Sealed films what causes sealed films to fade

[Jim Schrader]

I recently bought a film it was still sealed in the original shrink wrap however the film had faded, does it still matter how its stored if its sealed that effects the films color or just the stock of film?

[Maurice Leakey]

Jim
If your newly bought film was on EastmanColor stock it would have faded wherever it had been kept.


Maurice

[Osi Osgood]

Well, yes and no, as, even Eastman color can largely be unfaded if stored properly. It's more to do with being stored, for extensive amounts of time in a hot environment.

[Joe Caruso]

Shrink-wrap was developed as a handy alternative to cellophane sealed items. The former causes all the air to compress and evaporate making even the most basic color stock fade quickly. Cellophane allows more circulation and not many films will change. I opened 2 of my 200' editions and found the color and picture on both still maintained their original vibrancy. Storage under normal conditions (moderate coolness), will keep. Unusual heat and all, well that aids to smell and other factors. Shorty

[Jim Schrader]

Do these films need to be lubricated?

[Joe Caruso]

No, you mentioned no warpage or twisting, so they aren't dried out. Color fade isn 't restorable (unless future technicians divert color schemes and re-dye), your films are okay. Clean them soon, but not right away. You'll know when 😊 Shorty

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Storage condition would play a large role here.
Regarding the climate where I live I have NEVER seen any pre 80's Eastman print that does not fade, period.
Actually at least 50% of them would be badly VS attacked, rendering them unusable anyway.

[Brian Fretwell]

I would think the only way to stop unopened film form fading/V/S would have been (like photographers did with unexposed film) to freeze them as soon as they were manufactured.

[Osi Osgood]

Thankfully, not all Eastman is equal, some of it being pretty good. I get the feeling that some of the 70's Eastman film stock was experimental low fade. Either that or incredibly good lab work.

[Jim Schrader]

This was a Ken Films I dont think I've ever seen a good colored film come from that company, at least in my collection.

[Rodney Bourke]

Thats interesting that Kodak made Amateur Cine films like 8mm, Super 8 & 9.5mm in Kodachrome to Last,
but professional film to Fade, maybe that was deliberate, so film collectors could not have professional formats like 16mm and 35mm in there Collection.

Maybe Now the Films can be Resurrected, thru Italy's Movie Magnetic

https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/vbb/f...magnetic/page2

[Brian Fretwell]

There is a totally different chemical process for films like Kodachrome that, like Technicolor, gives long lasting prints. However both also gave higher contrast and total higher costs. I believe some early Derann Standard 8 prints were Kodachrome reductions from 35mm prints. The process used in Eastmancolor and it's rivals was cheaper and bulk prints of films weren't expected to be used for decades so cost won out. As there were 35mm and 16mm Technicolor prints that collectors would have the same (low for either type) chance of owning, I would not think that a reason.

[David Kilderry]

Eastman color print stock will eventually fade. Most has already. Storage conditions do vary the rate of fade as mentioned above, but all Eastman release print film stock prior to LPP in 1982 will fade. The same goes for Fuji and Agfa prior to their low fade print stocks, although both can retain colour for longer in some instances.

[Osi Osgood]

Some of those Elvis super 8 feature film releases from the 70's still look as good as the day they were printed, but I agree that they will, someday, fade. But, if we are honest, our LPP prints will fade, some day, we just don't know when, (hopefully after we are dead ... Eh?) 😀

[Barry Attwood]

I've had many new sealed prints over the years, and I've found that it can differ from which lab was uised in the first place. I remember I had some 400' "Superman", which varied from excellent colour to fade, but this was one of those titles that was very popular and numerous negs were made so numerous labs could print them up, but apart from Disney Home Movies who were sticklers for details of what stock and fixer were being used, Columbia 8mm left it mostly down to the labs, like everyone they were out to make a Buck, so in some cases little corners would be cut, fixative, stock etc. and we are 'reaping' the rewards many years later (this was also the case with the 3x400' version, perhaps even more so in this case!), I've found the more popular the title, the more variations in quality, especially from the U.S. labs, thus the variations in the shrink wrapped stock we see for sale today.