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Topic: Super 8mm Metal 600' cans/reel wanted
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Joe Caruso
Film God
Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted May 15, 2009 04:04 PM
Dino, I'll "air" out my collection twice yearly, even for just inspecting the need for extra re-winding loose on their respective reels, and will watch certain films eventually seeing them all and making notes, sort of a book idea I'm working on; "Notes Of A Film Collector" type of thing - Again, mag stripe has had no effect detrimentally on screening and maintenance while encased in metal cans - Presently, I have 26 such shorts in metal cans and run as fine as if they were in plastic (which I don't recommend at all), the majority are in light cardboard, and no matter what oxides are released, still never have I had to replace or repair a print for that reason in all these years - Shorty
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Dino Everette
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1535
From: Long Beach, CA USA
Registered: Dec 2008
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posted May 15, 2009 04:52 PM
Good info..... I am guessing the most helpful part is that you are opening the cans on a regular basis...I have seen a number of collections come in to the archive I work at and the difference for both vinegar syndrome prints and broken down mag is tight metal cans that never allow any "breathing" Even the plastic cans being used nowadays have vents for such.... The brown goldberg brothers cans (mostly 16mm)I call death traps, because 9 times out of 10 if a collection has been sitting in a "non-active" environment for some time these goldberg cans will be both really hard to open and filled with either vinegar film or flaking/powdery mag that can sometimes smell very similar to vinegar. I have seen this enough to feel comfortable saying this..
I have even seen collections where they were stored in decent/active methods for most of the films' life and only the last 5-10 years in less desirable conditions, and it is the metal ones where I find the problems...I recently came across 10 copies of a trailer that were sent out together in a box in 1972, the box sat in some guys' closet for the past 37 years until we picked it up. Same environmental variances..8 of them were in 2 x 2000 metal cans and were completely vinegar, 2 were in a lab box and were still as beautiful as the day they were printed....It is cases like this why I have made my statements about metal cans..
For those of us that are using our collections, via inspecting, projecting, etc I do not think there is much to worry about beyond simple concerns (ie: don't place the nitrate on the stovetop, or the safety in the back of the car) because the film is regularly being exercised, but when the day comes that the collection may become a second, third or even less priority is when the type of storage container will play the factor.
I think your book sounds like a great read because it is from people such as yourself that we can learn the little hints that we may not have any other chance to know... I'm looking forward to it....And don't get me wrong I am not trying to pass myself off as a know it all, far from it...I'm constantly asking the oldtimers for advice on everything...I just feel like I have been lucky to have had certain experiences working at the archive acquisitions department and picking up film from peoples houses, backyards, storage spaces, schools, libraries, studios, garages, attics, etc, etc, etc that I have recognized similarities and trends over time.
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"You're too Far Out Miss Lawrence"
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