Refrigerate or Freeze?

Kirks518 · Mar 27, 2016

So my wife says I'm taking up too much room in the fridge and freezer at home, and too much space at the cooler in our store. So I'm thinking of getting a mini-fridge for film storage duty, but not sure if I should go a mini-freezer route.

How much of a difference is there between refrigerating film vs freezing film?

Sirius Glass · Mar 27, 2016

Uh, tell your wife that if you keep the film in the refrigerator and freezer, there will be less food. Less food means that her weight will go down.

Freezing is better. See if you can find a used refrigerator freezer.

MattKing · Mar 27, 2016

How long are you intending to keep the film? Is it fresh film, or film near or past its "best before" date?

ericdan · Mar 27, 2016

Even frozen your film will start to fog over the years.
That being said, I just developed a roll of Neopan 400 that expired in 2006 and has been sitting at room temperature. It looked just fine.

Kirks518 · Mar 27, 2016

MattKing said:
How long are you intending to keep the film? Is it fresh film, or film near or past its "best before" date?

It's a mix of everything. I have a butt-load of fresh, and another butt-load of expired. How long I plan to keep it, I have no idea.

Eric - I have expired film going back to 1978 that before I got could have been stored any which way. I've been very happy using expired black & white film. Only roll that was too fogged was a roll of Kodak 120 (don't remember the film type) that sat in a closet in Florida since before 1967.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 27, 2016

Kirks518 said:
So my wife says I'm taking up too much room in the fridge and freezer at home, and too much space at the cooler in our store. So I'm thinking of getting a mini-fridge for film storage duty, but not sure if I should go a mini-freezer route.

How much of a difference is there between refrigerating film vs freezing film?

the colder the butternut refrigeration is going to help a lot and less effort to get back to working temp.

Echoes · Mar 30, 2016

I would say freezer is better if you plan on storing it for months/years.
If you think you are going to shoot it fast then fridge is good.

Frank53 · Mar 30, 2016

So nobody really knows
My personal experience is you can keep film at room temperature for years without any visible change.
I recently exposed and developed a 1987 Agfapan 100, which was kept af room temperature all those years and it came out fine. Than I got a 1994 Ektachrome, that was supposed to be kept in the fridge, exposed it and there was almost nothing on it. Has there ever been any scientific study on this subject?
But when in doubt, a fridge will be fine for a few decades.
Frank

michaelorr · Mar 30, 2016

Does freezing alter the emulsion on the base, or is there any worries with condensation going from freezer to fridge to room? I am trying to make the right decision, but perhaps only for not more than 5 or 6 years. I don't plan on stocking up on disappearing film types.

Echoes · Mar 30, 2016

michaelorr said:
Does freezing alter the emulsion on the base, or is there any worries with condensation going from freezer to fridge to room? I am trying to make the right decision, but perhaps only for not more than 5 or 6 years. I don't plan on stocking up on disappearing film types.

No, it doesn't alter the emulsion, the only thing you have to do is keep them in their cannisters and personally i put them inside a ziplock bag, and also let the film go back to room temperature before using.

MartinCrabtree · Mar 30, 2016

Here's Kodak's view on the subject.

michaelorr · Mar 30, 2016

Cool beans! Thanks both, i will also add the ziplock bag to my storage plan. Kodak view looked very sensible.

Gerald C Koch · Mar 30, 2016

The lower the temperature the better. However one must also figure the cost of electricity. IIRC Agfa kept their master rolls at -10C. There is also another solution. Get out and take more pictures.

gzhuang · Mar 30, 2016

ericdan said:
Even frozen your film will start to fog over the years.
That being said, I just developed a roll of Neopan 400 that expired in 2006 and has been sitting at room temperature. It looked just fine.

Thanks TP for telling us miracles do happen.

Sirius Glass · Mar 30, 2016

Echoes said:
I would say freezer is better if you plan on storing it for months/years.
If you think you are going to shoot it fast then fridge is good.

Welcome to APUG

Sirius Glass · Mar 30, 2016

Gerald C Koch said:
The lower the temperature the better. However one must also figure the cost of electricity. IIRC Agfa kept their master rolls at -10C. There is also another solution. Get out and take more pictures.

The refrigerator-freezer is running anyway and it uses the electricity to keep the air cool. Therefore the closer a refrigerator-freezer is to full, the less electricity it will use. So stock up on film and fill those nooks and crannies with film.

mgb74 · Mar 30, 2016

On only a slight tangent: Mini fridges tend to be very inefficient. So cooling to 35 deg F in a mini fridge might use more power than to 0 in a small chest freezer.

Old-N-Feeble · Mar 30, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
The refrigerator-freezer is running anyway and it uses the electricity to keep the air cool. Therefore the closer a refrigerator-freezer is to full, the less electricity it will use. So stock up on film and fill those nooks and crannies with film.

Yes, but keep everything away from the sides, bottom and top... especially the bottom. A stainless steel rack of some sort is good to keep your films from getting soaked should the power fail or freezer malfunction.

Kirks518 · Mar 30, 2016

Well, I think I'll try and find a mini-freezer.

As for expired film, I'll shoot B&W without thinking twice about the expiration date. So far, I haven't had issues with B&W, and I have bricks with 1978 expiration that have shot and developed fine.

As for color, I try not to shoot color that is more then 5 yrs out of date, and prefer to only shoot fresh color.

Wife just informed me that whatever I get will be housed in our store, and not at home, which makes it a little bit of a PITA, but not too bad...

djacobox372 · Apr 1, 2016

Old-N-Feeble said:
Yes, but keep everything away from the sides, bottom and top... especially the bottom. A stainless steel rack of some sort is good to keep your films from getting soaked should the power fail or freezer malfunction.

Putting the film in some sort of waterproof container/bag is good insurance.

Old-N-Feeble · Apr 1, 2016

djacobox372 said:
Putting the film in some sort of waterproof container/bag is good insurance.

Actually, if there's room in your freezer, keeping the bagged film inside one or more smaller ice chests is a good idea. This serves as double insurance to keep frost and water away from the film.

derelict · Sep 6, 2016

I read the Kodak sheet but have a couple questions:
- Differences between 120 and 135? I have a Tupperware with rolls of 120 in their foil wrappers and rolls of 135 in their plastic containers in the fridge. The fridge is a constant 33 degrees F. Is there a difference in container? Does 135 fare differently due to having the tag sticking out of its canister?
- I have a deep freeze but do not necessarily want to freeze the film due to the warm up time. An hour before use when frozen?

benjiboy · Sep 6, 2016

I don't think with black and white film film it makes a great deal of difference if it's stored at room temperature or either fridge or freezer if you don't live in Death Valley, but colour film is best stored frozen if this isn't possible refrigeration is the next best thing, but the speed and colours really suffer if it's stored at room temperature for long periods.

derelict · Sep 6, 2016

Okay. Any differences between foil wrapped 120 and 135 in its plastic container? What about XP2 which is C41 B&W? I tend to 'stock' Kodak Gold (135), Portra (120) and Ilford XP2 (135 and 120), Delta (120).

darkroommike · Sep 6, 2016

Buy your wife a new fridge for the kitchen and get the old one down next to the darkroom.

Refrigerate or Freeze?

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