Does film need to be kept in the freezer?

[mablo]

My wife would whack me blue if I'd try to store film rolls in the fridge.

[Lanline]

Freezer is the only way to go. I am shooting color film that expired in 1979 with no issues. I regularly shoot a roll or two of Panatomic-X that is just fantastic.

[perkeleellinen]

I keep mine in a shoebox under the stairs.

[dentkimterry]

I put my film in the freezer as soon as I buy it. It is then good for years past the expiration date on the box.

[Existing Light]

I have a small square fridge/freezer I used when I lived in a college dorm. It has a small cube in the top corner that's a freezer. I keep my film in there. At most, I could probably keep 35 or 40 35mm rolls (But I'd have to stack them from the front of the cube to the back and two rolls high), and maybe half that many 120 rolls.

I keep the paper in the fridge part because I go through paper waaaay faster than i go through film, so the slightly faster deterioration in the fridge isnt a problem. I also keep exposed rolls of film in the fridge, mainly so I wont lose them by keeping them somewhere else. I do make sure to let them warm up for a few hours before developing

[Prest_400]

I keep it on the fridge. Never put it on the freezer.
I use consumer grade film (Fujichrome RA, Superia, Kodachrome 64) and keep them on the refrigerator. After exposing, I refrigerate the film if developing will take more than a week (most of the times).

Pro film should be refrigerated, but if it isn't refrigerated, nothing bad happens. As far I know, it's color balance changes a bit, thus ending with a consumer film. Pro film has been frozen/refrigerated since it came out of the factory, just for consistency.

[michaelbsc]

[QUOTE=Steve Smith;886206]Well, It doesn't suddenly go bad at midnight on the expiry date. It's a slow deterioration.QUOTE]

No WAY! Do milk and eggs work this way too? Can you explain this to my wife?

[Fotoguy20d]

Expiration date? Why worry? Buy film, load it into cameras, use it as quickly as possible, and buy more. Support Ilford and Kodak.

Seriously though, I keep mine in a fridge. Just loaded up a 124G with a roll of XP2 that expired in late 2008. The one I used a couple of weeks ago was fine (enough for my needs). Admittedly, for critical work I use fresh film.

[Steve Smith]

No WAY! Do milk and eggs work this way too? Can you explain this to my wife?

Sorry. Women don't understand this.

Expiration date? Why worry? Buy film, load it into cameras, use it as quickly as possible, and buy more. Support Ilford and Kodak.

That's my method. Just buy it and use it.


Steve.

[jphendren]

I usually buy 2-5 rolls (35mm) at a time of Velvia 50 from my local camera shop, shoot the film within a month or two, and after it is exposed I put it back into the refrigerator until it is time to send it to the lab. I never have enough film on hand for it to sit for years. If I travel with my camera, I usually keep my film in an ice pack thing that my wife used for breast milk. It keeps the film cold for about 24 hours before needing to be refrozen. So it sounds like what I have been doing is adequate?

"Support Ilford and Kodak."

I would if Kodak still made Kodachrome 25, 64, and 200.

Jared