The expense of shooting film

[Sirius Glass]

Cosmic rays are not the only type of ionizing radiation that fog film and aren't slowed by low storage temperature. Steve lives in Los Angeles, which is generally built upon soil that doesn't have much rock. Those who reside where the subsurface geology includes a lot of granite, or whose homes suffer from radon gas (a bigger problem than the one it presents to their film) will likely have a different experience.

Good point. I will not take that for Granite!

 

[Roger Cole]

Cosmic rays are not the only type of ionizing radiation that fog film and aren't slowed by low storage temperature. Steve lives in Los Angeles, which is generally built upon soil that doesn't have much rock. Those who reside where the subsurface geology includes a lot of granite, or whose homes suffer from radon gas (a bigger problem than the one it presents to their film), will likely have a different experience.

Yeah, good point. I had my house tested for Radon when I bought it (2005) with negative results. Don't know about granite.

 

[xkaes]

I consider anything I bought and froze with dates from 1980 and forward more-or-less new ...

That's my experience as well, but let's not forget about the "middle-of-the-road" situation. "Cold stored" (and that, just like "frozen", can vary) makes a difference too.

I've never frozen my paper, but I keep it cold.

 

[koraks]

granite, or whose homes suffer from radon gas

In granite, trace amount of uranium can be a concern. How significant of a concern would be a nice paper napkin exercise. Other than that, granite will radiate (if it does, at all) in the form of β- at 1.3MeV as a result of potassium-40 decay. The metal canister of a 35mm roll will effectively block it. The remainder will be mostly (again, if at all) radon. Radon emits α radiation, which is effectively blocked by e.g. a sheet of paper. Seems to be they're quite insignificant threats compared to cosmic radiation.

I think there's was back in the 1960s an educational case study that involved 'mysterious' fogging of film at Kodak. Students were supposed to show their analytical skill by tracing the origin of the problem, which turned out to be long-term storage of stock inside a granite cave. I don't know to what extent it was a realistic case. It was apparently sold as such to the students. Well, even if there was a little stretch of the imagination involved - never let reality get in the way of a good story.

 

[Arthurwg]

Stop buying Ilford and buy Fomabrom Variant 111 VC FB. Cheaper and better in every way than the Ilford paper. I like Ilford's products for the most part, but their papers are not great.

Good advice. I'll try it.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

In granite, trace amount of uranium can be a concern. How significant of a concern would be a nice paper napkin exercise. Other than that, granite will radiate (if it does, at all) in the form of β- at 1.3MeV as a result of potassium-40 decay. The metal canister of a 35mm roll will effectively block it. The remainder will be mostly (again, if at all) radon. Radon emits α radiation, which is effectively blocked by e.g. a sheet of paper. Seems to be they're quite insignificant threats compared to cosmic radiation.

I think there's was back in the 1960s an educational case study that involved 'mysterious' fogging of film at Kodak. Students were supposed to show their analytical skill by tracing the origin of the problem, which turned out to be long-term storage of stock inside a granite cave. I don't know to what extent it was a realistic case. It was apparently sold as such to the students. Well, even if there was a little stretch of the imagination involved - never let reality get in the way of a good story.

Kodak in Rochester New York figured out that nuclear bombs in America's southwest cause radiation to drift over the US to fog their film. It was hushed up.

When Kodak Accidentally Discovered A-Bomb Testing

Two thousand miles away from the U.S. A-bomb tests in 1945, something weird was happening to Kodak's film.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[chuckroast]

Kodak in Rochester New York figured out that nuclear bombs in America's southwest cause radiation to drift over the US to fog their film. It was hushed up.

When Kodak Accidentally Discovered A-Bomb Testing

Two thousand miles away from the U.S. A-bomb tests in 1945, something weird was happening to Kodak's film.

www.popularmechanics.com

The way I heard it was that it got into the food supply of cows whose body parts were being used to make the gelatin for films.

Maybe I just herd it ...

 

[CMoore]

Humppp . . . I am not good enough to quote?!?

Sorry.
I had forgotten how sensitive you are.

 

[chuckroast]

That's my experience as well, but let's not forget about the "middle-of-the-road" situation. "Cold stored" (and that, just like "frozen", can vary) makes a difference too.

I've never frozen my paper, but I keep it cold.

I freeze my paper, but it's never given me better cold tones ...

 

[Arthurwg]

Kodak in Rochester New York figured out that nuclear bombs in America's southwest cause radiation to drift over the US to fog their film. It was hushed up.

When Kodak Accidentally Discovered A-Bomb Testing

Two thousand miles away from the U.S. A-bomb tests in 1945, something weird was happening to Kodak's film.

www.popularmechanics.com

Radiation drifted from the Southwest to the Northeast in the 1950s, causing thousands of thyroid cancers, but that was hushed up as well.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The way I heard it was that it got into the food supply of cows whose body parts were being used to make the gelatin for films.

Maybe I just herd it ...

"The legacy from above-ground testing involves not only Pu but also other radionuclides such as cesium-137 (137Cs), strontium-90 (90Sr), tritium (3H), and carbon-14 (14C)."

Plutonium from Above-Ground Nuclear Tests in Milk Teeth: Investigation of Placental Transfer in Children Born between 1951 and 1995 in Switzerland​

Plutonium from Above-Ground Nuclear Tests in Milk Teeth: Investigation of Placental Transfer in Children Born between 1951 and 1995 in Switzerland

Occupational risks, the present nuclear threat, and the potential danger associated with nuclear power have raised concerns regarding the metabolism of plutonium in pregnant women.We measured plutonium levels in the milk teeth of children born between ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[pbromaghin]

The way I heard it was that it got into the food supply of cows whose body parts were being used to make the gelatin for films.

Maybe I just herd it ...

You’re confusing it with another problem they had with Argentinian cows eating a certain weed that messed up the gelatin used in emulsions. I believe they remedied that one by controlling the ranches they bought from.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The way I heard it was that it got into the food supply of cows whose body parts were being used to make the gelatin for films.

Maybe I just herd it ...

Well, I would expect a guy with the name of chuckroast would have herd it.

 

[George Mann]

Yes, absolutely. Virtually all of them are made from digital files, so there's no advantage to film in that area.

But images shot on film still yield a different look regardless, just as scans of film do. When done right, it looks better to my eyes.

 

[George Mann]

My Digi of choice is a Nikon D300s

Yes, I have one as well, although I prefer the greater resolution and color accuracy of my D2x (but not lugging it around).