Preventing Condensation on Film

[Aaron White]

I am fairly new to film collecting and have two questions about film storage that I didn't see directly addressed in other posts. When I first started collecting, I read that the best way to prevent film degradation was to store the film in a cold environment with low humidity. Knowing that, I sealed my reels of film in plastic bags and put them in a mini fridge. I sealed them because I worried that if I moved a reel from the cool environment of the refrigerator straight to the substantially warmer environment that exists outside of the refrigerator, the moisture in the air would condense on the film. By sealing the film, I figured that when I removed it from the refrigerator, it would start off surrounded by air of the same temperature as itself. The temperature of the air in the bag would then gradually increase, which I believe would result in less moisture condensing on the film.

Today I read an article about film preservation that recommends not sealing film in an airtight container. It claims that if film is stored in an airtight container, gases will build up, accelerating degradation. After searching the forum, I saw that this is a pretty well known fact.

So I pose these questions:

Is it worse to leave the film unsealed knowing it will attract moisture when taken out of storage, or is it worse to seal it in with the gas?

If leaving the film unsealed is the better option, is there any way to minimize the amount of condensation upon removing it from storage?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I want to ensure that the film I have lasts for as long as possible

[Maurice Leakey]

Aaron
As I understand it, films must be able to breathe whilst being stored, thus, no airtight containers.
This does not refer to raw film stock.
You may be interested in the attached comments.
Guidance Motion Pictures | National Archives

[Ed Gordon]

Aaron, if you are storing at "room temperature" it should be in a breathable container. If you are freezing, it should be sealed.

Small media collections can be accommodated in off-the-shelf frost-free freezers or refrigerators. A major challenge in using freezers and refrigerators is protecting film from high humidity during storage. This can be achieved by careful packaging. (The critical issue of protecting films from condensation when they are removed from a freezer or refrigerator is discussed in 6.4.) Film Forever: The Home Film Preservation Guide (www.filmforever. org) illustrates the steps in packaging a film for refrigeration or freezing. To protect each film, you will need a rigid film container and either resealable polyethylene freezer bags or heat-sealable laminate bags made of layers of aluminum foil and polyethylene or layers of aluminum foil, polyester, and polyethylene. The laminate bags provide better protection, but for convenience, let’s assume you are using heavy-duty zip-sealed freezer bags.

See: https://www.filmpreservation.org/use...PDFs/fpg_6.pdf

[Osi Osgood]

One thing that I have always advocated and had no reason to doubt for the last 17 years, is selica gel packs placed within a freezer bag, whether you place these bags in a freezer, fridge or just on the shelf.