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Micah Marty
27-Dec-2001, 10:52
I'm asking a question rather than making a statement because I'm not sure if my experience is an anomaly.

Last December while shooting outside in cold, dry weather (0 to 10 degrees Fahre nheit) I experienced at least a 50% failure rate with Fuji Quickloads (Provia F) . The film sheet would separate from the internal septum once the "dark slide" h ad been pulled, and the resulting separation prevented the dark slide from being reinserted (after the exposure was made), thereby ruining the shot. I've had no such problems in warmer weather with the same stock of film, but this week when the temperature dipped near 0 it happened again. The glue holding the sheet of film to the septum seemed to simply crack from the cold.

The film in question was from my stock of 40 or 50 boxes of Quickloads, pulled f rom two different emulsion batches bought at two different dealers (but in the s ame month; perhaps it was a bad month for the glue guys at Fujifilm?). I have no t had the opportunity to try a newer emulsion batch because I still have a lot o f the old stuff left. I did not try returning the film to the dealers because of stringent film return policies, significant elapsed time since purchase (though the film is not expired), and my uncertainty about which film I'd bought at whi ch dealer (yes, I know, I should have recorded the emulsion batch number on the receipt, but how many of us do that?).

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar failures in similarly cold weather. If not, I'll assume I simply got a bad batch and save the film to use i n spring.

Thanks to all, with the blessings of the season....

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Ted Harris
27-Dec-2001, 15:25
Just a quick comment that I have not had any similar experiences and I frequentlyuse Quickloads in very cold weather. I do attempt to keep them somewhat warm in a coat pocket until I am ready to use them but other than that no special care.

If it doesn;t happen to you again I'd go with just bad luck. the only time I had one after another fail I called Fuji rather than the dealer and they sent me a new box. Worth a call in this instance.

Bill Jefferson
27-Dec-2001, 19:49
Dan & Micah, In response to both of you, the Polaroid Procrome E-6 film was perforated on both ends of the sheet, same as the T-55, The Fugi, is not perforated, What was experienced on the fugi was a shrinkage of the adhesive that held the trailer and leader to the film. I've seen similar on the T-55 shot in winter around -20 degs. As for the Polaroid Procrome separation, I cant remember what happened with that film problem, as the product was run on the machine that i ran at that time. Sorry, senior moment.

Bill