refrigerate or freeze?

[bohica]

I've seen several threads or posts on here about keeping film in the refrierator, I keep mine in the freezer. Is this ok or am I hurting the film? I've never noticed any ill effects.

 

[Dave Parker]

I have stored mine in the freezer for over 20 years now with no ill effects, during the winter I store in my shop, which is often times below zero, still no ill effects. Cold temps stops the aging process.

Dave

 

[Joe Symchyshyn]

More than the way you keep it cool, is the amount of time you let it get back up to room temperature... Let the box/roll stay sealed and closed until it get's back to normal or you run the very real risk of condensation ruining the film.

Freezing will give it a bit more storage life, but MOST people don't store films for extreme amounts of time anyhow. Either way is fine.

joe

 

[Dave Parker]

More than the way you keep it cool, is the amount of time you let it get back up to room temperature... Let the box/roll stay sealed and closed until it get's back to normal or you run the very real risk of condensation ruining the film.


joe

Not around here at this time of the year Joe! Heck I have not seen a day above freezing since about October 25th LOL No chance of condensation right now....

LOL

Dave

 

[Donald Qualls]

For most films, sealed in original wrapping, freezing won't hurt a thing and might be marginally better than refrigeration -- but don't freeze any Polaroid product! Freezing will cause precipitation in the developer gel and is likely to lead to poor performance...

 

[Claire Senft]

If refrigeration is good then freezing is better. Film or other items where freezing is usable generally allow only for problems from radiation.

 

[Lee Shively]

I keep several hundred rolls of film in the freezer pretty much all the time. When I buy film, I buy a lot at once. Freezing certainly doesn't hurt film at all, it preserves it pretty much indefinitely. I can remember around the year 2000, I shot a few rolls of Kodachromes and Ektachromes that had expiration dates in the 1980's. They had been kept frozen all that time and the slides looked the same as if they were shot on freshly produced film.