Offshore Storage!?!?

[outforalaska]

I've been daydreaming for quite some time about heading offshore for a sailing voyage around the world. I'm waiting to finish school and gain more experience with coastal cruising classes.
Recently I acquired my beloved m6/50mm setup and have been loving every minute of it. Just yesterday I even found out there is a camera shop in my area that still does E-6 processing (I thought real labs were dead in Tacoma, WA).
Anyway; my question deals with storage life of exposed film. What conditions (if any) could keep film for over a year? Will certain types of film do better? Keep in mind that a freezer is out of the question on board the vessel.

 

[usagisakana]

Unexposed film keeps for a long time as long as you keep it somewhere that's not hot (ideally a cool dark cupboard seeing as you can't use a fridge). Manufacturers seem to say to process as soon as possible after exposure, but i don't know how much of an effect that really has.

 

[Ronald M]

I would not do it without a freezer.

More frequent processing will detect camera defects that may appear.

 

[itf]

More frequent processing will detect camera defects that may appear.

I wouldn't worry so much about the film, well for b&w anyway. I'm not so experienced with colour but have had Ilford FP4 (100) that I processed 2.5 years after I exposed it and APX 400 over a year, no freezer and no problem.

As far as I'm concerned, the point raised above is much more of an issue. I've recently finished processing all my film from the past year and there's a light leak from my camera showing up on some, luckily very minor. I had no idea, and if it had been worse and more regular could've destroyed a year of work.

 

[amateriat]

This is an instance where shooting "amateur" (as opposed to "professional") films would be somewhat an advantage. Pro films are designed to be kept under near-constant refrigeration until actually used, then processed relatively promptly. This doesn't mean your slide shoot of three weeks ago is toast unless you had it souped at close to 6 the following morning (yeah, even I'm asleep by then), but if you're critical enough to shooting that stuff, you'd get it souped ASAP. The "amateur" stuff, by comparison, would stand up to a bit of a wait, although in the case of color film, the results might be somewhat less than "spot-on."


- Barrett

 

[Bryce]

More B+W oriented myself, so maybe color would have bring other concerns. A year, no problem under landlubber conditions. BUT-
Moisture, salt kill everything on a sailboat! Nothing will survive that without some kind of deterioration for a year.

 

[MartinP]

I suppose that the trip is not non-stop ? In many ports along the route you will be able to find quickie "two-hour" film-developing services for C41 (colour-neg). You can use those to double-check the camera is still functioning as expected, by shooting a short-roll of locally available colour print film. You wouldn't even need any prints made to detect the larger possible failures. Having said that, a cla'd M should withstand a lot of course.

A bigger problem would be storage space. I recall having the space of a large shoebox for "items of personal comfort" . . . .

 

[shimokita]

I understand that the original question regarded film storage, but what about the camera and lenses? My one experience was with a point and shoot film camera some years ago that I had to throw away after a two week sailing cruse in the Caribbean. Fortunately there was no problem with the film… I would imagine that the deck / cockpit of a sail boat is not the best for equipment. Any experience?

 

[Pherdinand]

i think the film in the original plastic canisters is pretty well sealed (it even floats 🙂 ).

I would sugest to send them home in packages once in a while, whjen you are at an appropriate place with a post office. Then at home some friend.family member etc could give it in for processing.

 

[outforalaska]

Thanks for all the responses; and a couple quick answers to some questions.

The trip would probably be non-stop (unless things go wrong - I need some e-wood to knock on).

The amateur films point is interesting. So, something like kodak gold? As far as color vs b&w goes; it sounds like a situation where one would just shoot a lot of both and see what happens.

The elements... I'll probably be packing a few cameras and whatever survives gets a thumbs up from me and whatever doesn't will go on the shelf as a trophy. Down below deck is certainly better than one might expect in terms of a nasty marine environment, but no where near those damn in-the-bag controlled environment Leica collectors (the kind who really couldn't tell for sure if their cameras actually work.

But, what it sounds like, is maybe a pelican style case down below deck for film would be best. How about those moisture packet things? I also have some moisture removal tins that I keep in my firearm safe that seem to work pretty well (in my home at least). They have a small window to see the pellets, and when they turn pink you place them in a 300' oven (available on the vessel) for an hour or so to ready them to collect more moisture.

 

[merlin]

I've been daydreaming for quite some time about heading offshore for a sailing voyage ... What conditions (if any) could keep film for over a year? Will certain types of film do better? Keep in mind that a freezer is out of the question on board the vessel.

My 28 sailboat ventilated well 24/7 and was 'dry' even in really nasty weather. I had no problems with kit or film storage soon as I found out the hard way I couldn't store stuff close to the underdeck (heat) or low near the bilge (humidity). Oh, no sense keeping film in a small boat ice box as there is way too much variation in temp.

If your ride will be wet you already know you'll need to rely on ziplocs and/or a waterproof case. IF SO, be absolutely sure to always keep a pad of silica gel inside the closed case/zloc. The most insignificant bit of salty residue trapped inside a waterproof container will actually accelerate the formation of mildew.

My journey was in 94-97, always on the go or on the hook out in a harbor. I had my all my locker-stored color neg film developed after I returned to the US with no problem. That was probably a little risky but it worked for me as the picture-raking part of things was very casual.

My big regret, post voyage, was leaving my F2 home in the safe deposit box to eliminate the 'worry' factor. I just used an ActionTouch but had plenty of situations where the big Nikon would have really delivered. Take your M along for sure.


My real regret was not using positive film, as slide projection definitely translates big adventures better than neg/print. Unfortunately, slide film development can't wait so long and there are NO convenient development opportunities 'on the road' anymore in this new digiworld.