Storing 4x5 film in film holder

Gerry M · Jan 28, 2016

How long is it advisable to store 4X5 b&w film, exposed/unexposed film in holder? What is a safe storage method while waiting to process?

Thanks for any input,

Gerry

wildbill · Jan 28, 2016

treat it like you would 35mm. process asap.

DREW WILEY · Jan 28, 2016

Most black and white films we use these days aren't that fussy about modest latent image issues, with the possible exception of Pan F or
high-speed emulsions which don't come in sheet anyway. Even some color neg films have gotten appreciably better unless things are hot
and humid. So waiting even six months wouldn't worry me, and I'm damn nitpicky about how things actually print, though whenever possible I do follow wildbill's advice and try to do it promptly. A completely different question would be the suitability of the holder itself as a long term receptacle. If its a wooden thing with varnish, or contains any vinyl with potential plasticizers, I wouldn't want any outgassing onto the emulsion. All my own 4x5 and 8x10 holders are modern Fidelty and Lisco types, so I've never had a contamination issue.

gone · Jan 28, 2016

If you're talking about just keeping it in there until you get to it, I don't see any problems. I'm sure you're not talking about long term storage. I hesitate to say how long I have left exposed film in the metal 35mm containers because I forgot about them, but I never saw any problems w/ the images. Still, the risk is that you'll accidentally pull the dark slide out to ck for something more than anything, so mark it very well that there's exposed film in there, and put a stout rubber band or tape on it to keep from accidentally doing just that. It could turn into just one more thing to go wrong, which is why most people set up a routine on things like this.

I never had many film holders when I shot LF, so this never came up. I had to develop what I had because of needing the film holders for new shots.

Gerry M · Jan 28, 2016

I am thinking about relatively short term storage, maybe about one or two months. I would like to unload exposed and load fresh when I am set up to develop. I have to use the 2nd bath as a darkroom.
Thanks for all your input.

Gerry

Maris · Jan 28, 2016

Past Imperfect #1

Gelatin-silver photograph on Ultrafine Silver Eagle VC FB photographic paper, image size 21.3cm X 16.4cm, from a 4x5 Tri-X Pan Professional negative exposed in a Tachihara 45GF double extension field view camera fitted with a 150mm f4 Wollaston Meniscus soft-focus lens and a #25 red filter.

A photographer friend died after a long long illness and some of his equipment passed into my hands. There were many film holders that he had loaded with Tri-X 15 years previously but could not expose. The film had corroded and fogged (pepper fog?) through the passage of time. Anyway I took the holders to those places we had walked with our cameras in the past and made some "memorial" exposures.

Every film (scores of them) that had spent a long time in a holder had similar severe damage. Film from the same Tri-X batch that hadn't been loaded out was perfect except for a negligible increase in base fog. Conclusion: film holders are a bad place to store film!

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 28, 2016

I store my 4x5 film holders loaded and placed in Playmate coolers in a cool dry place. Works for me.

Gerry M · Jan 28, 2016

Store in coolers: Great idea!

Sirius Glass · Jan 28, 2016

Gerry M said:
Store in coolers: Great idea!

What about sealed in Zip-Lok bags and stored in the refrigerator?

DREW WILEY · Jan 28, 2016

That would be more of a gamble with condensation than with the timing. You'd need to air-evac the bags and actually heat seal them, with
something like a home freeze-dry bagger. Zip Locs aren't secure enough. Like I already stated, I'm not aware of any popular black and white films with a pressing issue other than Pan F, and even it can wait a couple of weeks at least. I recently developed some accidentally overlooked 8x10 ACROS that was exposed five years ago, placed in a film box, and then into the develop right along with a shot on the same kind of film taken just the day before. I couldn't tell the difference, even on the margins. Not even any fbf fogging. But not all films are the same, so don't take that as a norm. High speed films go bad just through cosmic ray sensitivity. Even unexposed in a freezer they go bad prematurely, at least in the relative sense, compared to slower films.

jwd722 · Jan 28, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
What about sealed in Zip-Lok bags and stored in the refrigerator?

I would worry about condensation from cold plastic and metal causing problems.
The cooler sounds about right, plus it can be used immediately and not have to wait for it to reach room temperature.

My loaded holders are in a zipped camera bag in a cool room...as are all of my rooms in my house! (very old house, pathetic insulation)

Wayne · Jan 28, 2016

I left color and B&W and color negative film in holders and film backs at room temp from March to October-November last year. I'm not recommending it as frequent practice but in my case I saw no harm come of it.

Sirius Glass · Jan 28, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
What about sealed in Zip-Lok bags and stored in the refrigerator?

Gerry M said:
Store in coolers: Great idea!

jwd722 said:
I would worry about condensation from cold plastic and metal causing problems. ...

The Zip-Lok bags have the excess are pushed out and the relative humidity is low, so there will not be condensation problems in the refrigerator. The bags are removed from the refrigerator and given plenty of it to come to ambient temperature, , so there will not be condensation problems. I have not had any condensation problems in over ten years, and I am not scheduled to have any in the future as long as I follow the process.

removed account4 · Jan 28, 2016

just put the exposed film/holders someplace cool dark and dry
old film box ? just put some masking tape on the outside say EXPOSED
and offload your film in there until you get a chace to develop it
or leave in your film holders ( in a paper box to keep it out of the light if that worries you )
i found film in a holder i exposed 5 years before and processed it with another batch i processed,
and it came out fine .. as long as there is no moisture excessive heat or light you will be fine.

Neal · Jan 29, 2016

Dear Gerry,

Warning! Anecdotal evidence at best.

I keep a variety of film loaded in holders in my 4x5 bag. Last week I exposed and developed 4 sheets of HP5+ that were sitting in my camera bag for at least 2 years. For some reason I can't come up with a proper sentence describing why the film sat so long but the reason is irrelevant. The result is that the 4 sheets were not fogged nor did they display any physical degradation.

Good luck but try not to do the same thing.<g>

Neal Wydra

p.s. I seldom let sheet film sit undeveloped for more than a week.

Doc W · Jan 29, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
What about sealed in Zip-Lok bags and stored in the refrigerator?

This works great but there is a tipping point: when the volume of film holders is greater than half the food capacity of the fridge. The wife gets annoyed.

While on the subject, I have been able to find Zip-Lok bags for all sizes except 8x10. At that point, I have to switch to the other type of bag (with the coloured stripes on the seal. Not as convenient as the zip kind). Are there any sources for larger zip bags without going absolutely huge?

DREW WILEY · Jan 29, 2016

Le me repeat: Zip Loc bags do NOT keep moisture out in any ideal sense for very long at all. Every chef knows that. How long does it take leftovers to get rank anyway? What you can do is take your drymount tacking iron and truly seal that polyethylene bag with a strip of heat welding, melting the two sides together with a moderate heat setting. Or go buy a home freeze dry system that has a hot tacking bar and air evac device with it. It also depends on your climate and the humidity of the air you seal inside. My own practice is simply to never re-freeze film once its package is opened. Certain brands of film like Kodak comes in sealed foil packs or bags. I supplement these with two layers of tightly knotted plastic bags. There is tons of literature on this subject as well as dedicated sources of supply for museums etc. I even have a big roll left on hand of a special aluminum/polyethylene ply capable of being heat sealed as a true hermetic packaging. But this went along with a big dessication chamber complete with vac pump to establish a specific humidity in advance - more for sealing big prints rather than film, but you get the idea. Argue if you must, but you're doing so either from ignorance or dumb luck, no according to
very well known practices by those who professionally count on it.

Jim Jones · Jan 31, 2016

Consider the storage environment. The mold in my ancient home loves film left in film holders. Other potential problems have been discussed above.

Doremus Scudder · Feb 1, 2016

Mold will get into opened film boxes as well...

FWIW, I load 50 holders at a time and keep the film in them till used. Sometimes this is a month, sometimes several; up to one year or a bit more at times. I keep the loaded holders in ZipLoc bags and in a cooler along with a couple desiccant packs (I recharge or replace the packs regularly).

I've never had a problem with film stored this way.

Best,

Doremus

Storing 4x5 film in film holder

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency