong way.

Kodak, more clarity next time! (For readers who tend to make things more complicated than they are.)