Freezing film questions.

[Gene McCluney]

Sheet films such as Kodak and the defunct Forte came in sealed foil pouches inside the film boxes. I always assumed no further "protection" was needed for these. However, other brands of film, such as the Foma (brand) films I use now quite often, just come in a plastic pouch that is not sealed, just folded and taped. I would think that additional protection from dehydration would be needed if one were going to freeze them for long term storage.

I was wondering what you do for these films to protect them from the adverse effects of being in a freezer for an extended period of time?

[Jeremy Moore]

Gene, I buy gallon ziplock freezer bags, fill them up, seal them, and then toss them in the freezer. I figure this way I also have something to keep them in when they are brought back out of the freezer and back up to room temperature.

This size will work up for film up to 8"x10".

[Bruce Barlow]

Nothing. Toss the boxes in the freezer. Take them out when I need them, but once they're out, they're out.

25+ years of doing this without a problem.

[Gene McCluney]

Nothing. Toss the boxes in the freezer. Take them out when I need them, but once they're out, they're out.

25+ years of doing this without a problem.

And you do this for brands of film that are NOT in sealed pouches inside the boxes?

[Robert A. Zeichner]

I use the zip lock approach, but I have a number of sizes of bags to acommodate different sizes and quanities of boxes. If I need to take 25 sheets out of a 50 sheet box, I remove and thaw for a few of hours (letting the moisture condense on the zip lock bag), un zip the bag, remove what I need and re-seal and throw it back in the freezer. I would never put an unbagged box in the freezer as I've seen the results of power failures while on vacation and it's not pretty.

On a humorous note, I once asked a fellow photographer how long you could keep film frozen and his reply was "as long as you keep paying the electric bill". Not exactly what I was after, but funny, nonetheless.

[Steve Gledhill]

Nothing. Toss the boxes in the freezer. Take them out when I need them, but once they're out, they're out.

25+ years of doing this without a problem.

Bruce - I assume you mean you wouldn't refreeze an unopened box? I recently returned several boxes to the freezer a few weeks after I'd thawed them out then found I'd overestimated what I'd need for a trip. Should I be concerned by refreezing? And if so what should I expect please?

[Bruce Barlow]

And you do this for brands of film that are NOT in sealed pouches inside the boxes?

I'm an Ilford and Kodak guy, so they have sealed pouches. Note that I did say "once they're out, they're out," so I would not put a partially-used box with an open pouch back in next to the spareribs.

Usually I've had them in the freezer sincwe they arrived from B&H, so having them out leaves me a lot of time before the expiration date, so no worries if I'm actually a photographer and not someone who just loves to fondle film.

Big note also: black and white only in my house. What's color?

[sgelb]

black and white has like 5-6 times the life and heat resistance. color is much much more finicky.

u could store black and white in a box and in 50 years, it will work.

[Michael Alpert]

u could store black and white in a box and in 50 years, it will work.

Maybe. I've read (perhaps here) that 400-speed film will fog in a few (?) years due to background radiation. Perhaps other contributors to this forum have solid information about this.

[BradS]

A couple of years ago, I came across a relatively large stash of Tri-X roll film. The expiration dates ranged from 1973 to 1996. It had all been stored in the owner's dresser drawer....in a house in Wisconsin that had never even been air conditioned. I shot it all and developed in HC-110 dil. D (1+39)...if there was any fog it was certainly not significant (projection printing with condenser head). Beautiful film.

I generally think freezing film is way overkill for the vast majority of photographers - especially if one does not also freeze the processed negatives.