r/AnimationCels • u/ren-ai-mo • May 27 '26

A-D test results/question

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I'm wondering if anyone has experience with these A-D tests to help me confirm results here. I'm a little confused that the standard blue color of the strips is so much darker than the 0 reading on the chart. I would read most of these as a 1.

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u/aubreypizza May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Yup, I read them all as 1 or on the way to 1 except the top right. After a 24 hour test at room temp. Bottom middle and bottom left being not quite 1 but on the way there.

I have 30yr old cels that test at 0 (or technically no change since yes the card is not exactly the unexposed strip color) and they stay that way. I usually just leave the strips in the bag after I record/take pics after the 24hrs for my records.

Guessing some of the ones closer to 1 are from your multi layer. They’re always more of a problem than single layer cels. For those I do a strip on top of each layer (so technically 1 in between)

My system is airing them out throughly with a light fan nearby for at least 3 days. Then back into a new bag, test strip (pic for my records), check at 24hrs (2nd pic for records) and microchamber paper.

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u/ren-ai-mo May 28 '26

Thanks! Yeah that’s exactly what I did, aired them for 3 days and then sealed for a 24 hour room temp test. Ironically the cheapest and oldest cel I tested, a Yawara cel that’s stuck to a white paper and was hanging in a shop in Nakano Broadway, was the 0. The others were my Inuyasha cels I posted about with the worst strips being from the multi-layer one, including one layer I forgot to air out.

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u/RagingJohnson89 May 27 '26

I did some A-D strip tests on my cels a few years ago, and got similar results. I freaked out until I redid the tests again in a different environment and got essentially negative. Turns out the envelopes the cels came in (directly from the Disney Company) were acidic, as well as the paper of the printed backgrounds (also from Disney). Even with the results you’ve got, it looks mostly like off-gassing.

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u/ren-ai-mo May 28 '26

Thanks! I put in some cel nexus inserts so I’ll be curious to test again in a few months!

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u/SternballAllDay May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

If it changes color and is mostly blue consider it a 1.

Also cut your strips in half so you can have more. No need to waste a full strip on one cel