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Evaporation of Filmrenew film cleaner in a capped bottle. I haven't been doing much film cleaning over the past few years. I need a decent cine' film scanner. But I did lots of film cleaning when I was learning the ropes about cine' film scanning in the early days of the film archive. I'll give you some info on film cleaning at the end. I had this bottle of Filmrenew sitting around for years. I swore it kept shrinking even with no use. So, I marked it on 3.24.2025. I came across it yesterday while doing some organizing. I was shocked to see how much cleaner had evaporated and I marked it for the second time. I've got a gallon of this stuff somewhere. Who knows how much of it is left. I'm glad I don't sleep with it in my bedroom, breathing all those chemicals. I can now see why they used glass for storing certain chemicals. When it comes to cleaning cine' film you have 2 directions to go; fast or slow evaporating film cleaner. Edwal makes a fast evaporating film cleaner. It is OK for a fast job where you don't have heavy duty dirt. But if you had dirty film and used Edwal, it would leave lots of dirt on the film. The dirt needs time to loosen and you need something that will not evaporate so fast. Filmrenew or Vitafilm are both slow evaporating film cleaners and film lubricators. So they do deep cleaning of film. But they are a pain to wipe off compared to the fast evaporating cleaners that dry up almost instantly. You can test this all yourself. You clean dirty film normally as you would with Edwal, then reclean with Filmrenew and see all the dirt that was left behind. Being a broke archivist, I just switched over to using 99% isopropyl alcohol for film cleaning. It is a fraction of the price of Filmrenew or Vitafilm and does adequate cleaning. I also don't get doped up from breathing the chemicals from the slow evaporating cleaners. I got enough chemicals for free from working in the wet darkroom for 35 years. But if you got some filthy, dirty film; nothing beats Filmrenew or Vitafilm for cleaning. The downfall of 99% alcohol is it is a fast evaporating film cleaner and can leave dirt behind. It also does not lubricate the film. And no matter what you use here in this discussion, nothing cures vinegar syndrome. It may halt or slow it down where it is at, but it does not reverse anything. See: <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

16mm film in early stages of vinegar syndrome. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive This post is about various tests I've done over the last 5 years looking to halt the progression of and reverse the degradation of film suffering from Vinegar Syndrome. Vinegar Syndrome (VS) is a big problem with acetate cine' film. Maybe 15% to 20% of my cine' film Archive suffers from it in some form. Heat makes acetate film off-gas acetic acid + no ventilation in the sealed film can, for the acetic acid gas to escape = VS. The films then start to shrink and buckle. They become brittle, emulsion can flake off and in extreme cases solidify into a blob. If you want to allow for ventilation with film storage, get vented film cans. The only surefire way to halt the progression of VS is to vacuum seal the film and freeze it subzero. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. Screenshot Google image search: D.D. Teoli Jr. Chest freezers are an economical way to buy freezer space. You can get a 5 cubic foot model for about $180. Or for $800 you can buy one big enough to hold 3 or 4 human bodies. 16mm humidor film can Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Back in the day, they had humidor film cans. They had an absorbent material in the center to add water or chemicals to. Originally, they were made for water humidity. Later on, film users used various chemicals to try and preserve the film, such as camphor or from the smell of it, some type of naphthalene. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Vaporate - Peerless Film Treatment was a commercial treatment done to film to protect it from deterioration due to handling. I've only seen one example of Vaporate. That sample showed no deterioration from VS. But, being I've only seen one sample of Vaporate, there was not enough confirmation to draw any conclusions. Vaporate trademark embossed on 16mm film leader Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive 16mm film with Vaporate film treatment. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive To save money, some film collectors made homemade humidor film cans by taping blotter material in the center of the lid. Homemade 16mm humidor film cans. Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive <><><><> 16mm film in lab can soaking in Vitafilm treatment. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. The tests I ran for Vitafilm & Film Renew covered 5 years using Kodachrome and B&W stock suffering from VS. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. Here were some of the tests I conducted on 16mm films. All aging was done in a tape sealed film can to maximize absorption and slow the evaporation process. Some films were reverse wound during the soaking and aging process, others were not. Reverse winding didn't make a whole lot of difference once it was returned to normal wind. A few of the tests were not aged and just wiped down after treatment. Most of the testing was done with black and white film stock, although I did test a number of Kodachrome reels suffering from VS to see if there was any difference in results. List of Tests: Generous application of Vitafilm or Film Renew and aged 1 month. Soaked 1 hour in Vitafilm or Film Renew and wiped down. Soaked 1 day in Vitafilm or Film Renew and wiped down. Soaked 1 day in Vitafilm or Film Renew, drip dried and aged 1 month. Soaked 3 days in Vitafilm or Film Renew, drip dried and aged 2 months. Soaked 1 week in Vitafilm or Film Renew, drip dried and aged 3 months. Soaked 1 month in Vitafilm or Film Renew, drip dried and aged 6 months. Soaked 3 months in Vitafilm or Film Renew, drip dried and aged 2 years. Soaked 6 months in Vitafilm, drip dried and aged 4 years. Then it was soaked again for 2 days and aged another year for a total of 5 years aging. (Vitafilm tested only.) Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. Irrespective of color or black and white film stock, none of the treatments I did fixed the film shrinking and warping. They may have halted the VS decay, but I can't attest to that one way or another, since it will take a few decades to determine if that is the case. The vinegar smell was replaced by a chemical smell and no further deterioration was noticed after the treatment. That is all I can say. Below are the results of the multi-soak 5-year test with Vitafilm. Before treatment Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. Same film as above after soaking in Vitafilm for 6 months. It was drip dried and aged 4 years. Then it was soaked again for 2 days and aged another year for a total of 5 years aging. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. A-D test strips give you an objective method to test for VS. Photo: NYC Department of Records & Information Services Photo used under auspices of Fair Use. Background shows dirt on just a few feet of film using Film Renew as a cleaning agent. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. Irrespective of whether there is any halting of the VS from Film Renew or Vitafilm treatments; they both are excellent cleaners and lubricators for film. There is no comparison with the cleaning action you get with slow drying Film Renew compared to a fast-drying cleaner like Edwal that leaves a lot of the dirt behind. Fast drying cleaners evaporate before they get all the dirt. They also do not offer any lubrication if you are projecting a film. I cannot attest to the long-term archival effects of using film cleaners. That will have to be revisited a few decades from now. Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. <><><><> Camera Store - Glendale, CA Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography