How To Take Good Care of Your Film

It suddenly occurred to me that I’ve never done a post on one of the most essential elements of film photography, which is: how to treat your film right. Imagine you’re dating your film, and you must therefore succumb to all of its whims and desires regardless of what you really want. Treating your film properly can significantly extend its life and helps you get the best results possible. So, without further ado, the most important steps to taking good care of your film:
1. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE. I cannot stress this enough. In fact, it’s so very, very important that I’m going to repeat it 10 times:

1. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
2. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
3. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
4. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
5. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
6. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
7. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
8. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
9. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE
10. KEEP YOUR FILM IN THE FRIDGE

Good. Now get up off your ass and put your film in your fridge RIGHT NOW. Have you ever noticed that professional shops keep the film in big refrigerators like soda vending machines? Yeah, there’s a reason why they do that. It keeps film fresh. Personally, I have an entire shelf and crisper drawer dedicated to film. My husband knows better than to argue with me about this. But that’s nothing. Check this guy out:

This was apparently in preparation for a trip… but I know many photographers who, like this guy,  do not have actual food in their refrigerators.
Now, sadly, the fridge does not fix all film woes when it comes to the cruel hand of time. Here’s an excerpt from Kodak’s official page on Storage and Handling of Unprocessed Film:

Refrigerating camera films reduces the photographic effects of long-term storage, but refrigeration cannot reduce the effects of ambient gamma radiation. Naturally occurring gamma radiation increases the D-min and toe densities and also increases grain. Higher speed films are affected more by gamma radiation than lower speed films. A camera film with an EI (Exposure Index) of 800 has a much greater change than an EI 200 film. Exposed and unprocessed film that has been properly refrigerated retains the speed and contrast of the exposure conditions, but the overall D-min, toe and grain will continue to increase.

For those of you who don’t speak fancy photography, it means your Ilford Delta 3200 won’t keep as long as your Ilford Pan F 50.
2. DO NOT EXPOSE YOUR FILM TO HEAT
Considering #1, this is not that surprising. Film doesn’t like heat. Or too much humidity. Obviously sometimes this is unavoidable, for example if you’re shooting in the middle of July and have film on you for the day. That’s okay. However, if you’re traveling to a tropical climate and have a mini-fridge in your room… you know where this is going. Like people, film does need some humidity and complete dryness isn’t a good thing either (hence the fridge.)
In general you should not leave your film in the car when it’s hot, laying in the sun even if it’s inside your home, or out in places that regularly get warm and humid. Heat and humidity promote mold growth and ferrotyping, which is a fancy way of saying it makes the gelatin base of the film swell, changing the overall surface structure. Basically, it’s not good.
A ferrotyped negative looks like this:

EWWWW.
3. FREEZE FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE
If you stockpile film (I do and if you don’t you should think about it) and intend on storing it for a period of 6 months or longer, the ideal temperature is freezing - actually below freezing, at 0 degrees Fahrenheit and -18 degrees Celsius.
When freezing film, it is essential to let it warm up by 25 degrees (F). That’s approximately three hours for 35mm. If you don’t let it warm up, it will crack and break - because frozen film is brittle film.
4. ACTUALLY LOAD YOUR 120 FILM IN SUBDUED LIGHT
Anyone who has shot 120 film has noticed the “Load in Subdued Light” message printed on the backing paper. Anyone who has shot 120 film will also admit that at some point they have completely and blatantly ignored this instruction. Why? So many reasons, but primarily laziness… which I myself have also been guilty of on occasion.
Sure, there’s a good chance your photos will turn out okay even if you reload in broad daylight, but do you really want to risk it? Fogging sucks, so find a shady corner or shut yourself in a bathroom.
5. WHEN YOU LOAD A ROLL, FINISH IT
Lots of people want to get the most out of a roll of film… in fact, one time my grandfather accidentally wound a roll of film after shooting only 7 frames and asked me to pull it out and reload it in a darkbag so he could finish the roll. But I digress…
Leaving a roll of partially-exposed film in your camera for weeks or months pretty much guarantees your film will be partially degraded. For those of you looking for a quicker solution than waiting for a decade to get “expired film effects,” may like the results. But if you have a variety of cherish photos, some of them will be blown out, faded, have light leaks or have color changes. I’ll quote Kodak again:

Do not keep film in the camera or magazine longer than necessary.

Simple. Besides, if you shoot film, at some point or another you’ll open up a camera back thinking it’s empty only to have your eyes fall upon the silver glossy surface of exposed, undeveloped film, at which point you will probably shriek to yourself and try to close the back as quickly as possible. This doesn’t happen when you finish rolls you start on the same day.
By following these simple steps, you can often extend the life of your film by years without seeing any difference in image quality.