storage

[Guest Aaron Farrugia]

hello just had a question

i have just had my film processed got it back, its all been telecined and i was wondering what precautions i should take and how i should store the processed film?

 

thankyou

 

aaron

[Dominic Case]

From Atlab's Technical Tips

I'm planning to store my negatives at home or in an office

 

Normal room conditions are OK for a while, but are not ideal for long-term storage (i.e. more than a few years). You can expect gradual fading of the colour dyes and decay of the film base, leading to shrinkage and curl. Low temperatures and low humidity will extend the life of the film. Keep the film in plastic cans rather than metal ones.

 

Ideally you should aim for between 5C and 10C, and 20% to 40% RH (relative humidity). However, a constant temperature is also important: frequent changes in conditions have been found to accelerate decay.

 

Store reels of film flat, not on their edge. (Reels on edge will, in time, deform like a flat car tyre)

 

Good places to store the film:

An interior room away from windows but with good air circulation.

An air-conditioned room.

 

Bad places to store the film:

The attic (usually very hot) or the basement (often damp)

Near heaters or in direct sunlight

Near household chemicals or paint (even traces of fumes can magnify the effects of humidity)

In cardboard boxes (Cardboard boxes are excellent for shipping well-packed film, but not for long term storage: the glue can give off fumes in time.)

[Will Montgomery]

Bad places to store the film:

In cardboard boxes (Cardboard boxes are excellent for shipping well-packed film, but not for long term storage: the glue can give off fumes in time.)

 

Interesting, my local lab returns film in "Pizza" type carboard boxes, I'll ask about glue issues. I think they said it was better than metal because it breathes more.

[Guest Aaron Farrugia]

yeah the pizza box is exactly how i got mine

hence the reason i posted this topic

[Michael Collier]

I will be in the same spot when I get my film back from this short I'm working on. Problem I have is we have no AC (its alaska after all) so in the winter time it gets cold and very very low RH, then in the summer it gets very hot inside the house (80F+) and sometimes very high RH.

 

Are there places that can store negs for a fee per year (or for blocks of 5 or 10 years?) if so, how expensive would that be? For as little as 4000 feet.