Hello all,

I have just gotten into this hobby (against my wife’s wishes, oops) and recently I acquired some 16mm full feature films that aren’t too rare or valuable but are in good shape and I would like to preserve them as best as possible for as long as possible.

I currently live in El Paso, TX and it is very hot and dry most of the year. I have a small collection that I just recently acquired. Some titles include ‘The Harder They Fall’, ‘Panic in the Streets’, ‘House on Haunted Hill’, ‘ Forbidden’ and a number of short educational films.

I wanted to know if anyone can advise me on proper in home storage. My in home options would be to store at more or less room temp 71 degrees stacked in plastic film cans with RH between 18-33% or in my wine chiller with 40 degrees f and RH between 30-55%, but that concerns me due to the door being sealed tight and maybe cutting off air flow to the films?

Maybe I need to invest in a mini spilt and dedicate a room to always being kept around 65 degrees F (OUCH!)

Anyhow, any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time. I have read lots of interesting posts and I am glad I found this forum!

Hello Michael,

Thanks for joining our forum....I hope someone in the south will respond to your post as I am in Minnesota where the climate is much different than it is in Texas.

The general rule of thumb for film storage is: 'If you are comfortable, your films are comfortable'...

Archives typical store films at a cool temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and 50% humidity, with fans to circulate air. I store my films in archival vented cans--available from Larry Urbanski at http://urbanskifilm.com/supplies.html. These are stacked horizontally on wire shelving. Storing films in tightly sealed cans is bad, as is high temps.

As far as the wine chiller goes, I would be worried about any possible condensation/water vapor forming. Film is easily damaged by water. But I am personally not familiar with wine chillers, so I cannot advise one way or another on that.

One of our members, Don Cunningham is also in Texas, and you could PM him via the forum and see what he does. I am sure he would be happy to share his approach.

This is a fun hobby and we are glad to have you here....

Greg,

Glad to be here! Thanks for the reply.

So in theory a nice cool room temp in the right film can should be sufficient?

I ended up on some film archival sites that mention anything above 40-50 degrees F as unacceptable storage and will eventually cause VS.

Would love to pass this films on to my children one day.

Makes me wonder if I’m getting in a hobby that is hard to maintain. I was also looking for recommendations for film cleaning chemical, is there a specific one that is better than others? Some dealers recommended FilmGuard some said it wasn’t good to use.

Thanks. Using an Eiki currently and just projecting onto our wall.

Michael
Good points from Greg
Store as cool as possible, and store horizontally, not vertically, as this puts undue weight on one part of the film.
For long term storage use ventilated plastic archive cans and keep the films on plastic cores.

Welcome to the forum Michael; you have some top titles already.

The top two products for film cleaning are probably Film Renew (which I use, and is available from Larry Urbanski) and FilmGuard which is also used. Apparently Film Renew cannot be shipped to the UK, so many collectors there use FilmGuard. Both are safe for film, despite some erroneous info that someone has posted about FilmGuard.

If your film prints are currently vinegar free they are likely to last for many more years--if stored properly. A good number of films are have also been printed on "estar" film stock. This is like mylar and these prints will never get vinegar, and will last for 100+ years.

The other challenge with film collecting is the color fade that occurs in some film stocks. If you see a color film that is pink or red instead of proper colors, it is likely printed on Eastman stock. For B&W prints on Eastman stock this fade will not be a problem. I try not to buy color films on Eastman stock as a result of this fade issue, although I sometimes still do. There are low-fade film prints that will retain beautiful colors (LPP, IB Tech, AGFA), and those are preferred

An Eiki is a good choice of 16mm projector, and it is fine to project on a white wall.

For more info on film cleaning products and film stocks, try searching the forum here and going thru old posts. When I first got into collecting films maybe six years back I knew nothing, so it takes a while and some hands-on experience to figure it all out....Some of our forum members, like Maurice Leakey as but one example, have been involved with films and projectors for over 50+ years...so there is a ton of expertise to be found here in the forum. It is also very easy to post images here which is a plus.

Late response, but I'm in Texas also. Seguin, so further South. I keep my films in a dark room, stored in plastic archival cans with air vents. I stack no higher than 5 high. I built a table for my rewind that has storage below for the cans and supplies. I try to keep the house at 75 - 78, but Texas...