100-year old negatives found in Antarctica

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I remember when Mount St.Helens erupted. It doesn't surprise me that they got usable images from either that roll or the one found on ice. Film keeps a lot better than people think.
 
Would you say that it would keep better than digital media in ice for that long?
 
Antarctica is actually very dry. So things don't rust or rot.
 
Interesting to see. B&W film seems to last indefinitely... Photographers have often kept film in the fridge or freezer, easier than storing it in the Antarctic! seems to do fine in the cold.
 
Amazing story, isn't it? These negatives first had to be processed, and they were cellulose nitrate negs, to boot! The deck was stacked against them for anything meaningful, yet there are a couple of surreal images in the bunch. :)
 
noooo... link broken!
 
Would you say that it would keep better than digital media in ice for that long?
Absolutely. Way longer.
We will never know, maybe our grandchildren. For one thing my 12 years old CF, unused for 10 years, just laying on the bottom of the drawer and knocked around in it, still holds the images fine. Frozen ? In dry conditions ? Maybe the only question is, if in hundred years there will be still around any devices to read it. The beauty of the film is the technological simplicity, could be developed in coffee, and that will be available for centuries to come.:)
 
I remember when Mount St.Helens erupted. It doesn't surprise me that they got usable images from either that roll or the one found on ice. Film keeps a lot better than people think.

The roll from Mount St. Helens was taken and put aside before the eruption. Here is the quote under the pic of his recovered camera. I am sure the images in that camera, had they been recovered, would have been terrifying!

Columbian photographer Reid Blackburn's camera, recovered from the Mount St. Helens blast zone in 1980. The film in it was too damaged to yield images, but an unprocessed roll of film shot by Blackburn before the eruption was recently found in a box at The Columbian.
(Columbian files)
 
Yes, the roll that could still be developed was not with him when he died. The quote that I was thinking about was how they were astonished at how well 33-year-old film held up. All I could think of was, "33 years isn't that long." :)

And I agree that the last pictures taken in that ruined Nikon must have been horrifying.
 

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