Neg/slide storage

[philipus]

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I'm just curious how you store your negatives and slides? I'm going to organise 20+ years of films and have been recommended the Monochrome "Ordnerkassette" and the PrintFile sleeves but am open to alternatives.

 

cheers

philip

[spydrxx]

Most of the slides I have (from 1940 onward) have been stored in the boxes they were returned in, those boxes then placed in a larger box, wrapped in plastic from the dry cleaner's, and placed in a dark old cedar chest. Checked about once every year or so. Those were my parents and grandparents' slides. Mine have been less rigorously stored in their original boxes or slide trays, away from light, heat and humidity.

 

Negatives I have generally kept in sleeves, and most of mine from the 1960-70s look like new.The "non-keepers" were just put in regular envelopes, and in spite of a total lack of care, seem to be just fine as well. I think the answer is keep them away from light, heat and humidity and they will outlast you.

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[rob139]

I use the Monochrom cassette and Printfile sleeves as well, very happy with them. I use them for my old as well as my new negatives.

 

Someday I hope to make contact sheets from all my negatives.

I understand that that should be possible with the negatives in the sleeves, but would it also be possible to scan them this way?

 

Rob

[kokoshawnuff]

Printfile seem to be the best option I've found (seven strips of six frames is my choice). In a flatbed scanner you can make a contact sheet of sorts, they are easy to organize, and are quite cheap. One thing to watch out for is some types dust on the negs will cause scratches when sliding them in and out of the sleeve.

 

 

would it also be possible to scan them this way?

 

You'll get poor results doing this, but they are more than adequate enough for contact sheets

Edited May 3, 2012 by kokoshawnuff

[erl]

I use the Monochrom cassette and Printfile sleeves as well, very happy with them. I use them for my old as well as my new negatives.

 

Someday I hope to make contact sheets from all my negatives.

I understand that that should be possible with the negatives in the sleeves, but would it also be possible to scan them this way?

 

Rob

 

Currently I am 'cherry picking' selected neg files (Printfile) for scanning. I have always written dates and film Nos etc on the bags. I scan them in an Epson V700 flat bed scanner without removing the negs from the bag. This both saves time and automatically records the identifying data written on the bag. The quality is more than adequate for use as proofs, that blow up in PS extremely well.

 

This is a copy technique of my 'once upon a time' practice in the darkroom where I always did that under the enlarger with a sheet of glass over the neg bag on top of the paper.

[CalArts 99]

Most all modern materials designed for film storage is safe. It's not like the old days when plastics would ooze and outgas nasty fumes.

 

I'd say the most important thing is developing a filing and cataloging system that works for you and allows you to actually find the negatives.

 

I make contact sheets on a flatbed, too but turn them into pdf files using Adobe Acrobat. That way I can annotate them easily. I number the sleeves and then number the corresponding pdf files. They go onto an external disk that is linked to iView Media Pro. I've been using that for many years despite its ongoing changes of ownership; it's actually pretty decent cataloging software. Hopefully Phase One will keep it alive now that they own it.

 

The negatives are in mylar fold lock sleeves and then put into Printfile Ultima sheets which are slightly larger than the regular ones. That way you can keep them in the mylar fold lock sleeves and still put them in the pages. It keeps them from getting scuffed when you need to access them. Regular pages are pretty tight and sometimes it's not easy to pull out a strip of negatives. The Ultima version of Printfile solves that issue.

[Guest sterlinstarlin]

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I write a catalogue code at the top of my PrintFile sleeves. For example MPR1 would be Leica MP roll one. All of the data for that roll of film goes into a spreadsheet under MPR1. Every 100 rolls goes into a PrintFile storage box with a printout of the spreadsheet that contains the data for those rolls. The boxes get labled something like MPR1-MPR100. Pretty simple. Works great.

Edited May 6, 2012 by sterlinstarlin

[DaveO]

I have slides that are up to 50 years old. I stored them in metal boxes that had slots to put them into and kept them in a dark interior closet. The Kodachromes look like they were taken yesterday. They are still vibrant and have no color shift. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about my Ektachromes, they have faded and no longer look as good. Unfortunately, they discontinued Kodachrome instead of Ektachrome. Don't know about the other brands of slides.

[erl]

I have slides that are up to 50 years old. I stored them in metal boxes that had slots to put them into and kept them in a dark interior closet. The Kodachromes look like they were taken yesterday. They are still vibrant and have no color shift. Unfortunately, I cannot say that about my Ektachromes, they have faded and no longer look as good. Unfortunately, they discontinued Kodachrome instead of Ektachrome. Don't know about the other brands of slides.

 

I take your point about the Kodachomes. They seem to last indefinitely! Unfortunately, I never liked the colour of kodachrome, but mostly The ridiculous turnaround time for processing, 'losses' in transit and occasional scratching (badly) really put me off. The ability process ones own, or even use a local Pro lab (not as convenient) always had me favouring 'other' slides than Kodachrome.

[too old to care]

I also have 50 year old Kodachrome slides that look like new. Most of them have been in Kodak carousel trays for decades. My Etkachrome slides have not had the same fate, which is why I scanned many of them before they are totally ruined. I store my negatives in Print File pages.

[MPJMP]

I use PrintFile sleeves in 3 ring binders. I've got every frame of 35mm film I've ever shot (shot my first roll in 1983) categorized by type (positives, clolor neg, B&W) and in chronological order.

 

They will scratch your negatives if you aren't careful, and even sometimes when you are. I have some strips of 35mm negs that were scanned once and when I went to re-scan them years later discovered long, horizontal scratches that took lots of work to fix in PS.

 

Despite this occassional frustration, I have yet to find a better long term storage/organization solution.

[CalArts 99]

 

They will scratch your negatives if you aren't careful, and even sometimes when you are. I have some strips of 35mm negs that were scanned once and when I went to re-scan them years later discovered long, horizontal scratches that took lots of work to fix in PS.

 

Just a hint, but they won't scratch your negatives if you sleeve them first. Put them in fold lock sleeves (the same sleeves that good pro labs use; you can also buy them from lab supply vendors as a roll and then cut to length.) Then instead of using the standard version of Printfile, you use their Ultima version. That allows for a bit more room to slide the sleeved negatives in and out, and are made specifically for sleeved negatives. A fold lock 'unfolds' and so there's zero potential of scratching (which is why good labs use them.) You can store the Ultima sheets in a binder just like any of the Prinfile versions.

 

Printfile Ultima: Archival photo storage supplies and products, archival boxes, acid free albums - Ultima Negative Preservers

 

In the US, this is an excellent vendor of archival storage materials:

Print File Ultima Negative Preserver | Gaylord

 

At B+H: Print File Archival Storage Page "Ultima" 010-0135 B&H

 

Fold lock negative sleeves: 35mm Fold Flap Sleeve

Archival Methods Side Lock Polyester Film Sleeves 31-101 B&H

 

Sleeves at B+H: Archival Methods Side Lock Polyester Film Sleeves 31-101 B&H

 

Instead of polyester you can also get the sleeves in polypropylene which is less expensive but be aware that it's a thinner material: Archival Methods Side Lock Polypropylene Film Sleeves 31-001 B&H

 

Here they are in bulk roll form: Polyguard Tube Sleeving with Side Flap

[erl]

They will scratch your negatives if you aren't careful, and even sometimes when you are. I have some strips of 35mm negs that were scanned once and when I went to re-scan them years later discovered long, horizontal scratches that took lots of work to fix in PS.

.

 

Consider the possibility that the negs may have been scratched initially, but the original scanner may not have captured those scratches. Years later, I assume a newer scanner of course, which is a 'better' scanner and subsequently recorded the scratches that were always there. This is similar to enlarging in the darkroom, where some enlargers will 'see' scratches, and others won't.

[pico]

There are definitive answers at Wilhelm Research.

 

He was a classmate of my housemate. (There is a joke in there somewhere.)

[CalArts 99]

There are definitive answers at Wilhelm Research.

 

He was a classmate of my housemate. (There is a joke in there somewhere.)

 

At Grinnell?

[AlanG]

CalArts 99 and other suggestions to use pages is the way to go. Most photographers and stock houses stored their images in hanging file folders in filing cabinets so they can sort through them fairly quickly.

 

If you want to be able to easily retrieve images, you will need to implement an organized filing structure that preferably includes computer generated labels tied to an on-line database that allows you to cross-index information and tie that info. to your storage location.

 

For large libraries, it gets fairly complicated and I used to write and market software that I developed for this purpose. (It could also track if pictures were sent out, who had them, when they were due back, usage, and sales history,)

Edited May 11, 2012 by AlanG

[MPJMP]

Just a hint, but they won't scratch your negatives if you sleeve them first. Put them in fold lock sleeves (the same sleeves that good pro labs use; you can also buy them from lab supply vendors as a roll and then cut to length.) Then instead of using the standard version of Printfile, you use their Ultima version. That allows for a bit more room to slide the sleeved negatives in and out, and are made specifically for sleeved negatives. A fold lock 'unfolds' and so there's zero potential of scratching (which is why good labs use them.) You can store the Ultima sheets in a binder just like any of the Prinfile versions.

 

Huge thanks!! Wish I had known about those products 10 years ago. I will start doing this immediately!

[z-ark]

I came across 1930s Kodachrome still in pristine condition. They were kept in metal boxes or plastic sleeves but i think the variable is your location. I came across few collections from 1940s totally warped and bubbled from heat or moisture.

I am a collector of depression era photos in color, they are very hard to come by with high cost during those years and bad economy.