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Protecting Unexposed Film from Cosmic Radiation?
iblink asks: "Last year Fujifilm stopped producing a color slide E-6 sheet film called Velvia 50. It has unique color characteristics that I love so I decided to purchase the remaining stocks in Europe. I now have hundreds of boxes that need to be stored for up to thirty years. A number of film experts assured me that freezing the Velvia would stabilize the dyes for long term use. However, they all mentioned that cosmic radiation would eventually fog the film, and they offered little help in finding a relatively inexpensive barrier. I found various ideas on proton cosmic radiation barriers — a big bucket of water, lead, certain plastics — but nothing convincing or sufficiently detailed (which plastic? How thick?). The film is currently in a freezer, unprotected. Any ideas?"
I prefer using a fantastic group of four astronauts to block cosmic radiation. It seems to work well.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
Were any of the film experts from FujiFilm? They may have some guidance for you. As them how they store film stocks.
--Mike
You could use a very deep cave or mine, however this then presents other radioactive issues.
I note that it's now past late spring 2007.
I think that I should warn you that everything eventually decays. Nothing lasts forever. And film, just like fruit, is best served fresh. If you really want to continue using Velvia in, say 600 years, I would recommend that you try to come up with some way of getting it fresh in the future. Just because Fuji stopped producing it, shouldn't mean that they won't be able to produce a small batch of it (at ridiculous high prices) if you make a special order. A different option, is to simply ask for the "recipe" (possibly by signing an NDA or similar contract), and get an independent laboratory to produce it when you need it. The last (and the only sane) option, is to try to find something else that fits your need. Such as analysing sample pictures, and coming up with a photoshop color filter that does the same thing.
A Faraday cage won't stop particle radiation, nor will it protect against short wavelength radiation like gamma rays (unless you build a Faraday cage from massive lead plates, without any holes in it).
It also won't protect you against radioactive radon gas seeping out off the ground.
Forget about Velvia 50 & just move onto Velvia 100F like the rest of us have. 50 has little to no (most people would say the latter) advantage over 100f.
If you are concerned about being able to use Velvia film in the long term, it might be easier and cheaper to get together with other like-minded folk and find a cheap contracting manufacturer somewhere like China or India who can copy the Velvia manufacturing process (if they bother follow licensing protocols...) to provide a supply of fresh film.
The cosmic radiation in question has enough energy to travel across the galaxy, blast through several kilometres of atmosphere, penetrate your building's roof and walls and then punch through the box holding your film before actually interacting with the film. Seems unlikely that you'll be able to do much more to keep the film fresh.
I've heard that if you stack a bunch of red Fiestaware dinner plates, and then store your film sandwiched in layers between them, then cosmic radiation won't be an issue at all.
Did you also happen to buy and store a 30-years-worth supply of chemicals (and a processing machine) for E-6?
Like lots of photo buffs, the first thing I thought of was the Rochester Institute. And that led me to an answer.
I'm not going to put directly on Slashdot the name and phone number of a real person. However, if you visit the Image Permanence Institute web site and poke around, you'll find a name and phone number you can call to get in touch with an expert on these subjects who will either know the answer or know where to find it.
You may want to investigate "Graded-Z shielding". The name comes from the fact that it uses layers of shielding with decreasing atomic numbers. You might first have a layer of lead, then a layer of tin, then one of copper. The lead stops the cosmic rays (protons, electrons, light atomic nuclei), but generates X-rays in the process. These X-rays might also fog your film. The X-rays produced as the lead absorbs the cosmic rays have a characteristic energy (88keV) which is not well absorbed by the lead itself - that's where the tin comes in. Again, the tin stopping the X-rays from the lead generates X-rays with a lower characteristic energy (29keV, which is in medical X-ray energy territory), which it doesn't absorb too well. The copper absorbs the X-rays from the tin and again emits X-rays with a yet lower characteristic energy. I don't know if the 9keV X-rays produced by the copper are a problem for Velvia. If they are, you'll need a yet lighter layer; a glance at the periodic table shows aluminium is a likely candidate.
I have no idea about the sensitivity of Velvia to cosmic rays or X-rays, so can't suggest thickness of the materials. My wild-ass-guess is somewhere in the 10s of mm. 30 years is a hell of a long time though. There are companies which specialise in shielding of this type (search for 'radiation shielding', 'graded-z shielding' and the like), they may be able to provide advice and sell you enclosures.
Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven' - BBC News
The change in sweetener is a more subtle thing than trying to pass off New Coke in the old Coke cans. No, I didn't notice the change. How long ago was it?
OTOH, ask those Dr. Pepper fans who live near and dote on the output of the one Dr. Pepper bottler in the U.S. who still uses cane sugar. They'll tell you they can easily tell the difference.
Q: My film is being destroyed by cosmic death rays, what can I do about it?
A: Digital camera, Raid 5, good backups.
Q: But only velvet#50 has the unique qualities I'm looking for. I can't reproduce that with digital.
A: Photoshop CS7, Filters -> Artistic -> Velvitize.
Q: But I have to have REAL velvet#50 for all these Elvis and Bengal tiger prints I'm doing. I can't print on velvet with an inkjet!
A: I heard fujifilm has a good film that does this, see if they still make it.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
This is because you don't grow nearly as much corn up in canada, and subsequently you didn't have a corn lobby to lobby for tarriffs on outside sugar. Fucking corn lobby.
Sadly that is part of the family of urban legends surrounding the New Coke fiasco. It is not true. Coke actually switched from cane sugar to HFCS several months before the introduction of New Coke. (You can still get Coke made with cane sugar in the U.S. if you get the glass-bottled kind imported from Mexico.) But in general, no one noticed or cared. New Coke came later and was an entirely different fiasco.
Snopes, as per usual, has good info on this subject.
Thanks,