Storing exposed unprocessed film

mtjade2007 · May 22, 2021

Joseph Bell said:
Many thanks for all your help! It sounds like the upshot is this: store your film at room temperature and move to California!

If you are planning to move, welcome to California. Prepare to pay all your life savings for housing though.

foc · May 23, 2021

Amateur market film is very robust so unless you have extremes of temperature, just store it in a drawer and process it when you get a chance.
If not processed for a few months, it won't matter. It only matters if left for a few years. Unexposed film keeps better that one with a latent image on it.

haruharu · May 29, 2021

Don Heisz said:
Kodak's recommendation is keep it in the canister at room temperature. Refrigerating film slows down the aging of the emulsion - it doesn't have any impact of the image already on the film. Plus, as Matt said, moisture is a significant danger.

Im plannng a trip to asia next summer. When traveling do you have any tips? The hostels get so humid the luggage can condensate and grow mould. Should i purchase a portable dessicator?

Don_ih · May 30, 2021

haruharu said:
Im plannng a trip to asia next summer. When traveling do you have any tips? The hostels get so humid the luggage can condensate and grow mould. Should i purchase a portable dessicator?

If you use film that comes in plastic film containers, that should be good enough. Not much room for additional air in there and, if you're still worried, you could bring a roll of electrical tape and seal the cap onto the container. Luggage and clothing will get mouldy because the humid air permeates the material, condenses, then more humidity condenses on that, keeping everything moist. Film sealed in closed plastic will only have whatever humid air it carried in - probably not a significant amount.

haruharu · May 30, 2021

Don Heisz said:
If you use film that comes in plastic film containers, that should be good enough. Not much room for additional air in there and, if you're still worried, you could bring a roll of electrical tape and seal the cap onto the container. Luggage and clothing will get mouldy because the humid air permeates the material, condenses, then more humidity condenses on that, keeping everything moist. Film sealed in closed plastic will only have whatever humid air it carried in - probably not a significant amount.

Im planning on shooting 120 film. Are there canisters i can buy to fit them? To my knowledge they come wrapped. Thanks for your help

Alan Edward Klein · May 30, 2021

haruharu said:
Im planning on shooting 120 film. Are there canisters i can buy to fit them? To my knowledge they come wrapped. Thanks for your help

Ziplock bags. Sandwich size. Squeeze the air out of them and seal with one or two 120 rolls per bag. You could throw in a desssicant bag (see link) but that might be overkill and I wonder about the desiccant powder getting onto the film. Maybe someone else has information on that?
100 Packets 2 Gram Silica Gel Desiccant Pack Moisture Absorber Dehumidifier: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

Don_ih · May 30, 2021

haruharu said:
Im planning on shooting 120 film. Are there canisters i can buy to fit them? To my knowledge they come wrapped. Thanks for your help

There are - but they're not common. Doing what @Alan Edward Klein said, above, should be perfectly good.

Bill Burk · May 30, 2021

Don Heisz said:
Unless room temperature starts to rival car-with-windows-up-in-Costco-parking-lot-in-July temperatures. Feels like that may happen, today.

Absolutely! A cool dark dry place! The car glove compartment is my idea of the wrong place for film, but I have to admit my exposed film “cabinet” can get to 100 in the summer. I must move it somewhere inside.

RalphLambrecht · May 30, 2021

Joseph Bell said:
Hello! For how long are you willing to store your exposed unprocessed 35mm and/or 120 C41 film prior to processing? If you are in a situation where it will be impossible to process the film for a month or two, is it best to store the film in their original canisters in the fridge? I hope you won't mind this question. I am most grateful for your time, experience, erudition, etc!

sincere thanks
Joseph

cool,dry and dark but not frozen

MattKing · May 30, 2021

haruharu said:
Im planning on shooting 120 film. Are there canisters i can buy to fit them? To my knowledge they come wrapped. Thanks for your help

I have and use some of those cannisters, but they are better at protecting film from physical damage than humidity, because when you put the film into them, you are putting air in there too, which can mean putting humid air in.

Agulliver · Jun 1, 2021

I do live in a temperate climate (UK) and only lived stateside for 19 months....but I've never worried about exposed film for a couple of months. Occasionally one finds an old roll that has fallen behind the sofa or got lost in a drawer. Sometimes years old. Or occasionally life gets in the way (moving to/from the USA for example). It never seems to be an issue for a small number of months. The main thing I try to do is not leave any unprocessed film (exposed or otherwise) in the car for longer than a few days in sunny weather.

Humidity can certainly be a problem, especially for any film with backing paper, in which case sandwich bags and silica gel would be perfect in the tropics.

Don_ih · Jun 1, 2021

Bill Burk said:
Absolutely! A cool dark dry place! The car glove compartment is my idea of the wrong place for film, but I have to admit my exposed film “cabinet” can get to 100 in the summer. I must move it somewhere inside.

View attachment 275980

Is your film cabinet a pie safe?

I left a roll in a camera in my van for the entire summer before last. When I finally developed it, the emulsion had turned into a dried mudflat. It gave an interesting and terrible texture.

Disconnekt · Jun 5, 2021

I just put 6rolls of E6 film I shot last week in a plastic bag, rolled as much air I could out of it, closed it & put it in my freezer. I have another bag of unshot E6 film I havent shot yet in their too (did the same eith that bag), so once I finish these other rolls I plan to send em out to get processed all at once.

Storing exposed unprocessed film

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