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Paper storage.
Good Morning.
Can anyone give me the definitive answer for long term storage of photographic paper. I have quite a bit and need to put a bunch on ice ,so to speak,to keep it fresh as possible.
Thanks in Advance,
Mike
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I just asked a similar question on another thread and people seemed to think freezing was a good idea. One thing does occur to me. I have a freezer that I only use for photographic materials. Do I need to keep it at the normal temperature for food freezing, -18c, or is it OK to keep it at a higher temperature, albeit still well below 0c? That would save electricity and be a bit greener.
David.
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The colder the freezer, the more effectively it stops thermal degradation and chemical breakdown of the emulsion. Generally, there's a factor involved, so that increasing temperature by 2 C (or so -- might be 2x that or 1/2 that) doubles the rate of deterioration. There's a break-even point for any material, however, below which you gain nothing because cosmic rays and background radiation will fog the material even though thermal and chemical processes are essentially halted.
It would require testing your particular paper to be sure where the break point is, but it's been my understanding that -18 C, aka 0 F, is low enough for practically all photographic materials that fogging is the limiting factor. And a good top-opening chest freezer, with good seals, installed in a relatively cool area like a basement, really uses surprisingly little power (especially if it has enough mass inside to prevent excessive temperature fluctuations when the lid is opened -- plastic jugs of plain water make nice ballast for this).
Photography has always fascinated me -- as a child, simply for the magic of capturing an image onto glossy paper with a little box, but as an adult because of the unique juxtaposition of science and art -- the physics of optics, the mechanics of the camera, the chemistry of film and developer, alongside the art in seeing, composing, exposing, processing and printing.
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Is it necessary to control humidity ? I assume that humidity levels above "optimum" can form crystals in or on the emulsions and damage them ?
Photos are made four inches behind the camera
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It may be a good idea to put the paper insde a polythene bag to keep out the moisture, a power supply failure could prove disasterous.
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 Originally Posted by Mike Kennedy
Good Morning.
Can anyone give me the definitive answer for long term storage of photographic paper. I have quite a bit and need to put a bunch on ice ,so to speak,to keep it fresh as possible.
Thanks in Advance,
Mike
Mike, this is a completely unscientific (theoretically at least) answer, though perhaps it qualifies as scientific in that it is based on observation.
I have several partial boxes of paper in my darkroom that have been hanging around for 10-20 years unrefrigerated. They survived a move from New Jersey to France, endured 9 years of hot/cold fluctuations in my not-so-well insulated darkroom there, and now have come back to the US and are still hanging around. Every once in awhile, I run a sheet or two through some soup just to see what's what. So far, I've never noticed any loss of anything. The prints turn out just fine. The papers vary--some ancient Portriga Rapid (the oldest box), some old Ilford MGFB, some old Forte, etc.
So, maybe I've just been lucky. I'd think at worst, if you run into a little fog, you might clear it up with a little Potassium Bromide in your developer, but I'm not really convinced that freezing is necessary.
Larry
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Originally Posted by Mike Kennedy
Good Morning.
Can anyone give me the definitive answer for long term storage of photographic paper. I have quite a bit and need to put a bunch on ice ,so to speak,to keep it fresh as possible.
Thanks in Advance,
Mike
If you freeze it you can't outlive it. I have Brovira that has been unrefrigerated and abused that is 30+ years old and still fine. It will vary from paper to paper
Mark
Mark Layne
Nova Scotia
and Barbados
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This is old thread, but a correct one for my question:
About freezing paper (in -18 - -22 Celsius)... Is there any reason why not to freeze RC paper? I have tons of older glossy Ilford multigrade 3 RC paper and since they are old I was thinking that freezing might be a wise move (since those could last years and years in my use...).
And the other main reason is that I don't have room for food in my fridge!
Last edited by pmu; 12-26-2005 at 03:53 PM.
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No reason RC paper would fare any worse than FB. However, many currently made papers don't last (even frozen) the way papers made 30-40 years ago did; this is because they have small amounts of developing agent in the emulsions to increase sensitivity. It's hard to get definitive information on which do and which don't, but Ilford's current offerings do (not enough to process by activation, mind you, just enough so they won't keep 30 years in a freezer).
For either one, airtight packaging would be strongly recommended, and the usual precautions about allowing the package several hours (overnight, by preference) to come up to room temperature all the way to the center before opening always apply.
Photography has always fascinated me -- as a child, simply for the magic of capturing an image onto glossy paper with a little box, but as an adult because of the unique juxtaposition of science and art -- the physics of optics, the mechanics of the camera, the chemistry of film and developer, alongside the art in seeing, composing, exposing, processing and printing.
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Donald, in your experience does the integrated developer really make any real difference, or is it just something that latently keeps us from stockpiling?
Cheers,
Patrick
When you come to a fork in the road, take it...
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