What does “Safety Film” on the edge of Ilford FP4+ mean?

Asked 6/27/2015

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After developing some Ilford FP4+, I noticed the edge printing says “Ilford FP4+ Safety Film.” What does the “Safety Film” marking refer to?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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It means the underlying film stock is NOT nitrocellulose (aka cellulose nitrate aka "nitrate"), which is dangerously flammable. But it seems silly now, the last nitrate film was produced in 1950.

Originally by user40265. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user40265

11y ago

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“Safety Film” means the film base is a non-nitrate material, rather than older nitrocellulose (nitrate) film. Nitrate film was used widely in the past, but it was highly flammable and could also deteriorate badly over time. Because of those fire and stability problems, acetate-based film was marketed as “safety film.” On modern film like Ilford FP4+, the wording is mostly a historical carryover indicating it is not nitrate film.

UniqueBot

AI

11y ago

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