Photo paper storage temperature (and length of time)

[naugastyle]

Hi, I was recently moving back into my apartment, where I'd been storing my photo papers (mostly fiber) in the basement for 3.5 years. Like many old NYC apartment buildings, the heat is kept incredibly high in the winter; less so in the shared basement than in our individual apartments, but room temp down there is probably minimum 75F right now. I have no idea how hot it was during the summers since I'd never used the communal storage space before I moved away.

But probably more importantly, I had so many boxes around the apartment after moving in that I didn't notice the plastic box containing papers, was inches away from the radiator. I've only been in the apartment one week but have already shifted some things, so I think this box of photo papers was near the radiator max 4 days.

Um, is my paper ruined? And also, is there supposed to be an expiration date for papers? Some of the papers may have already been old when I obtained them, and the last time I was actively printing is more than 4 years ago. None of the packages have dates on them. Should everything still be usable?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[NB23]

All you need is a dark toilet and 2 bowls filled with, let's say, 400 ml of developer in one and, let's say, another 400ml of fixer in the other.

Develop a piece of paper from each box and fix it. That would give you a ballpark idea of which box is ok, shady, and bad.

 

[naugastyle]

Oh, I don't actually have a darkroom. I used to rent one (that I would consider re-renting) that takes 1 hr to travel to. Would really like to know if the conditions I mentioned would ruin the paper before I have to re-purchase chems, re-rent the darkroom, etc.

 

[NB23]

Dark toilet is enough.

 

[naugastyle]

There are really no general rules of thumb like "no, you can never allow photo paper to get that warm" or "photo paper is really resilient to heat" or "5 years in storage is too long" or "I use paper I've had for 20 years"--before I mix full bottles of developing/fixing chems, decide whether I can still eat out of bowls that have had film chems in them because of course I wouldn't have my own trays when I never had a darkroom, buy the materials necessary to actually make my toilet dark (nearly impossible, there will definitely be light seeping through), and test one sheet of paper from each of 15 different packages?

 

[David Lyga]

naugastyle: Most likely, four days will not be sufficient to even 'touch' your paper's sensitivity. But, now that you know that, do not press luck too strongly. You do not mention whether the paper was developer incorporated or not: Sometimes the developer incorporated type is less forgiving. But, that said, you will probably be pleasantly surprised with the results if you test it. - David Lyga

 

[amellice]

Hi, I was recently moving back into my apartment, where I'd been storing my photo papers (mostly fiber) in the basement for 3.5 years. Like many old NYC apartment buildings, the heat is kept incredibly high in the winter; less so in the shared basement than in our individual apartments, but room temp down there is probably minimum 75F right now. I have no idea how hot it was during the summers since I'd never used the communal storage space before I moved away.

But probably more importantly, I had so many boxes around the apartment after moving in that I didn't notice the plastic box containing papers, was inches away from the radiator. I've only been in the apartment one week but have already shifted some things, so I think this box of photo papers was near the radiator max 4 days.

Um, is my paper ruined? And also, is there supposed to be an expiration date for papers? Some of the papers may have already been old when I obtained them, and the last time I was actively printing is more than 4 years ago. None of the packages have dates on them. Should everything still be usable?

Thanks for your advice.

I'd be happy to test it for you, you can give me samples from each box (label them in the dark on the back of each paper) and I can develop and fix them in my home darkroom. You can give the paper to me at Park Av and 28th Manhattan

 

[MattKing]

I'd be happy to test it for you, you can give me samples from each box (label them in the dark on the back of each paper) and I can develop and fix them in my home darkroom. You can give the paper to me at Park Av and 28th Manhattan

A soft pencil works great when you want to label photographic paper that will be processed.

 

[MartinP]

For the fogging test, as described by Amellice above, try cutting the paper in half - then fix one part and dev+fix the other (and wash both of course). If there is a subtle difference in 'whiteness' of the unexposed but developed emulsion, then it will be easier to see and quantify when compared to the fixed-out base of the other piece. That will involve marking the second half of each sheet too, but this is easily done with a number in each diagonally opposite corner of the uncut sheet, prior to cutting it in half - there is no need to decipher any existing pencil marks under dim safelight as the two halves can easily be matched up afterwards.

 

[M Carter]

I've been on an old-paper buying spree this year, looking for different lith looks.

I've bought some stuff from the 70's and 80's, some fiber, some dev. incorporated RC. I snip a strip from each and develop it (I also toss the old crispy black wraps and stick it in modern vinyl black bags from my stash) - so far no fog. Paper can be pretty robust, though I have no clue how this stuff has been stored.