What Size Is Your Freezer?

[Michael_4514]

Finally decided to join the ranks of the doomsday preparer crowd and buy a freezer and start accumulating a lifetime supply of (about 30 years worth in my case) of film. Just curious to know what size freezers people are using.

[rdenney]

Mine is a small chest, about 32" wide, 24" deep, and maybe 3 feet tall. This is usually the smallest size available at a store. $150 is typical for a new one.

Mine would not be big enough if I was storing enlarging paper (or ULF film) but it is abundant for the roll film and 4x5 that I have in it.

Rick "whose wife put a turkey in it, now ruined (but again frozen) after our extended power outage" Denney

[Kimberly Anderson]

I have two. Filled with beef, pork and chicken. Also have a shelf devoted just to film from 12x20 on down...

[David A. Goldfarb]

3.6 cu ft. Mine (Summit FC-40) is discontinued, but the replacement model is this one (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046ZWNXW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=davagol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0046ZWNXW). I've been very pleased with it. I haven't measured the temperature, but it turns vodka into a slush, so it's colder than the freezer attached to the fridge. It's manual defrosting, so no warming/cooling cycles, and it's big enough for my 11x14" and 7x17" film and has a convenient basket for rollfilm and Super-8. It hasn't made a noticeable impact on our electric bill either.

[Bill_1856]

I don't know how big my freezer is -- there's so much film (from Minox to Whole Plate) in it that I can't measure it.

[Kodachrome25]

About 10 cu. feet, of freezer, 15 cu. feet of fridge, almost completely full, 400 rolls of 35mm, 2,000+ of 120, 1,500 sheets of 4x5 and growing, paper, loaded film backs and 4x5 holders in ziploc bags, etc...

[Dennis]

I would just be sure to get an upright freezer with shelves. I used to have one but the compressor went out so next I bought a chest freezer which is great and sub zero but a royal PIA to get something from the bottom. You have to unload the whole damn thing.

[SamReeves]

Small. I have a couple boxes of paper, and several boxes of film. Stashed amongst the TV dinners, ice cream, and bread.

[Jim Cole]

I have a 5 cu ft GE chest that's about 1/3 full of 4x5 and 8x10 film. My wife kicked me out of the kitchen freezer about 3 years ago. I like the idea of the chest freezer being opened waaaay less than the one in the kitchen. It lives in my home office and it seems to be happy there.

[Lenny Eiger]

Are you also getting 30 years of developer? (I figure if film goes, so will prepared developers, Metol powder, etc.)

Lenny

[Steve Goldstein]

20 cu. ft. upright. I get half, my wife gets the other half. And my half is already pretty much full. :) :(

[sanking]

Are you also getting 30 years of developer? (I figure if film goes, so will prepared developers, Metol powder, etc.)

Lenny

Why worry about that? There are many excellent formulas that one can easily mix. Most of the chemicals are used for other purposes so I doubt they will disappear.

On the other hand, I am going to use up my remaining supply of film, primarily 120 and 5X7 B&W, in a timely manner. Saving it for thirty years is not a good option at age 68 and counting.

BTW, I just made a seriously nice 12X16" Piezography K7 print on Photo Rag 308 from an IR converted Lumix G3 16mp micro four-thirds camera. Image capture was made during my recent trip to China somewhere near Inner Mongolia. No, quality is not 5X7 or 8X10, but then I could never have been in that place to capture the image with a large film camera.

Sandy

[mdm]

Those K7 inks make nice prints. I expect the same of Eboni 6 for less too.

Its dumb to stockpile b&w film in standard sizes, it just brings forward the demise of Kodak etc. Useing lots of it and ordering regularly is the best way to preserve a supply.

[Heroique]

Me, I started w/ a tiny freezer.

But w/ every trip to the field, and every announcement of one less film, my tiny freezer grows bigger & bigger & bigger...

My freezer is gigantic at this point, and keeps growing. :D

[Michael_4514]

You know, that's pretty much been my feeling on the subject, but it's color film I'm worried about.

[jvo]

I have a 5 cu ft GE chest that's about 1/3 full of 4x5 and 8x10 film. My wife kicked me out of the kitchen freezer about 3 years ago. I like the idea of the chest freezer being opened waaaay less than the one in the kitchen. It lives in my home office and it seems to be happy there.

real photographers don't need their wife's permission to use the kitchen freezer, right guys!

(p.s. i'm sleeping on the couch tonight)

[jp]

We use the freezer for the same reason wives use a freezer; to buy stuff when the price is right, not when you need it.

Holiday 7 cu ft Chest Freezer, about $200 at lowes. I've got two of them. Very efficient electrically. One just for food, this one for film and treats. I made a wooden daggerboard to separate the film from the food. If not for money constraints, I'd have a whole freezer full of film. When we get low on food, we'll move everything to one freezer and defrost if needed. Or if one freezer dies, (and we catch it), we can transfer food and not have as much spoilage.

http://jason.philbrook.us/~jp/scans/2012/IMG_20120106_211537.jpg

[Rick A]

I have a 14cuft chest freezer loaded with film and enlarging paper, and an under counter fridge full of film. The food lives in my side by side in the kitchen.

[EOTS]

Got a designated film freezer last month, 2 meters (= 6.56 feet) vertical, 60 cm (= 2 feet) deep, 60 cm horizontal ...

[marfa boomboom tx]

Just curious to know what size freezers people are using.

GE 5.0 cu. ft. // about $30 year to run

It holds about 3 years of film and paper. My wife is also a shooter, in fact she runs all our film; mixes the chemicals, AND cleans the darkroom towels...

We are getting it a bigger brother.

We also have a small (one tub) working box of rolls in the regular Samsung fridge-feeezer.. nothing in that freezer but frozen veg.


marfa -- where the dogs hunt drugs, and the border patrol is thirty miles from the border. guess they're lost?

[Michael Jones]

I bought a Kenmore 17 cubic foot upright found at the Sear scratch & dent outlet store last week. The biggest space waster is 20x24 paper. It stresses the shelves and blocks the air flow. But for that, you can cram nearly a lifetime of 8x10 and smaller paper & sheet film in it. I'm sure I'll either find a more efficient way of loading it (I can't use the door trays except for roll film because they hit the edge of the boxes on shelves) or I’ll just burn though the big paper....

Mike