Deterioration Of Impossible Project B&w Film

[Brian Moore]

Some of you may recall that my image began to deteriorate. A little research revealed that this is common with the IP B&W film and is likely caused by moisture trapped in the emulsion layer. IP sells a "Dry Age Kit" which they say to store the images inside for the 1st month after shooting. (But you can remove and look at the picture from time-to-time.) The kit is basically a sealed pouch with a desiccant. My local camera shops don't stock the Dry Age Kits. Some people have used rice as a drier. That's what I decided to do.

Here are 3 scans. See the differences?

November 24 (Scanned about an hour after taking the picture.)


November 29 (Scanned after I realized the picture was undergoing metamorphosis.)


December 7 (Stored on rice in sealed tupperware bowl since Nov 29.)

 

[Pete Askew]

Looks like that seems to have at least halted it Brian.

 

[Brian Moore]

Looks like that seems to have at least halted it Brian.

It seems that way to me, also, Pete. Or, if it hasn't halted it it has maybe at least slowed it. I'll scan it again next week.

 

[Paul Lange]

It seems like the rice may be doing the trick but if you still run into problems you can buy desiccant bags from ebay pretty cheap. You can leave these in a warm oven for a few hours to drive off the moisture they have absorbed too so they are reusable almost indefinitely.

 

[Brian Moore]

It seems like the rice may be doing the trick but if you still run into problems you can buy desiccant bags from ebay pretty cheap. You can leave these in a warm oven for a few hours to drive off the moisture they have absorbed too so they are reusable almost indefinitely.

Thanks, Paul. That's what you do with the desiccants in IPs Dry Age Kit too.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

I can see a series here Brian - Impossibly slow decay

 

[Brian Moore]

I can see a series here Brian - Impossibly slow decay

lol. Unfortunately I think you're right, Chris!