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Topic: Collection fading away
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 30, 2005 12:01 PM
Well I'm sure this is nothing new to members of this forum, but is your S8 collection slowly fading away like mine? I find it heartbreaking to see how degraded my MGM, Fox, and Universal digests have become. All turning pink, and all that beautiful saturated color a thing of the past. I would estimate that all these digests will be essentially unviewable in 5 years. The only color films of mine that are not fading are the Derann prints on Agfa stock, which all still look great. Fortunatley, most of my color feature films are on this stock. Too bad we can't all file a class action lawsuit against Eastman Kodak, but they are in dire straits financially, and that would be biting the hand that feeds us.
-------------------- The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection, Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted December 01, 2005 10:51 AM
It does help immensely if you store your Eastman prints in a cool environment, especially if it is refridgerated, but just be sure that you put some kind of substance in your "zip-lock bags" (which is what I use) to keep the moisture off.
For instance, I use old selica gel packs. Since I work in retail, I have easy access to these, as many things are shipped with these packets in them, and I just have a big bag of them.
The key is to keep the moisture off of them. If you can do that, and keep them cold. Those Eastman prints will keep thier color for a lot longer. This is common knowledge though.
They will fade inevitably, but you can keep the fade off for a long time.
There ARE different grades of the old Eastman. For instance I have prints of optical sound super 8 features from the early to mid seventies, and the color is still perfect! I really don't know the "grade numbers" but I have found that the film stock with a higher grade number, seems to last longer. Anybody got any more info on this?
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted December 01, 2005 10:51 AM
It does help immensely if you store your Eastman prints in a cool environment, especially if it is refridgerated, but just be sure that you put some kind of substance in your "zip-lock bags" (which is what I use) to keep the moisture off.
For instance, I use old selica gel packs. Since I work in retail, I have easy access to these, as many things are shipped with these packets in them, and I just have a big bag of them.
The key is to keep the moisture off of them. If you can do that, and keep them cold. Those Eastman prints will keep thier color for a lot longer. This is common knowledge though.
They will fade inevitably, but you can keep the fade off for a long time.
By the way, it IS still possible to find good color Universal prints. near the end of thier run, they began putting out thier films on Kodak SP, (which holds up incredibly well) and even one on, no kidding agfa stock. It looks like Universal was experimenting on different stocks near the end, as they might have already had some complaints with fading prints. Most of these prints, from what I've seen are the "collectors editions" Of the classic Universal cartoons. These are a passion for me and I always love when I can latch onto these great prints!
There ARE different grades of the old Eastman. For instance I have prints of optical sound super 8 features from the early to mid seventies, and the color is still perfect! I really don't know the "grade numbers" but I have found that the film stock with a higher grade number, seems to last longer. Anybody got any more info on this?
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted December 03, 2005 10:21 AM
I've found that super 8 opticals are mostly printed on either Eastman (from the beginning to at least 1983) and Kodak SP, (from, I believe 81 to the end of opticals, around 89 or 90) It should be noted, however, that not all Eastman stock is equal, as I have perfectly brilliant prints from the early 70's (Romance of a Horsethief, 1971, for instance) that has stunning color. I think that there is a site on the internet that gives the different grades of Eastman and if I'm correct, those different numbers on the Eastman stock, do mean different grades of Eastman.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted December 03, 2005 10:21 AM
I've found that super 8 opticals are mostly printed on either Eastman (from the beginning to at least 1983) and Kodak SP, (from, I believe 81 to the end of opticals, around 89 or 90) It should be noted, however, that not all Eastman stock is equal, as I have perfectly brilliant prints from the early 70's (Romance of a Horsethief, 1971, for instance) that has stunning color. I think that there is a site on the internet that gives the different grades of Eastman and if I'm correct, those different numbers on the Eastman stock, do mean different grades of Eastman.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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