Process promptly.. But what is promptly?

[pvdhaar]

If like me, you've got more than just a single camera, you may recognise this.

There's film in one camera with a couple of frames exposed, and then for a while there's a need to use other gear. With some cameras it's possible to do a midroll rewind and carry on with the same film in another. But not all cameras can do it, and even if possible, it's not convenient. As a result, with the constant indoctrination of the 'process promptly' message on the film boxes, I'm wary of putting film into a camera that I'm not dead sure of I'll use continuously till the roll is finished. And that's just plain silly.. that's keeping me from using some of the gear I have. Why not put a roll of film in every camera and just pick the one up I'd like that day. But this would mean some may only get used once in a month, and the film would sit in there for maybe a year, or two.

Now, how bad would that be? Does anyone know how long a taken image can last without processing and still be good? In other words, what is the 'promptly' bit in process promptly?

[Justin Low]

Peter, I think that the latent image starts to degrade the moment it's exposed. That said, I have left rolls unprocessed for over 18 months and have still gotten usable images from them.

[Roger Hicks]

Not urgent. A few months is neither here not there. The longest I've left a roll (inadvertently) was about 15 years, though admittedly it was grainy and foggy.

There is even some evidence that films exhibit more speed after a few months (even 2 years) than when processed immediately, though for obvious reasons, this tends to be anecdotal rather than carefully researched.

Cheers,

R.