Film Fresh

[Tasty Fish Lips]

I'm an idiot.

Just the other day I found a roll of 16mm 7239 ektachrome in my basement. It's been down there for about a year. I left it down there, forgetting to put it in the freezer. It was new when I bought it a year ago.

So what do you think? Still good?

I've never shot old film that wasnt stored properly, so I'm a little concerned about this 100 foot roll.

[jbridges]

You should shoot a really important scene with it to test it out. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[Tasty Fish Lips]

What I'll probably do is sell it on ebay, saying it has been frozen since I bought it.

[img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]

[Tasty Fish Lips]

double post - how did that happen?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ March 31, 2005 08:05 AM: Message edited by: Tasty Fish Lips ]</font>

[Nigel]

Just shoot it and process it and see what happens. There has to be something you can waste it on.

I just shot a bunch of old stock in my freezer on mostly useless stuff. All because it had to be shot.

Good Luck
PS--The Ektachrome processing is going to be harder and harder to find since Kodak stopped making those stocks.

[Tasty Fish Lips]

I shot it. Waiting for the results.

But I now have a new problem.

I recently shot a bunch of the same stock that was a year old. Like 5 rolls. For that year it was in room temperature for about 3 months, then stored in the fridge for the remainder. I shot it and it came back fine. Perfect.

Then I ordered more of the same stock from the same place, 7239 from A-1 in Manhattan. I ordered 4 rolls. I've shot 2 so far, got them back - and there's something wrong. Faded colors. No rich blacks. Oranges speckles dancing across the frame. Sonuvabitch.

Did A-1 sell me bad film?

I have 2 rolls left from the same order. I wonder if that will be bad as well. I'm going to call them and tell them what happened.

Nigel, when did Kodak stop making 7239? I wonder how old A-1's 7239 is. I'm going to ask, but who knows if I'll get the truth.

Any comments? Any similar experiences? Any experiences with A-1?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 07, 2005 02:31 AM: Message edited by: Tasty Fish Lips ]</font>

[Nigel]

I don't think that the reversals have KeyCode numbers if they do you could date it that way. Otherwise read the lot number to Kodak nad they may be able to tell you when it rolled off the line.

Good Luck

[Tasty Fish Lips]

When A-1 sells the film, the box it comes in doesn thave any dates or identification numbers, just their company logo.

But I'll look for edge numbers.

Another question - how do you clean your film? What products and procedures do you recommend?

Thanks

[Nigel]

I don't...

The cleaning that it gets from the lab when it is prepped for transfer is the only cleaning it gets unless I have it transfered a second time for some reason.

Good Luck

[Nigel]

Ohhhhhhh......

I thought you were talking about film that I shoot.

I have been thinking about taking them to a lab and having an UltraSonic cleaning done on them to get them all back onto an even playing field. It is just a matter of time and effort when I want to drive over and unload them then pick them all back up.

Never, used any of the solvents because there seems to be so much conflicting points of view on them. Some people like one others don't. I know Ecco is kind of the go to standard. The other problem I have is that I don't have rewinds and I don't want to stress the belts on the projector trying to apply the stuff as it is being rewound.

I just blow them off with canned air as I rewind them if they look dirty. Then I make sure to clean the projector really well too. I used a chamois and some lens cleaner on the gate.

Good Luck