What's worth freezing?

Hi,

I'm in Australia, and we're now heading towards summer. Our house is hot at the best of time, so I'd like to make sure that our film & paper & chemicals aren't going to be adversely affected by the imminent heat.

Currently, we have a bunch of film in various formats in the refrigerator, and paper plus chemicals in a cupboard. Given that we have lots of free space in our freezer, I'm probably going to move the film to the freezer. But that's got me thinking about the other things; should I also store paper in the fridge, or even the freezer? And what of chemicals? (Although I presume that freezing liquid chemicals wouldn't be wise!)

Thanks.

IMO, first priority should go to color film. Second, color paper. Then, black and white films over ASA 100/125. If any room is left, put the medium and slow b/w films in. Last priority for me would be black and white papers, as they are not terribly sensitive to heat, and are largely workable even if fogged significantly. Chemicals need not be stored in the cold.

I have a dedicated fridge/freezer for photo stuff, so I keep all of the above chilled. The freezer is filled with color film and paper. Everything else goes in the fridge, which I keep at 40 - 50 F.

I suggest wrapping boxed items (i.e. paper and sheet film) in plastic to help you out in the event of condensation drips, which have occurred in my fridge from time to time, though thankfully not with catastrophic results.

I would not bother to put any of it in the freezer - unless you can control the freezer temp at something closer to the nominal temp in the fridge (in other words, make the freezer into a big fridge). The perceived benefit of freezer storage over the fridge seems miniscule - if there is any all all. It seems that there may also be significant additional risks associated with the freezer that are not present with the fridge. Finally, the freezer is much less convenient.

Thanks for the advice.

Sounds like it's most important in the case of colour film/paper and faster B&W films, and less so with the others. In that case I'll probably just move the colour film into the freezer and leave everything else where it is. Even if the benefits of freezing are overstated, at least I've got more space there! Maybe it's time for a bigger fridge...

I put all the film that is unopened in the freezer. If it has been opened, it goes into a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Paper, I keep in the refrigerator.

I have had no problems with keeping film in the refrigerator for ten years. Longer than that will probably be good for black & white, while color film depends on the type. I have not kept film more than 10 years.

I kept the unopened HIE in the freezer. Once I loaded the camera with HIE, between uses, I put the camera with HIE in a sealed up plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator.

When taking film, paper or even cameras out of cold storage, allow them to come to temperature before opening the packaging so that condensation is avoided.

Steve

but brad ...

those dang cosmic rays !

i agree with you,
most if not all of my film
is on a shelf in the basement ..
some of it is 20 years old and then some ...

the trick is, buy what you need
and then buy again ...
you might pay when prices increase
but you won't have to deal with "the worry"


have fun
john

cluttered said:

Hi,

I'm in Australia, and we're now heading towards summer. Our house is hot at the best of time, so I'd like to make sure that our film & paper & chemicals aren't going to be adversely affected by the imminent heat.

Currently, we have a bunch of film in various formats in the refrigerator, and paper plus chemicals in a cupboard. Given that we have lots of free space in our freezer, I'm probably going to move the film to the freezer. But that's got me thinking about the other things; should I also store paper in the fridge, or even the freezer? And what of chemicals? (Although I presume that freezing liquid chemicals wouldn't be wise!)

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I think you have the bases covered with your current setup. You have no worries about the paper and chemicals.

What exactly are the risks with the freezer? The warmup period is slower, true (which is trivial if you can plan ahead slightly)... but the arresting of the aging of the emulsion is a lot more effective.

When it comes to film, cool is good, cold is better. I know there is a temperature at which you get diminishing and indeed probably reversing returns, but it's nowhere near the -18 C that my chest freezer is at.

The fuller a freezer is, the more efficient it is.

I stock pile what I can afford in discontinued films that I buy fresh when they are discontinued. The rest is current films with a large enough reserve for what I will need for the next month or two.

Steve