Film in caches

[+Rabid Bunny]

Kind of a funny question, but can freezing weather affect disposable cameras put in caches? Just wondering.

 

Feral Cacher

[+ooga booga]

Film gets kind of brittle when it's cold, and it's vaguely possible that if someone used the camera in that kind of weather, the film could rip and break inside the camera when they wound it. But it'd have to be REALLY cold for that to happen - I mean like North Dakota in a cold snap cold, or Alaska cold.

 

Otherwise, heat's much more of a danger than cold - heat can do all kinds of not-so-pleasant things to film emulsion. Leaving a camera in an ammo box cache in the desert all summer might give you some interesting results.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Film should generally be used at temperatures between 50 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Refrigerating film can actually prolong the life of the images on it.

I'd worry more about having a cache exposed to the sun in the summer months. The heat can erase or otherwise damage your pictures.

[+Jamie Z]

A search turned up these topics which should have some more information.

 

This one is really old

Old, too

Getting more recent

Less than a year old

Just a couple months ago

 

Aside from the age of some of the posts, the information still applies.

 

Jamie

[+Itchy and Scratchy]

A little off topic, but can someone provide me with some of their cache sites in which cache hunter pictures have been uploaded too. I would like to see some of the results. I placed a camera in my first cache but it is too early to develop the pictures. Also, any preferences on the disposable cameras out there. Are some better than others?

[+Jamie Z]

The photos for this cache can be found here.

 

That's my entry. Guess which one is me. And can you identify ClayJar? Or Buck8Point?

 

Jamie

[GRANDMASTER CACHE]

I'm SO envious of the guy in the last photo - with the Bear Tracker. Gosh, that's been my heart's desire for so long... Maybe when the kids leave a bit of change in my pockets I can start saving up for one, unless something terrific comes along! Of course, most places in Kalifornia frown on those, but when we lived in Nevada??? Standard transportation! Cool photos - wow, that was a huge team on one of the pics!

 

Grandmaster Cache

[+Mopar]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

The photos for http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=4369&log=y&decrypt= cache can be found http://www.buriedtreasure.us/fortjackson.html.

 

That's my entry. Guess which one is me. And can you identify ClayJar? Or Buck8Point?

 

Jamie

---

CJ is FortJackson09.jpg , bucky would be FortJackson010.jpg and Jamie is FortJackson016.jpg

 

Tae-Kwon-Leap is not a path to a door, but a road leading forever towards the horizon.

[+The Leprechauns]

My dad is a retired chemical engineer who worked for his entire career at Eastman Kodak Company. He supervised the production of the film we all use. I asked him about this question and here is his answer:

 

Good question re: film/camera characteristics at low temperatures.

 

Unfortunately, most of the environmental condition data that's in my memory

would come from tests done on film prior to reaching the end customer where

the film is still protected by the sealed canister or a foil wrapper against

humidity effects that can trigger losses in quality. Once the film/camera is

open to ambient conditions, the question is well founded.

 

When I was doing color film formulation design work in the late '60's and

early 70's, I do recall a customer from Northern Canada sending back some

film/prints for EK comment. It did turn out to be a brittleness issue. Safe

operating range was widened with a formula modification. Chemical changes,

akin to crystallization, can occur under stressed conditions. However, I

can't pull anything out of my memory that would suggest that there should be

any FILM FORMULATION chemistry concerns over freezing/thawing in One Time Use

cameras with formulation technologies in use with films today, or at least up

until I retired in '97. I have obviously not been in touch with formula issues

since then.

 

What does come to mind though is any physical/mechanical impact. Changes in

humidity/temperature, especially rapid ones, could cause condensation on the

lens, for example, that could cause some fuzzy spots on the resulting prints.

Also conceivable that moisture equilibrating throughout the SUC(single use

camera) on a warm day could adversely affect mechanical action...film

transport for example...if the temperature drops quickly and any condensate

freezes.

 

At any rate, I would encourage sticking with the two best "name brands",

Kodak and Fuji, however. That way, one does not need to wonder if the

private label brands are using latest/best technology, given that they sell

at much lower prices.

 

I do put film in the freezer myself if I buy a larger than usual quantity on

sale, for example, but it is unopened. I have never frozen camera-film combos

as in the SUC's as we call them, so I have no personal experience to draw

from.

 

I do contact colleagues from time to time, and will pose your question to

either quality assurance folks or film designers at the next opportunity.

 

In the meantime, however, I would really encourage your technically curious

fellow geocachers to make it a point to call the Kodak Customer Contact

number on the retail package, 1-800-242-2424. Describe the cache conditions,

then ask your question to see what knowledge may be in data bases the service

reps can access. Other people may have asked similar questions in the past.

 

Kodak technical people rely heavily on customer feedback. The last few years

before I retired, EK asked all middle managers to spend a specified amount of

time each year listening in on the phone calls coming in to our service reps.

It was quite interesting, and I always learned something each time I took

part.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Next time, instead of getting married, I think I'll just find a woman I don't like and buy her a house.

[+Markwell]

Caches where the cache camera has been completed:

 

Row, Row, Row Your Boat (my wife and kid are in two of the shots).

 

The Giving Tree - soon to be archived

 

Markwell

Chicago Geocaching

[lujack]

As a former wedding photographer, I too put my film stock in the freezer. This retards the aging of the emulsion and extends the expiration date.

The one BIG caveat here is DO NOT OPEN the canister until it has reached room temperature. Doing so WILL result in condensation on the film, which, if loaded right away, will contaminate the inside of your camera.

How this all relates to the one-time-use cameras now on the market would be conjecture on my part.

[+Jamie Z]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mopar:

CJ is FortJackson09.jpg , bucky would be FortJackson010.jpg and Jamie is FortJackson016.jpg

---

I think I may have been tricked. I hadn't looked at the logs when I posted the challenge, but I was sure this guy was Bucky (as you like to call him) but after comparing the photos to the logs, I think you are right. I'm still confused. Buck, did you visit this one twice?

 

I also noticed on the second time around that RPecot is pictured. He's another cacher I've met.

 

Jamie

[+Jamie Z]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

Buck, did you visit this one twice?

---

I guess I'm being ignored.

 

Jamie