Sticky 16mm negative with sudden slight vinegar smell

Bernhard Kipperer · April 30, 2018

As shown in another thread I am currently experimenting with a 16mm negative from 1974.

The can was quite rusty and hard to open but I managed it eventually and the first few pieces of the film I shot and developed looked and smelled fine and were not strange in any way.

On later pieces I saw after developing and scanning that the film was yellow on the areas of the edges, I thought it might have been some sort of fogging...

Then last week, when I cut off a piece in the darkroom, the negative was sticking together on its original roll, making a sound like removing sticky tap from plastic, but once taken from there it would not stick anymore. Besides that all still looked and smelled normal.

Now the recent piece I cut off yesterday also had a slight vinegar smell, this is the first time I noticed it on this film, I wonder why the smell was not there a week earlier. I keep the film dry, cool and in the dark.

Could it be that the negative only sticks together on the edges and the yellow I saw in the scans was fogging that happened when I peeled the negative from the reel and it was fogged by static discharge or such? I could at least not see any sudden light flashes in the darkroom whilst doing this.

If the negative shows first symptoms of vinegar syndrom, will this also "infect" other films that I run through the same camera at a later point in time, or is it only dangerous to have other films close to the infected one?

Simon Wyss · April 30, 2018

No, the decay comes from within the film base, it’s the chemical decomposition of cellulose triacetate. To clean the camera up nicely after that run isn’t a bad idea, though.

Throw this old film away. Why in the world do people use completely outdated stocks, I mean a raw stock from 1974 is 44 years old. What’s the thrill with it? Oh, yeah, you got the thrill. Humor Schweiz-Österreich, eh klor.

Bernhard Kipperer · May 1, 2018

Why in the world do people use completely outdated stocks

It actually gave quite interesting results when used in a still camera, some even look really pretty, plus there was the challenge of getting any results at all, since this is still ECN-1 and no chemistry can be bought for this anymore. First some tests with black and white chemistry, then trichromy color with 3 color gels, then finally direct color in an adapted C-41 process at lower temperature and longer times. Besides "normal film use", it can be really fun to experiment with odd material. I got another 400ft of such a film and repsooled it into 100ft reels for my Krasnogorsk yesterday...