How to Care for Photographic Film

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Scott Vallance with Expert Village.com. If you like to you can visit my website at vipphotographic.com. Today we are going to talk about storage and care of film. Basically what you want to do is using 4 x 5 film process put it in an archival sleeve and then store it where there is no heat or not a lot of heat and very low humidity. This will keep images in good shape for years and years. Before 4 x.5 film is processed, when you buy it at the store and you are not going to use it for a while, take it and put it in your refrigerator. I keep it in a vegetable bin. It works well and nothing gets spilled on it. Also once you shoot your film and it is going to be a few days before you can process it, stick it back in the box and do the same thing. Just mark the top of the box with what is inside, what the exposure was and how many sheets are in there and stick it back in the refrigerator. You should keep 35mm film in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Leave it out of the refrigerator for at least 90 minutes before you put it in your camera so that you don’t have exposure problems. Once you expose it and you are not going to process it for a while, stick it back in the refrigerator. Keep it in good shape. Once it is exposed, find your archival plastic sheets again and stick them in there. They have them for slides and negatives. They will keep your film nice and dust free. 10 or quarter film, the same kind of thing goes. Before you shoot it keep it in the refrigerator, after you shoot it and you are not going to process it immediately, stick it back in the refrigerator and date it so you will know when it is good. That’s it. Thank you very much. "