Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Vinegar Syndrome

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Vinegar Syndrome

    I have a good black & white feature, supple film, no warping or shrinkage, runs fine with no problems, focus OK. . But it absolutely reeks of Vinegar! So, So bad is the smell !!!

    Obviously it is quarantined. How can I get rid of or mask the stink from this print?

  • #2
    Would a soak in FilmRenew help?

    Comment


    • #3
      Try leaving it in the sun for a long time. That's if you can find any sun. !!

      Comment


      • #4
        Nice Maurice :-)

        Mark the vast majority of my 16mm Acetate prints have gone that held value as I couldn't bare to see the pounds drop off them once they started with Vinegar. I have some precious things on 16 which I tested with A-D strips but they are well on the way. As a stop gap I put some Lenor laundry beads in the boxes which at least takes the edge off the odour but as we all know no cure, a few around me are doing the same thing so it does seem to help.
        Good luck my friend

        Comment


        • #5
          I still have some LFP left which I bought years ago from the Australian chap who manufactured it. I guess I’d use it in a case like this. I don’t know if it’s still made.
          http://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bi...c;f=5;t=000293

          Comment


          • #6
            Never used Peters stuff but some say it is useful at least a few years ago. I think its the humidity thing that really counts with Acetate. One of the media students that came to do his placement here a few years ago did quite a bit of film and his research was saying keeping humidity about 40 was ideal. Problem is in my climate that is going to be difficult although I did put a humidity and temp counter in with the stuff.
            Main thing as well is ditch the cans, use boxes and I've had less problems with what's left. Good thing with 16 is the boxes are easy to make being a bigger format once you have a pattern. I nipped down to the local printers and got some nice white SRA2 sheets and all my best 16mm prints are in home made and glued boxes.
            Best input on this one I can offer Mark.

            Oh SRA2 recycled card sheets will set you back about £90 for 100 sheets. Pure white will be higher.

            Comment


            • #7
              The LFP smells very strongly of camphor. What I was suggesting is that it may mask the smell from Mark’s print, which was his original question 👍

              Comment


              • #8
                According to my 1960 copy of the British Journal Almanac, camphor is one of the prime ingredients in the make up of a Film Preservation solution, also known as Humidifying. Other ingredients included Glycerol, Menthol and Ethyl alcohol.
                Some old film cans contained a perforated panel into which, pads soaked in the solution, were placed.
                If anyone is interested I can give full details of how to make up the solution.

                Maurice

                Comment


                • #9
                  Johnsons of Hendon used to market Humidifier. I used it for my 9.5mm film collection. None of thethem have ever developed vineger syndrome. Unfortunately I do not know if it is still available. Ken Finch.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I should perhaps add that I have always tried to keep the films at an even temperature of around 15deg. C. or 60F. Never in a loft or attic or where it is not possible to control the temperature within reasonable limits. Ken Finch.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      First post on this forum. Third generation published photographer, www.vphotoestate.com , 140 years of family photographs including movies. While not a museum archivist, here are my experiences about "Vinegar Syndrome."

                      It has everything to do with the film stock and (almost?) nothing to do with storage conditions. I have 16mm films as far back as 1927, when the format was only a year or two old. Perfect condition. One is vinegaring from the outside in. Wrinkly, still can be handled, but the width of the film has shrunk. I last ran it about four years ago, I think, so this is new. A work in progress. I have an 8mm film in crumbs.

                      I have still negatives/35mm and 4x5 inch Kodachromes back to at least late 1930's that are just fine. But a batch of 4x5 BW ones, totally delaminated. I Can't recall if they had the smell, I don't think so. Fortunately, I had prints of them to archive from and I can tell from the content, mid 1940's. My father was just out of the Coast Guard where he was a Photographer's Mate and transitioning into commercial work. So, a pro.

                      All of these materials were stored in an unairconditioned garage in Florida from 1959-2007 when I started archiving them. Granted, on the floor in a chest, but the summer temperatures and humidity would have been quite high. Probably averaged through the day at high 80's degrees and about the same on the RH. They have been in an unairconditioned garage in Texas since 2015, except for the last summer. I did have the light bulb moment last spring and I brought my movie stock into the house. Call me slow.

                      When I was researching vinegaring I came across a case where Kodak released some movie film back in the 1950's and within a year, complaints were coming in. Even the Great Yellow Father (you are old if you recognize that) makes mistakes in the kitchen. So, it's primarily the luck of the draw of the batch more than anything. That's my conclusion based on experience and very little conjecture.

                      I have thought about injecting inert gas into the cans before sealing. Canned "air," which is a freon, or the carbon dioxide used for topping off wine bottles. I use it to displace air in my developer bottles. I don't have the slightest theoretical foundation of why this might help, but it falls into the "can't hurt" category. It appears at this point that the degradation is entirely internal and is not about oxidation.

                      Sorry if this blows up all the conjecture above.

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X