Another day of destroying my VS films

[Winbert Hutahaean]

It's already my third (or fourth) nightmare to find those smelly boxes and check what happened with the films inside. YES.. they were contaminated with strong VS.
It is already my destiny to live in a tropical country with high humidity and temperature (80% above and 28-33 degrees Celsius all year round). There are not so many films that can survive (ps: yet there are some that are not impacted even though they are stored in the same place, same condition.. I don't know why)

I share here the photo of my horror...

I'm trying to save the reels because they can still be sold here for around $6/each.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Winbert,

What a horrifying picture! It reminds of the 1975 short film "Recorded Live" that was recently shown at CineSea 25.

[Arnau Pell]

I'm sorry, I've never seen myself like this.
Surely those that are spoiled will be acetate films, and those that survive will be polyester.
Cheer up, mate!

[Dominique De Bast]

Awful.

[Osi Osgood]

I bought a film with VS once, Birth of a Nation, but it turned out that the smell was caused by something in the fixitive for the magnetic stripe on the standard 8mm film. I did have a freebie 35mm trailer for Yellow Submarine, that had gorgeous color, but VS

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

The very reason why I stopped collecting films years ago. Now I live with only a fraction of it that still survives.

[Joe Caruso]

Makes a good wig for halloween..Shorty

[Ed Gordon]

...
It is already my destiny to live in a tropical country with high humidity and temperature (80% above and 28-33 degrees Celsius all year round). There are not so many films that can survive (ps: yet there are some that are not impacted even though they are stored in the same place, same condition.. I don't know why)

Winbert, your observations would seem to question the commonly accepted caution that Vinegar Syndrome is "contagious". We are cautioned by the experts to store film with VS separately from other films. I searched for articles on "VS and contagious", and I can not find any mention of a study done to prove or disprove the contagious theory. Have you found any information that definitively proves that VS is contagious?

old wives' tale

: an often traditional belief that is not based on fact : superstition

Example Sentences

Frogs won't give you warts. That's just an old wives' tale. the old wives' tale about the full moon causing people to act crazy

[Mike Newell]

Very frustrating and soul destroying. When collecting cine located to cold dark country. We might have pale skin but our films keep their colour.

In terms of VS I think the contagious element is grossly overplayed a film will either turn or it won’t.

[Ed Gordon]

Very frustrating and soul destroying. When collecting cine located to cold dark country. We might have pale skin but our films keep their colour.

In terms of VS I think the contagious element is grossly overplayed a film will either turn or it won’t.

The problem is the acetate. If it is made of acetate, it will develop VS eventually. If can be postponed indefinitely, but it can't be prevented. When I was searching for "is VS contagious" I came across posts on a web site dedicated to collectors of plastic model horses who have old plastic models with VS.

Contagious VS does not exist, but Contagious BS does.

[Larry Arpin]

If you are serious about collecting films, especially acetate films in a high temp environment, you should store your films in a dedicated refrigerator. I believe Osi has also stored films in the freezer to prevent any more fading.

[Osi Osgood]

Well, not in the freezer, but freezer bags in a fridge, with selica gel packs! It does help, as I once had two prints, withe same amount of light fade. The one I wanted to "archive" (less worn out), I put in freezer bags with selica gel packs, the other I left out. The one I left out continued it's March to Oblivion, the fridge film, continues to look the same as the day I first put it in the fridge.