8mm Forum: FAME with Vinegar

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Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on July 01, 2013, 06:45 PM:

Just ordered the two reel Fame digest and it arrived smelling like vinegar. It's my first vinegar print! It was bound to happen I guess. Using Filmguard is taking down the smell a bit but is it dangerous to keep it. I keep reading posts about it being contagious and it will infect my other films. How far does it have to be kept away and should it be quarantined?! I'm half kidding - but I don't want to risk my collection for a Fame digest!

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 01, 2013, 06:57 PM:

Brian, I think you have answered your own question - throw it out!

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 01, 2013, 07:10 PM:

Hi Brian, keep it away from your other films, I would give it as much ventilation as possible, keep it in card containers,as cans will
make it worse. I have a 16mm copy of would you believe "By The
Light of the Silvery Moon" on B/W stock, I got it cheap and it reminds me of myself & my pal laying bricks to the tune, but back to the problem. Isolate it,keep it well vented, and there are sachets that you can place to absorb the acetic gases produced.
I also soaked the print in Filmrenew, which seems to have kept the problem at bay. There was a chap on the forum that made
his own film treatment, that was as good as Filmrenew, and at
a fraction of the cost.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on July 01, 2013, 07:29 PM:

Brian

If you decide to keep it(I wouldn't) keep it at least 3 blocks down the street! And always take into account wind direction [Eek!]

PatD

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on July 02, 2013, 06:02 AM:

Fame is a great digest. One thing I would do Brian is keep the reels in open air for a week or two, then check again.

A while back, I did a post about ordering some films from Australia. Two films arrived, smelling like STRONG vinegar. I treated both with Filmguard and left them in open air (outside) for a few days. When I re-checked them, only one film had the smell, and the other film had no sign of vinegar at all.

The bottom line is, your Fame digest may have been stored with other films with the vinegar problem, but it could be ok.

Also, if you unroll a few feet of the film and let it hang free, does it have a straight curl, or a sort of twisted look?

James.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 02, 2013, 06:22 AM:

I'm with James here: I received a vinegar smelling print once and in the end it turned out to be polyester and therefore VS immune!

I believe it was stored with vinegared acetate prints and picked up the odor.

If your Fame turns out to be Poly, there is nothing to worry about.

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on July 02, 2013, 06:33 AM:

And if it's poly and smells, would it harm the other films? Even if that poly print is okay, it's be crap if it crept onto the acetates

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 02, 2013, 07:51 AM:

I doubt it would, but just for caution (even just peace of mind) there's no harm in keeping it isolated until it airs out.

My print de-stinked within a month.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on July 02, 2013, 07:53 AM:

You want fries with that? [Eek!]

Posted by Lee Bombard (Member # 3740) on July 02, 2013, 08:44 AM:

Here's a bit of info from The Image Permanence Institute on vinegar syndrome:

https://www.imagepermanenceinstitute.org/resources/newsletter-archive/v12/vinegar-syndrome

Keep in mind that just because a film is polyester based doesn't mean that there couldn't be acetate leader or other footage cut into the print.

You absolutely don't want film affected with vinegar syndrome around...

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on July 02, 2013, 08:47 AM:

I think the biggest culprit in my case was the cardboard boxes.

Posted by Jim Schrader (Member # 9) on July 02, 2013, 09:06 AM:

I have a 16mm print with vinegar i have left it opened now for years and the smell has diminished greatly, if it has great color and is not curling or other problems just leave it open in another room if its curling yep throw it out.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 02, 2013, 12:41 PM:

That's surprising, hearing that that print, "FAME", has vinegar syndrome ...

but then, there were different print runs on different film stocks for some titles.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 02, 2013, 02:56 PM:

I know 16mm prints suffer with this but didnt realise our 8mm prints were starting to, first red now vineger [Confused]

Posted by Jonathan Trevithick (Member # 3066) on July 02, 2013, 05:46 PM:

I almost bought a 16mm vinegar print from an uneducated seller yesterday. Fortunately, when asked he told me it did have the smell. Naturally, I declined on that one. As with many sellers who are not collectors, he had no idea VS was a problem for films.

Posted by Mark Todd (Member # 96) on July 02, 2013, 06:30 PM:

Then theres the plenty of people selling them knowing fine well what they are !!!

Personally I think its a binner if its going.

Best Mark.

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