Film in freezer

[pkr1979]

Hi all,

When storing film in freezer, is there any consideration to take when taking it in and out? Might sound like a weird question, but Im not using as much film as I used to (I stored it in the freezer only until I opened the box). Now Id like to take out a couple of sheets and put it back into the freezer... might one expect any issues doing this? Is there a wrong/right way to do this?

Cheers
Peter

[Peter Lewin]

I have done this seemingly forever. I keep boxed sheet film in the freezer, with the box inside a ziplock bag. Take the bagged film out, let it come to room temperature inside the ziplock. Take the box into my darkroom, load holders, put the box back inside the ziplock, and then the ziplock back into the freezer.

[Drew Wiley]

I never re-freeze film once it's thawed and the original packaging unsealed. Moisture can be sealed back inside too unless you are careful. I'm not in a dry climate, so bought a little freeze-dry kitchen system which extracts air at the same time it heat seals the end of the special poly bag. I never actually used it except once; but in principle, these should work great, and I think I only paid around $90 for mine, including plenty of extra bags. Most 50-sheet film boxes have two sealed bags inside of 25 sheets apiece, and now Kodak offers 10-sheet-only boxes for better or worse of certain films. Ziploks by themselves are not trustworthy. I'd rather double bag and knot tie two plastic grocery bags, or take a drymount tacking iron to the Ziplok ones for sake of a true permanent seal. There were also specially designed laminates of aluminum foil and polyethylene designed to be heat sealed for serious archival use; but that's probably overkill for the present discussion.

[Alan9940]

I've done the same as Peter for 40 years without issue.

[koraks]

I'm with Drew on this. Unopened film goes in the fridge (not freezer in my case), and opened bags stay at room temperature. Refreezing opened bags should be ok in theory as long as there is absolutely no moisture allowed into the bag before refreezing. Since this is extremely hard to accomplish reliably, I don't take any bets on it.

[Tin Can]

Ditto

Fridge then stay out






I'm with Drew on this. Unopened film goes in the fridge (not freezer in my case), and opened bags stay at room temperature. Refreezing opened bags should be ok in theory as long as there is absolutely no moisture allowed into the bag before refreezing. Since this is extremely hard to accomplish reliably, I don't take any bets on it.

[Alan Klein]

ANyone use desiccant in a sealed bag when they refreeze?

[Alan9940]

ANyone use desiccant in a sealed bag when they refreeze?

I don't.

[nbagno]

In and out of the freezer . No issues.


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[Peter Lewin]

ANyone use desiccant in a sealed bag when they refreeze?
Never have. And like Alan9940, I’ve been doing the ziplock and freezer thing for 40 years without ever having a problem.

[Kevin Crisp]

I'm with Peter on this. Has worked fine for me for many years. Once I open a box it tends to spend time in the fridge (at about 38F) but it is in a sealed bag and I let it get up to room temperature before opening it. I also keep loaded film holders in the fridge, each in a sealed bag, and have never had an issue. I just don't open any bag before everything is at room temperature.

[maltfalc]

the two big problems are warm moist air cooling and causing condensation when in contact with cold film fresh out of the freezer or when trapped in the film's packaging and placed back in the freezer. get yourself a vacuum sealer and divide your film up into smaller sealed batches that you only have to freeze once.

[pkr1979]

Thanks for the feedback everyone - much appreciated :-)

[Drew Wiley]

I once had a huge desiccation chamber for a different purpose. It sometimes doubled for this kind of application, but BIG expensive graphics film to the freezer, and not this kind of ordinary thing. But never say, "never had a problem", as if your own customs were a law of the universe. For everyone of those kinds of statements, somebody else will have a horror story to tell, especially if they're a conservator or restorationist, or live in a significantly different climate. What is ubiquitously agreed upon is that when you take your film out of the freezer, give it ample time to adjust to ambient air temperature before unwrapping it.