What to do with negative ps post digitization

[AceVentura1986]

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Hello, all. I learned to photograph back in the film days but have shot mostly digital for the past 20+ years. I recently came into a rather large cache of family negatives going back 40 years and have been digitizing them w the Valoi 35 system. My question concerns disposition of the negatives post digitization.

Is there a reason to keep and catalog the negatives? 

One reason would be if the current digital tech somehow got remarkably better. However, I’m using a Canon 5DsR w a Canon 100mm, macro. At 50mpx of resolution I just don’t see 35mm negs rendering more detail than what I can already capture. Shooting raw means I’ve got plenty of dynamic range too. 

Another reason is safety and backups. However, my practice is always to have a backup drive on site and another backup in my safe deposit box.  I tend to swap the two backups every month or so. I don’t think this is an issue. In 20+ years of shooting, I’ve never lost any image to a disc failure. 

So, should I keep the negs anyway or shred them? Frankly, I can’t think of a reason to keep them. 
 

 

[gbealnz]

I cannot even contemplate shredding them, if it were me I'd simply store them securely. Let the next generation decide.

[pedaes]

I keep all mine as they are a safer archive than digitised version. I do not have enough that space is a problem - you can get a few thousand in a shoe box.

Answer is whatever you are comfortable with - but when they are gone, they are gone!

[leica dream]

I have kept all my negatives from my early 1950/60/70 photography days. As said above, they take up no space at all and in fact proved great historical interest as a medium to my grandchildren who know only about digital. The much larger storage concern is my large collection of transparencies which I am working through very slowly to digitise - but not sure why I am doing that, it just seems the right thing to do.

[250swb]

2 hours ago, AceVentura1986 said:

Is there a reason to keep and catalog the negatives? 

One reason would be if the current digital tech somehow got remarkably better. However, I’m using a Canon 5DsR w a Canon 100mm, macro. At 50mpx of resolution I just don’t see 35mm negs rendering more detail than what I can already capture. Shooting raw means I’ve got plenty of dynamic range too. 

If you'd have scanned those negatives ten years ago and then destroyed them you be kicking yourself compared with what you could do now. But it isn't just the camera and the lens, software for post processing is getting even more powerful and leaving the camera in it's dust, so being able to start again with a fresh scan and new software will always deliver better results for years to come.

P.S. I wouldn't ever consider trashing negatives, I have all mine because I don't know what will be important in the future and they are the equivalent of a moment in history where I can still change my ideas about what is important now. And in a family how many people are you consigning to 'done and dusted' when you dump the negatives?

Edited January 2 by 250swb

[AceVentura1986]

Good points all. Think I’ll keep them then. 

Thank you all. 

[Einst_Stein]

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Just curious.

Let’s say 30 or 50 years down the road, your grands kids found the negatives/films and the digital files, which one they would value more? 

[250swb]

6 hours ago, Einst_Stein said:

Just curious.

Let’s say 30 or 50 years down the road, your grands kids found the negatives/films and the digital files, which one they would value more? 

In my opinion in fifty years todays digital files won't be readable anyway.

[George Collier]

I have scanned negs going back to my father's rather prolific 35mm B&W negs, going back to the 1940's, some I've never seen before and am amazed at his sense of composition. I also continue to scan mine going back to the 70's, on an external drive, backed up on two separate drives (Mac's Time Machine).

I can't bear to toss any of the film - for reasons stated above.

I have stuff in the basement I've kept "just in case" which occupies much more space than the negs.

[chris_livsey]

Digital backup? Try this from 4-40 in, analogue recordings another related process swamped by "progress" some interesting thoughts on the creative process for analogue v digital.

Not opening "that" debate but film is why we hang in this subforum and I think the analogies are valid.