Posts: 508
From: Southend on Sea, Essex, UK
Registered: Feb 2015
posted May 21, 2016 07:33 AM
I've just had to throw a short away that was more twisted than my wife is!!! My question is, did vinegar syndrome affect the reels and cans or can I go on using them?
Posts: 508
From: Southend on Sea, Essex, UK
Registered: Feb 2015
posted May 23, 2016 08:50 AM
Thanks for your thoughts guys. Divided opinions. This vinegar business is not something I'd really come across until quite recently. Perhaps I've just been lucky!!
Posts: 264
From: Fairfield, OH, USA
Registered: Feb 2004
posted June 30, 2016 06:01 PM
If the film reels and cans are metal, then I say don't worry and reuse after cleaning. Plastic reels and cans I say pitch them, but I say that anyway...
posted July 15, 2016 11:30 PM
I avoid metal reels and cans that are rusted. Otherwise metal reels and cans are perfectly safe for film. Reels and cans that are made of quality plastic are safe too.
VS is a result of several factors: Poor storage, the film is kept in hot areas with high humidity. Storing films next to VS films, will cause the healthy films to get VS. Film is tightly sealed in a box or reel, that does not permit the film to breathe, The Fixing stage of the film is improperly processed.
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Posts: 264
From: Fairfield, OH, USA
Registered: Feb 2004
posted July 16, 2016 03:40 PM
Vinegar Syndrome starts from within the film itself almost always (maybe only) due to improper developing technique of the film. This has been pin pointed down to the fixer stage of development. Cans do not cause VS, neither does a high humidity environment and I doubt a properly processed film can catch VS like a disease from a VS film. But the precautions to take once a film has VS can supposedly extend its life somewhat. I am not sure even that can be proven. I had a 16mm print that had started to show it had VS. I took all the precautions and I have a cool dry basement with regulated low humidity. I purposely surrounded the VS film with films without VS I figured I could sacrifice in the name of scientific experiment. Within two years the VS print had become completely destroyed by VS so twisted and shrunken to make projection impossible. The smell was terrible. The surrounding films showed no sign of getting VS. I continue to monitor them for VS so my experiment is ongoing. I have films that have been on metal reels inside metal cans for 80 years with no signs of VS. They also are still pliable and able to be projected. I believe there are way more films meeting a shortened life span not because they are in metal cans, but because they are not. Dried curled shrunken films full of perf damage are death to prints just as surely as VS. Just my two cents, your experiences and thoughts may be different.
Posts: 955
From: Johnshaven Village , Montrose, Scotland
Registered: Jan 2015
posted July 28, 2016 10:04 AM
I too just bin any prints that smell of or get VS. I keep the plastic spools and cans though. I just give them a good wash and airing and re-use.
-------------------- " My equipment's more important than your rats. "