Film Organization

[Will2]

I'm well past the point of needing an organizational plan for all my film. I have a walk-in closet full of 8mm, Super 8, 16mm & 35mm film in various cans and boxes in no particular order. I need to do some organization and I thought I'd seek out methods from the group.

My initial plan is to invest in some pizza-type boxes like 8x8x2 for the films and label them on the spine so there's some uniformity. I'll place a USB stick with a transfer of the film I'm each box for reference if I have it.

I had one transfer house return my film in a vacuum sealed plastic bag once and I thought that would be interesting...although other labs have told me that film needs to breathe and use cardboard boxes without plastic bags.

Is there any consensus on storage best practices?

[silverhalide]

Good Resources:

https://www.nps.gov/museum/coldstorage/ ... ng4_2.html

https://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org

Long story short, you want:

- low humidity to prevent onset of vinegar syndrome, where acetate gives off acetic acid. the free acetic acid accelerates the process to the point where the products of the reaction become reagent - this state is called autocatalytic
- low temperature. chemical reactions occur more slowly at lower tems
- environment free of reagents, including petroleum products, outgassing cardboard boxes, etc.

Since it's hard to have a refrigerated room, a substitute is creating microenvironments, ie a ziploc bag with a molecular sieve in it, in a fridge or freezer. But you want to let film equilibrate for a few days or more before using after it's been stored dry, or the acetate may be too brittle.

Here's an example of a film that was stored dry, but at inappropriately high temp. The dye has faded at the edges. The problem becomes less severe the further we get into the roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3BEZUkHdd8

Anyhow, that's my $.02.

[Will2]

Thanks for the insight. I just see a ton of contradictory info out there.

Vision films are ESTAR though right? And not subject to vinegar syndrome?

Most of my film is Vision 1, 2 or 3. I have a little Double X, Ektachrome & Kodachrome (mostly in Super 8).