Vinegar Syndrome

[Harry Abramson]

Makes sense that cardboard will easily absorb odor and outgassing from VS-infected film. I suspect some plastics will also, though likely to a lesser degree. Everything I've read online recommends keeping the film sealed in its metal can while performing the 24-hour A-D strip test, then continuing to store film that way until any mitigation treatments are completed and odor has subsided.

Has anyone made a concerted effort to compare and evaluate the various methods that are often mentioned on the boards for slowing the progression of VS? Aside from basic cleaning, the ones I see repeatedly include molecular sieves, baking soda, sunlight, various chemical treatments, and cold storage. Shorty mentions "baking soda powder and sheets" above, but I'm not sure what he means by "sheets."

[Philip Hamilton]

If these films can still be projected I would have them scanned and digitized and therefore preserved that way. I did that with all of our family home movies on 8mm. I still have the 8mm but I also have digital high def copies as well.

[Osi Osgood]

Nobody has mentioned the verdict on plastic containers and plastic reels. I don't know either, but I do store most of my films on plastic reels and boxes.

[Maurice Leakey]

My experience has shown that if a film stored in a cardboard carton gets VS then the cardboard will also absorb the smell.

[Harry Abramson]

I've already ordered some 5-inch cardboard archival boxes and plastic spools for the two films I was most concerned about. I went back and forth over buying some A-D strips due to the cost--typically US$100 for 250 strips plus the secret decoder pencil. Yikes! But I found them for "only" $60 at the Rochester Institute of Technology's Image Permanence Institute, so I ordered a pack. Now that I know VS is an issue with multiple audio recordings as well as the films, it makes the cost a bit more bearable. Plus, I haven't found any other means to truly quantify the problem. I'll report back with results after I'm able to do a proper assessment.

[Paul Adsett]

Note what Harry says here. The films with VS were the ones in the metal cans, those in cardboard boxes were all OK.
This confirms the experience of myself and many other collectors. Cardboard boxes are the best way to store your collection.

[Joe Caruso]

I have had success with baking soda powder and sheets, AD strips went from 4 to 1 with several weeks treatment. Too bad those films were sealed up...always let them breathe in light cardboard boxes...Shorty

[Osi Osgood]

Sometimes a film, having been sealed in a container for an extended period of time, will give off a "chemical" smell, but won't actually be "VS", and once they are aired out, they'll be fine, but I'm not there, so I don't know your specific circumstances, but give them a good film cleaning, plenty of air, and they should be OK for an extended period of time. Occasionally, warping of film can come from a lack of lubrication and just being excessively dry. Good luck with those precious family memories. Yes you can get those feelings from videotape, but there is just something about those moments captured in time, on celluloid.

[Harry Abramson]

Thanks, Burton. Yes, it is my understanding that VS is incurable, so my immediate goal is to stabilize the home movies enough to successfully scan them. Then, I hope to keep the films pliable and playable for as long as possible. It would be great if we can project them in their original form for surviving relatives to see themselves and other family members--most of whom are no longer with us--as they appeared in the early to mid-1950s (a few years before i was born). Unfortunately, most of our extended family live out-of-state and have various health issues, so we don't know when or if we'll be able to schedule such screenings, hence my desire to digitize these films while it is still possible.

[Burton Sundquist]

Harry, I am no chemist, film preserver or archivist but I have read that you can put these reels in a freezer to prevent further chemical reaction causing the VS. You can treat the film with FG and safely project the print using a different take-up reel than for non- VS prints then swab the film path with alcohol afterwards.
There could be visual chemical damage once you can FG it and screen it. There are false claims about curing Vinegar Syndrome. Chemical reactions happen. But you can slow it down.

[Harry Abramson]

Dang! I was hoping that I'd dodged this bullet, but apparently not. All of the commercial films and about half of the home movies I recently recovered from my late aunt & uncle's house were on plastic spools in cardboard boxes. Two 200-ft. home movies, however, were on metal spools and stored in tightly closed metal cans. These two emitted a strong odor upon opening, but I didn't immediately associate it with the smell of vinegar. In fact, that same uncle was a private-practice radiologist whose office featured multiple x-ray machines and in-house film processing. The smell of these movies reminded me of the same chemical odor that I recalled from having broken bones x-rayed at his office as a kid. With no other frame of reference I was hoping that maybe this is simply what old films are supposed to smell like.

Still, I removed those films from the metal cans and quarantined them in a separate part of house, even though they show no signs of warping, shrinking, or spoking. This afternoon, I was going through some old 5-inch reel-to-reel audio tapes that had been kept in the same large shoebox as the films and also stored in the same type of metal cans. Several of these tapes are very old Scotch brand on an acetate-base and one of them exhibited that exact same odor, as well as obvious curling and spoking. The wraps have a distinctive polygon appearance on the reel instead of the smooth, round windings I'm accustomed to.

At least the films, unlike that audio tape, appear to be in the early stages. My original plan was to do nothing with these films until I cleaned & lubed them all with FG (still haven't gotten a reply to the email I sent Steve Osborne on 16 June), but now I'm wondering if there's anything else I need to do first, such as ordering molecular sieves, treating with baking soda, etc. Any advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!