I have 4 aluminum film canisters I keep in my camera bag to store the more expensive 35mm film rolls. I like to use them for several reasons. The aluminum cans are a bit more durable, seal better, and they seem to keep the film cooler then the plastic cans.
The other day I was told by a sales guy in a local camera store (rhymes with Gamera Whirled) that the aluminum cans were bad for the film. He went on about the oxides of this and the breakdown of that. I’ve been using these for several years and I’ve never noticed anything happen to the film. That said I’ve never stored film in them longer then a few months and I only store the unexposed film. After I expose the film it comes out of the camera and into the plastic cans.
I mostly use Kodak Max 800 colour print film. Sometimes I’ll have a few odd black and white print rolls sitting about.
Alumina - the oxide of alumin(i)um - is an exceptionaly stable compund and I would have thought unlikly to cause any problems at all. Doesn’t the motion picture industry use alumin(i)um cans for movie film? I oftem use an alumin(i)um developing can.
Cooler is an illusion. For any given temperature metal feels cooler (or hotter) to your touch than plastic because it more effectively moves heat in/out of your skin.
Within a few minutes, maybe an hour tops the film itself, the factory film cartridge, your plastic/aluminum film canister, and the camera bag it’s in will all be at ambient temperature, whatever that may be.
If somehow the aluminum canister was really keeping your film cartridge cooler for days and days, you’d have found a free source of energy. Why not build a much bigger film canister & use it to air-condition your house? Clearly that’s nonsense.
So much for facts, on to pure opinion …
As to sealing better I’d bet the plastic ones would seal better. Maybe after 100s of uses the aluminum ones’ seals would prove more durable, maybe not.
Have you tried experiments like putting 3 of each (empty) in a pot of water with a weight on top to keep them submerged and then coming back in 2 hours to see which ones have leaked & which haven’t? That’s be a good test for both water leakage and for dust intrusion. I haven’t run the experiment either, but my money’s on the plastic.
I agree with aluminum being more durable, at least until they get slightly squashed. A plsatic canister that gets sat on will spring back, but a slightly out of round aluminum one will never seal well again.
I’d also call BS. IMHO the only reason for switching from aluminum film cans to plastic was a savings to be enjoyed by Kodak, Fuji, Agfa, et. al. Furthermore, many components of a 35mm camera are made of aluminum, such that if it was an evil metal, then it would consume images from the film whilst living inside the camera, no?
Interesting - I think I’ll do a test on this.
My thought is the plastic will hold the heat longer then the aluminum (that is once the film itself warms to the temperature in the camera bag). That said, I’m sure the difference will be slight.