Looking after what you've got
People ask us this at the counter and the answer is short enough to give away.
The order to deal with things in
| Priority | Format | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First | Video8 and Hi8 | The binder is failing across the whole generation. Shortest remaining life of anything in a typical drawer |
| Second | Anything that smells of vinegar | Decomposition accelerates and spreads to neighbouring tins |
| Third | VHS stored somewhere damp | Mould. Recoverable early, not later |
| Then | Everything else | Cine film in decent storage is remarkably patient |
Storage, in four lines
- Cool and dry beats warm and dry, and both beat a loft or a garage.
- Somewhere with stable temperature matters more than somewhere cold.
- Tapes upright, like books, not flat in a stack.
- Don't seal film in airtight plastic — trapped acid has nowhere to go.
Things that do more harm than good
Rewinding an old tape "to keep it loose" — every pass costs you something. Cleaning film with household solvents. Putting a suspect tape into a good deck before someone has looked at it, which is how a shedding tape takes the heads with it.
If you're not ready to transfer yet
Separate any tin that smells sharp from the rest, move the box out of the loft, and write on the lids what you think is on them. The last one sounds trivial and is the thing families most often wish had been done.