hello, i am inexperienced with film storage temps as the ilford film i have always used is fine below 24oC but i bought some fujifilm pro a couple of weeks back and have now noticed that it says store below 10oC, it has been at room temp for the two weeks. Is this a problem and how big? the room temp is about 21oC at its max as its a cool room in a cool house. Can i put this in my kitchen fridge? should i?
Two weeks at room temperature will make little if any difference.
Storage in domestic fridge or freezer is fine... probably best not in the freezer if the airtight packet has been opened.
If you're not living on the edge, you're wasting space
Despite using digital extensively, I did and still do keep film in my kitchen fridge. I've never noticed a hue, density or colour shift even from slide film (Provia 100F) that could be blamed on storage problems. Whilst touring in a hot summer, and with film kept in the car. I did try to store it as low as possible in the car and in an insulated container; but unless being checked scientifically I'd be surprised if you experience a problem.
Many other factors (such as minor errors in shutter speed, apertures, metering, filter dyes) can combine and alter the look of a slide, and in normal amateur use, I'd expect these to be the dominant factor. E6 slide developer exhaustion can have a massive effect, for example, and in the past many labs only checked it at morning start-up.
For amateur use, Ilford make B&W negative films only (I believe), whilst Fuji also produce reversal colour films, and these latter will be more likely to show problems from being stored at too high a temperature for long periods. This probably explains the different advice.
However, do be careful of taking a film and loading it into your camera straight from a cold fridge. On a very humid day you might get some condensation problems.
Malcolm Stewart
Jaguar Mk VII
Thank you for the replies, that has eased my mind considerably.
I live and have lived in 'warm' countries all my life.
I have never stored film, col. neg/slide/ b-w, in the fridge or freezer.
My film stocks are kept in the cupboard and camera bags, sometimes for months on end. I sometimes use 'old' film way past use by dates and except for colour neg. film have never ever had a problem.
Processing chemicals, otoh, are more sensitive to temp. and thus are stored in fridge and brought to 20 deg.C naturally.
"sometimes a brain is more important than a fancy camera" - Philip Greenspun
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The time that film is particularly sensitive to storage conditions is after it has been exposed but before it has been developed. That is to say the latent image.
I have some Fuji Sensia 100 slide film in the fridge which has been there for about three years (I mostly use digital now) - how long might I expect it to keep in those conditions? I have heard film keeps pretty much indefintely in the fridge, is that right?
Everytime I've been on a long haul trip I've always taken too much film (dubious or no local supplies in some of the places I've been to). Then, as it's usually had 3 or 4 passes through an airport x-ray machine, I've always bought fresh stock for my next trip. This means I now have films in my freezer dating back to 1991. Last weekend I thawed out a film which has a process by date of January 2001,it's in my Mamiya 645 just now. watch this space......
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