Sheet Film Durability in the Elements

[SteveH]

All,
Perhaps Im a little too cautious about taking care of my black and white film. I store it in my refridge, and I don't load it into my film holders until Im ready to use it. I keep the film as cool as possible while out and about (not left in a hot trunk, etc), and I try to unload and process it as soon as possible.....I know that this is a mandate for color and chromes; but what about black and white ? What about humidity ?
The reason I ask is because I will be going on vacation next month into some pretty rough terrain where I won't be able to store my film in a nice cool place. I will try to keep it as dry as possible; but we'll see how long the dissicate gel packages last.
So with that in mind, are there films that are more robust than others in this aspect ? For example, I know that the emulsion on Efke 25 is quite soft when processing...But what about storage ?
If all things being equal, I would prefer to pack Efke 25 and HP5.

 

[juan]

I'm in Florida and can see the ocean from my workroom window, I'm too cheap to turn on the a/c most of the time, so there's plenty of heat and humidity. While I keep my film boxes in the fridge, I load all of my film holders (Efke PL100 usually) and just leave them out until I shoot the film - sometimes a couple of weeks. I've never noticed any problem.

If you're just going on a trip for a couple of weeks, I'd just follow what you're doing - keep it out of the trunk, take it inside when you can, develop as soon as you can, and not worry about it.
juan

 

[Konical]

Good Evening, Steve,

With B & W film generally, I wouldn't be very concerned about environmental conditions unless you have to deal with extreme heat and humidity over a very lengthy period of time.

Konical

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Hi Steve,

I don't know if you can get more humid than a 2 month sea kayak trip on BC's north coast during November - December as it bucketed or drizzled rain almost every day. I experienced no difficulties...with the b&w film.

Murray

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Hi again Steve,

I don't know how you're going to store your exposed sheet film, but I put mine in glassine envelopes to eliminate scratches from the sheets rubbing against each other. I wrote subject and exposure information on the envelopes, and cut notches along each envelopes edge to indicate development before emptying my film holders. This way the exposed negatives could all get fired into one film box, and I could separate them in the dark when I got home.

Murray

 

[SteveH]

Thanks for all of your help !
As far as my exposed film goes, I have three used film boxes, one for -1, N, +1. I suppose that if I run into anything needing -2 or +2, I can always separate the boxes with a piece of cardboard. I have been saving the paper that Efke puts in between their sheets of film, so I am going to reuse those to go in between my exposed sheets.

 

[Monophoto]

I keep 6-7 film holders in a backpack with my camera, and about the same number in an insulated film bag. On "day trips", the film bag stays home, but I do take it along if we are going to be away for several days.

I worry about damaging the film by leaving it in a closed car parked in the sun. If I have to leave either the backpack or the film bag in the car, I try to leave the windows cracked open and make sure that neither bag is actually in the sun. I drive a Subaru Forrester and have a cover for the rear storage compartment that protects the contents from both direct sun and curious eyes. And I try to park the car in the shade.

I recall hearing a LF photographer (either Tillman Crane or Michael Smith - memory is not perfece) say that he doesn't worry about short exposures to high temperatures.

The film bag is actually an insulated picnic bag. In addition to spare film holders, I have a box of unexposed film, and three boxes (N, N- and N+) for exposed film. If I encounter an N-2 situation, I will put the exposed film into a plastic envelop before putting it in the N- box.

When we travel we stay in either hotels or time-share condos, and usually it is possible to go into the bathroom, roll up the bath mat to block the bottom of the door, and achieve complete darkness for loading holders. But I also take along a changing bag (wrapped up in a plastic bag to protect it from dust) in case I have to "rough it".

The film bag also includes a brush for cleaning holders, spare batteries for the light meter, a couple of rolls of 35mm film and a small 35mm rangefinder camera, a Polaroid 545 back, a few "wash and dry" hand cleaners, a Sanford Sharpie pen, my PDA and cell phone, and a box of Lenscrafters lens wipes (for my eyeglasses).

 

[SteveH]

Great ideas, thanks.
This trip is actually a float-plane trip to some remote spots in Canada, from which I will be doing lots of kayaking and hiking. At the end of each day, I plan on returning back to the aircraft, so I will be assured that my film stays dry in storage. I have one of those calumet changing 'rooms', so loading film should be quick and easy....So in that aspect, I think I have my bases covered.
As far as a camera case goes, I ordered a pelican for obvious reasons. Im just hoping that the case will fit into my ALICE backpack. If not, has anyone had success in making one of these into a backpack ? I was thinking of making a webbing type of thing which would slide over the case, and then that would affix to the ALICE frame.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Hi Steve.

I'm getting jealous...sounds like you're in for an awesome trip!

As far as a camera case goes, I ordered a pelican for obvious reasons. Im just hoping that the case will fit into my ALICE backpack. If not, has anyone had success in making one of these into a backpack ?

I lashed my Pelican case to the mondern equivilant of a 'Trapper Nelson'. It was just an aluminum frame with padded shoulder straps, a mesh back pad, a sternum strap, and a padded waist belt...there was no bag at all. There was also a small 'shelf' that flipped down at the bottom of the frame to support the Pelican cases weight. Sorry, but I can't remember who made it, but I found it at a local hardware store so it's probably sold more to hunters than hikers.

For longer day hikes I would clip my big fanny pack (the pack is big, not my fanny) or a small dry bag to the frame.

Murray