Acetate Leach
Acetate leach or “vinegar syndrome “as it’s often referred to, is the degradation of acetate film due in large part to being stored in hot and damp environments in sealed containers.
Acetate film stored incorrectly will release acetic acid (hence the vinegar smell) over time and this causes the base material of the film (cellulose acetate) to degrade. Once the process has started it is irreversible. The leaching process causes the film to curl, shrink and become brittle. This makes it impossible to run through a film scanner. The image above illustrates how the film edges are damaged.
Temperature and humidity play a crucial role in long term storage of film, generally less than 20 deg C and below 40% humidity is good, the lower the temperature the better. Low humidity (below 20%) could cause the film to dry. See the Wikipedia link below for more.
If you open your film collection and get the slightest smell of vinegar – get on the phone and book it in for digitization, the sooner the better!
Film that has started to leach can still be rescued but there may be frame shift as a result of the film shrinking.
More detailed information can be found on this Wikipedia page
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