Topic: Interesting article on Tri-X

[02Pilot]

It's from last year; I just saw a link to it elsewhere. Nothing groundbreaking, but a fun read nonetheless.

http://www.intelligentlifemagazine.com/content/features/bryan-appleyard/tri-x-factor

[Late Developer]

It is an interesting read, so thanks for posting. 

I'd heard that Don McCullin and Anton Corbijn had bought huge stashes of Tri-X when the "great panic of 2012" had got people thinking that Kodak wouldn't be producing film anymore.  There are a couple of things that occurred to me, though:

1. I've shot Tri-X since the mid 1970s and it seems a very different film today (in terms of contrast and amount / size of grain) to how it was all those years ago.

2. I've read that black and white film doesn't "expire" at the same rate as colour emulsions.  Therefore, keeping in a fridge isn't as crucial.  To be fair, I keep all my film in my fridge (as I have room to do so) but I've had great results with long-expired B&W film compared to colour film of a similar vintage. 

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had similar experiences or if it's my old brain playing up on me.....

[kentish cob]

Thanks for sharing O2P.
An interesting read.
This ... "It goes to the heart of how we see and what we see and what we may be losing as billions of casual, digital snaps are taken daily and as photographic integrity is subverted by the dead, flawless, retouched faces of actors and models that gaze blankly out at us". ... I'm sure strikes a chord with many who are, like me, bemused by the modern desire for instant [digital] gratification twinned with the "cult of celebrity".

Anyway... thanks to that article, I've got new favourite phrase... Analogue defiance. I see the artwork from Green Day's American Idiot, with the fist holding a roll of Tri-X instead of a grenade. That's a t-shirt I would buy.

[imagesfrugales]

I've read that black and white film doesn't "expire" at the same rate as colour emulsions.  Therefore, keeping in a fridge isn't as crucial.

It depends on the film speed imo, be it bw or color film.

F.i. Delta 3200 is already degrading at the "best before..." date. That's why I try to use fast films (= or > 400) as fresh as possible, the more so because I mostly push them for low light photog.

[Francois]

When you think of it, it's pretty logical that fast film age faster than slow films.
What ages the film is a combination of background radiation, temperature, humidity and oxygen.
So the more sensitive the silver used, the more it will be sensitive to some of these factors, particularly radiation.
The only way I know of that will keep just about any film for a very long time would be to keep the emulsion in a vacuum jar that is inserted in a heavy lead box that is stored in a freezer... not very convenient but it would work.