Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1995/11/25
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I would not necessarily agree that E-6 films have a 50-year life. First,
storage differences affect film enormously..... you would like to have the
perfect combination of cool to cold, dark, dry. But that is unrealistic
unless you are a museum. And freezing is better than cool. Many, many
variables here, so putting a year on archival quality is risky at best and
silly at worst.
Also, film, like people and fruit, fades over time. It just does not sit
there with its original colors and one day, 20-40 years down the road, pop
over to a faded state. Colors gradually fade, with trememdous increases in
their fading if they are exposed to UV light, florescents, light boxes, and
especially to the heat and brilliant light of a projector. Stories abound
around Geographic about picture editors accidentally ruining an original by
leaving it in a projector or on a light table over the weekend.
The important point here is that the fading is constant.... and can be vastly
increased to disastrous ends by exposing the slides to bright light, uv
light, or heat.
I have no E-6 material that is 50 years old that I consider in original
condition. Perhaps the material being exposed today will last 50 years, but
not the material already at or near 50 years.
Fred WArd
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