Freezing film questions.

[bvstaples]

I got one of those Seal-a-Meal devises at a white elephant sale years back. I put my film in the pouches, vacuum out the air and moisture, seal, and put it in the freezer. Current film tends to just sit in my office, as it will be used in a month or two or three.

[Bruce Barlow]

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?

Oh, if it's unopened I think you can refreeze at will. I haven't had your experience of overestimating, but as long as the pouches are sealed, I think you'd be fine refreezing.

To respond elsewhere, I haven't exprienced increased fog with frozen Tri-X that's four years old. No experience with longer storage. I know Michael Smith is dealing with Super-XX with a base fog of .3 or so (if I remember correctly), which is a lot, but it's pretty old film. He just develops negs a little longer and prints as well as anyone on the planet and better than just about anybody. Richard Ritter found a 20-year-old box of 5x7 Tri-X (never frozen or refrigerated) that I developed unexposed to see if I could get the equivalent of .1 above film base plus fog to use in my film test kit. It was a little more than that, so in the end would be quite usable for real pictures with a little extra development. As previously mentioned, color is entirely different, and I know nothing about it.