What Film Freezer (Make/ Model/ Price Point) do you recommend?

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Mr_Toad

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Hey, Y'all...

I'm not sure I agree with those in the thread below who say "all freezers are the same".

Q1: Could y'all recommend a good freezer for film storage?
Q2: Is it not true that a "frost-free freezer" works by repeatedly thawing and refreezing stuff...while sucking out the vapours?
Q3: If so, could my film get funky ice crystals on it like my Blue Bell Rocky Road ice cream does now?l
:mad:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100170&highlight=Freezer

I'm gearing up for about twenty good years of film work, 'til I no longer know what I'm doing, at which point I will drink the leftover developer and be done with it!

Thanks a bunch!

Robt.
 
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It depends on how much film you want to store. I don't really worry about frost free or not as the film remains sealed in the canister (35mm) or foil/plastic (120). When you want to use the film, leave it in the canister/wrap until it warms up to prevent condensation from forming on the film. I'd recommend a few hours, although in a pinch, I've put a frozen roll in my pants pocket and used it 45 minutes later.

My film is stored in the freezer of an older fridge in the basement. If you have the money though, I'd buy something more modern and less wasteful of energy. And being in Canada - I've left film out in a shed during winter :)
 
I have a small Danby DAR440BL 4.4 cu ft. frost-free refrigerator (no freezer) in my home office. It is Energy Star compliant and good enough for my needs. I was using the large fridge in th ekitchen but my wife needed the freezer space for things that she thought were more imporant than film, like food.

Whatever you get, find room inside the house. Do not install it in the garage (it'll have to work hard during your Texas summers).
 
I think you should check out a white goods forum - a freezer is a freezer.

You don't want a frost-free - you won't be opening it as often as if it had food / vodka in it so you don't need to worry about frost (I had a freezer for film for (2-3) years and it never needed defrosting). Just check out the energy usage really - not much to go wrong with a simple freezer.
 
Chest freezers are the most energy efficient.
Get a good one with great insulation and low energy consumption.

Since film doesn't have mush "mass" I would put a couple of large jugs with Anti freeze in it to store the cold for when the power goes out it will stay below freezing point for a long time.


Mr_Toad said:
.

Hey, Y'all...

I'm not sure I agree with those in the thread below who say "all freezers are the same".

Q1: Could y'all recommend a good freezer for film storage?
Q2: Is it not true that a "frost-free freezer" works by repeatedly thawing and refreezing stuff...while sucking out the vapours?
Q3: If so, could my film get funky ice crystals on it like my Blue Bell Rocky Road ice cream does now?l
:mad:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100170&highlight=Freezer

I'm gearing up for about twenty good years of film work, 'til I no longer know what I'm doing, at which point I will drink the leftover developer and be done with it!

Thanks a bunch!

Robt.
Click to expand...
 
Peter Wijninga said:
My film shares space with the chops and spinach. They don't mind.
Click to expand...


+1
Although when I lived in the islands it used to share space with our beach house freezer for a time. After a while the smell of crab bait could drift to the plastic wrappers of unopened rolls. Since this the bait was usually salmon/fish heads you can imaging the effect . Never any trouble getting cats to pose for a portrait :p
 
Thanks, Guys!

Just to be sure, I will Google around for a little freezer that is not frost-free...as long as I am buying a new one anyone, anyway. And just roll it out in the heat once a year for some defrosting action.

The antifreeze idea is pretty good, too...for our monthly power outrages.

Robt.
 
Place film and paper in decent quality, sealable pastic bags. This will minimize the ice crystals you worry about. Once sealed, the only ice will come from moisture initially present in the bag and film canisters/packs.

Air-tight plastic containers are another possibility but these are more expensive.

You absolutely want a frost-free model unless you don't mind thawing the whole mess out every so often to remove ice accumulation.
 
For freezer storage I put my film (generally 100' canisters of 35mm) in ziplock bags with packets of silica gel. I have ~1100' of ACROS and TMAX400 stored this way.
 
I keep my film in a Sanyo refrigerator-freezer. It's a half-height, under-the-counter model. Probably about 33 inches high. I keep, in the small freezer compartment, all slide film, and all high-ISO B&W. In the main section, I keep rolls of B & W of 400 ISO or less. I organize it so that the rolls I expect to use first are kept in the door shelves. The rest goes into cardboard boxes on the main shelves. I keep it cold, less than 40 degrees in the refrigerator section, and zero or below in the little freezer compartment. Probably 20 or 25 rolls can go in the freezer, and well over a hundred can go in the main section. I even have a stash of Tri-X in the veggie bin.

The Sanyo isn't self-defrosting, but I only need to defrost it maybe once a year. It doesn't hurt to take everything out in the winter while it's cold anyway, for half a day to defrost it. In January I can even set all the film in the backyard, where it can get colder than the freezer! (Some years)

I'm not convinced that a chest freezer is the most efficient. It would be, if you didn't have to take a lot of stuff out to get down to what you want, while everything warms up! :)

Edit: After doing battle with eBay for a couple hours, your post cheered me up. Thanks!
 
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Hey, Rob-F,

Thank you for the insights!

Actually..I have one of those kinds of fridges now...upstairs in my cave, to contain vital liquid refreshments. ...which is why I don't think an annual defrost would be that big of a deal...versus my continuing concern that ice crystals can form. Even if only at a micro-level, I don't want them at all.

Anyway...I will be googling around for some good candidates, and will keep the Sanyo in mind.

Robt.
 
mathomas said:
I think Leica may make one (the Summicryon?) Problem is, they're hard to get, and cost $20k when you can get one!

:)
Click to expand...

Bwahahaha....

Erm... back to topic, I agree that chest freezers are the one to get, they are inexpensive and store loads of similarly box-like items like bricks of film.
 
Check out Lowe's website. They have small chest type freezers with energy usage as low as $30 per year. About $250.00 if I remember correctly.
 
The one you find on Craigslist!

Not kidding. I picked up a used Frigidaire chest freezer for $40 about 3 years ago and it's been great. Sadly, the missus has not honored the sacred boundary between the film freezer and the food freezer, but anyone could have seen that coming.
 
Get a German-made freezer. Not one made in Thailand or Singapore or Canada.

Although, if you want to be completely anal about it and have the space, store Ilford films in a British-made freezer. Fuji in a Japanese unit, and Kodak in one made in the USA.
 
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