Keeping film in fridge if shot before expiry date...?

[Bob Michaels]

Film does not undergo some major state of change at 0C like water which is a liquid at +2C and a solid at -2C. Film is basically cold and then colder.

Marty Freakscene, whose technical knowledge far exceeds mine, said years ago that film does encounter some molecular change at some temperature. Hopefully he will come back and explain in layman's terms what that change is and at temperature it happens plus what practical difference it means.

 

[raid]

When we decided to replace the old fridge with a new one, instead of throwing out a working fridge, I moved it into our garage where is became my storage vault of film (and nothing else). What I use less frequently gets placed in the freezer. The rest is placed in the fridge outside the freezer. The full size fridge is full. It can be a treasure hunt at times ...

 

[wpb]

For color professional films keeping the film refrigerated was to keep the color reproduction of the film consistent. Pro transparency films even go as far as to include color correction filtration requirements in the nomenclature to keep it consistent from batch to batch. If you were shooting something like wedding dresses this was key to faithful reproduction of the color of the items you were photographing.

Consumer films have a longer shelf life only because its color reproduction is less critical. It was meant to be used sometime before its expiry date to give color reproduction that met the manufacturer's standards during the period between manufacture and that date.

Adding heat (infrared) to the equation makes the color of either pro or consumer film change, but it becomes a question of what is acceptable to the end user.

I like to think of it like a piece of fruit. Pro films are like a plum that is deemed to be perfectly ripe and placed in refrigeration to keep it at it peak of freshness for as long as possible. Consumer film is like the same plum except it hits the shelves a little before it is ripe and ripens on the shelf, or on your counter.

 

[DennisM]

Film Storage

Film Storage

I keep my unexposed film in the freezer; also exposed film before I process it. Allow to thaw overnight before exposing and/or processing. Have been doing this for decades with absolutely no problems.

 

[Bill Clark]

When in biz I used up film fast enough where storing it wasn’t part of my mind set.

The only time I was concerned, but probably didn’t need to be, was doing a gig on a hot day. Then I would load up a cooler with film to take along. It was a pita.

I only store film in a cabinet in my office. I use very little of it anymore as some of my 120 TMax has an expire date in 2004. I still use it.

No color film any more. I’m trying some of Ilfords XP 2 Super dooper and will see how that does. I’m using Arista C-41 chemistry but I just bought some Rollei C-41 to see how it does. Arrives today Fed-X

 

[Beemermark]

For color professional films keeping the film refrigerated was to keep the color reproduction of the film consistent. Pro transparency films even go as far as to include color correction filtration requirements in the nomenclature to keep it consistent from batch to batch. If you were shooting something like wedding dresses this was key to faithful reproduction of the color of the items you were photographing.

So true. Long terms storage in the freezer slows down chemical decomposition for all films, important if you think you may not shoot that film for 5 years or more past the expiration date. Otherwise storing in a temperature controlled room (like you house) is good enough. As far as maintaining color reproduction scanning you film and using post processing software solves that issues.