Storing Bulk Film

I have been shooting for some time but only recently started loading my own cartridges. Storing brand new 100' rolls is no big deal as I just throw them in the freezer. My question is about partly used rolls. I currently have Pan F 50 and Delta 100 that I would like to load a few cartridges up with of each. I will not be able to load all 100' of each into cartridges as I do not have enough to do that so I will have to pull a roll, defrost, load into my loader (Lloyds), roll about 6- 7, and then __________ with the remainder.

Help me fill in that ____________. Pull the, let us say Pan F, out of the loader, place it back into the light proof plastic sleeve it shopped in and then back into the box and place the box into the freezer? What do you all do? I have enough cartridges to load a full 100' of film but do not really want to do that.

Thanks

i would say it depends upon how long it will take you to finish the bulk roll. if you think you can shoot all the rolls within 2 years or so, just leave them at room temp. I have 1 bulk roll that has been at room temp for 2+ years and shoots fine. the exp date was last month, so Im not worried. if you bought expired film, than you can keep it in the fridge.

while Im not sure of if its bad for the film or not, I have always disliked taking film in and out of the freezer a lot. I just feel it cant be good for the film.

john

FWIW - While PanF+ has a reputation for a short latent image life, I've found that the film is extremely stable and resistant to change in various forms of storage. Through some carelessness of mine and sporadic use of PanF+, I've had a number of episodes that have proven this out. I was paranoid of some quite old bulk PanF+ and did some side by side testing with new stock and the densities (tested) were indistinguishable. Can't help on the D100 as I have had limited experience (but basically good experience) with it. The loaders are so inexpensive (used), that you might consider owning a few and simply bagging them up for the freezer.

destroya said:

i would say it depends upon how long it will take you to finish the bulk roll. if you think you can shoot all the rolls within 2 years or so, just leave them at room temp. I have 1 bulk roll that has been at room temp for 2+ years and shoots fine. the exp date was last month, so Im not worried. if you bought expired film, than you can keep it in the fridge.

while Im not sure of if its bad for the film or not, I have always disliked taking film in and out of the freezer a lot. I just feel it cant be good for the film.

john

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That feeling of pulling film in, defrosting, and then refreezing also does not work for me.

The idea of just having a couple of loaders is appealing. I just do not want feet of film going bad. I like rolling and choosing how much goes in each roll so bulk loading cuts the cost and gives me that flexibility.

I refreeze rolls, You need to avoid moisture, so I let the canned roll sit for a long time to thoroughly come up to room temperature before opening it. Take what I need from the roll and then wrap it up in the plastic and then run a strip of plastic tape all around the can lid then back in the freezer. The only time I had a problem was when I was in a hurry and opened the can too soon and condensation got in.

there's nothing intrinsically wrong with thawing and refreezing rolls as long as you keep moisture to a minimum as mentioned above.

However my solution is to pick up extra bulk loaders when they go cheap on eBay. I've now got four, and paid no more than £18 for any of them...and that came with 90 feet of Tri-X in it!
One has Fomapan 100, one Fomapan 200 and a third Ilford HP5+ . The fourth is currently empty.

craigclu said:

Can't help on the D100 as I have had limited experience (but basically good experience) with it.

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When I bought my enlarger, it came with the guys entire darkroom including a bulk film loader that turned out to have Delta 100 in it. From what I could tell it it was loaded in 1998 or so. It had been stored for at least 10 year, probably longer in a shed in Southern Ner Mexico where the outside temperature frequently topped 100F, and enclosed places like the shed could easily get to 130 or 140 inside.

I was able to get pretty good result shooting it EI 25. So two stops in 20 years with bad storage conditions. I don’t worry about storing my new bulk rolls outside a refrigerator. As long as I finish the rolls in a few years, I’m good. (However we don’t really have humidity around here.)

I think I might go the loader route. Mine currently has about one rolls worth of Ultrafine Extreme 400 in it and then it is empty. I will roll that one tomorrow and then load up the D100. I will keep an eye on eBay for some used ones and load them with other film. Where do you store your loaders? Fridge? Closet? Freezer? Back of that drawer full of random stuff no one knows the origins of?

I keep a couple of loaders around as well and just stow them away in a drawer or on a shelf. As long as I get through its contents within a year or so, I don't worry about it.

High heat and large temperature changes are the problem.
I keep the current bulk film roll at room temperature.
The backup, not yet opened bulk rolls are either in the freezer or the fridge.

on the movie side, I have seen a couple of makers recommend NOT refreezing film, and or recommending not freezing film that has been opened. Humidity can form Ice Crystals and cause physical damage to the emulsion. if re-closing I would put the entire package in a Zipper style freezer bag and just keep it in the fridge.

Great tips. Thank you so much. I can work through the lengths I have within a year or so so keeping it in the loader at a controlled room temp seems to be the best option.