Toss my negatives?

ranger

ranger

Established
Local time
3:35 AM
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
Messages
115
Location
East Bay, California
View My Gallery
I'm still dumbfounded. After spending some time scanning negatives and carefully placing them back in sleeves, my wife asks, " now can we throw those out?" I honestly didn't know what to say! So I said "of course not"
These are the only 'original' images I have...couldnt think of a good analogy (sp?) ( i'm always using analogies to make my point! Drives her nuts) Anyone else been through this 'tossing of the negatives?
 
Never ever and I mean never get rid of your negs...
Stand your ground, man...
Would your wife get rid of a recipe after she's made the dish??? No, she would not...
I shot an event for a friend (on film) I had the film developed and scanned and then gave them the CD and negs...Later they informed me that the CD was broken due to whatever reasons...I told them to just take the negs back and have them rescanned...
The only negs I get rid of are "Junk"...
 
Never! As you said, the negatives are the only original images of the picture you took. Imagine: Your computer HD has failed, all backup disks gone bad, online backup solution erased your data by mistake, then you have lost all photos for good. I would be more sad than losing my camera. (that is very sad too, though)

Get these. You can store tons of sleeves in one case.
http://www.amazon.com/Print-File-Archival-Workbox-Binder/dp/B00009R8YX/ref=pd_sim_e_14
 
Technology obsoletes itself so much faster....

Technology obsoletes itself so much faster....

The day will come when all those scans you made will be on media you can no longer read because the "read" technology changed while you weren't paying close enough attention.

Will your eyes no longer be able to look at the negatives. Well, not as long as you still have sight and use proper archive methods on the negatives and transparencies.

And don't forget what happens when they drop the big one. That EMP (electromagnetic pulse) generated will wipe out all electronics. At that point, your negs may be the only companions you have to show the world you used to live in.
 
kuzano said:
The day will come when all those scans you made will be on media you can no longer read because the "read" technology changed while you weren't paying close enough attention.

Will your eyes no longer be able to look at the negatives. Well, not as long as you still have sight and use proper archive methods on the negatives and transparencies.

And don't forget what happens when they drop the big one. That EMP (electromagnetic pulse) generated will wipe out all electronics. At that point, your negs may be the only companions you have to show the world you used to live in.
Click to expand...

Regarding the inferiority of digital storage, the unavoidable EMP, and the usual Luddite claptrap: wrong.

However, yes, keep the negatives. A digital scan of the negative is always inferior to the original, so keep the original.
 
You had kids with the wife? Good for you. Toss her! She's served her function. That's a lot of space she takes up when you've already "backed up" and archived her DNA.

I keep all the contact sheets too, and my collection goes back to 1961. What I did discover though is that for posting on my blog scans from the contact sheets look pretty good. http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com
 
Here's the analogy you use...

"Honey, now that we're married can we pawn your engagement ring? You don't need it anymore, right?"
 
Al Kaplan said:
You had kids with the wife? Good for you. Toss her! She's served her function. That's a lot of space she takes up when you've already "backed up" and archived her DNA.

I keep all the contact sheets too, and my collection goes back to 1961. What I did discover though is that for posting on my blog scans from the contact sheets look pretty good. http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com
Click to expand...

my favorite
 
A few years ago, I ask the local camera store owner whether he knew of a camera manufacturer that might made a "backup camera", and if it was reasonably priced I would buy one. A "backup camera" in this sense would simply be the body of a basic camera without a shutter. Instead of a lens, the lens mount would take on an electronic module connected to the computer that would project an image from a digital file stored in the computer. Exposure would be controlled by softwar from the computer using an electronic on/off switch, so no shutter is needed. In that way, one would be able to use film as the backup medium for digital images that need to be achieved. And of course his answer was---good idea, but there wouldn't be enough people who would understand that to buy such a camera, so none would be made by any manufacturer.

Is this still a viable storage option from a business perspective? Technically there shouldn't be any problems as far as I can see.

Tin
 
Are there any women lurking here that would care to get involved in some mutual backing up of DNA? Analog of course!

(No, I haven't used that advice! But right now I'm single and available.)
 
Last edited:
I throw out most of my negatives these days, after filling up several large, heavy three-ring binders with sheets of negatives in archival sleeves going back to 1985. They take up a lot of space in our tiny house.

My daughter agreed to inherit the collection, so for her sake, I need to pair it down to one binder of my best work, eventually.
 
ranger said:
I'm still dumbfounded. After spending some time scanning negatives and carefully placing them back in sleeves, my wife asks, " now can we throw those out?" I honestly didn't know what to say! So I said "of course not"
These are the only 'original' images I have...couldnt think of a good analogy (sp?) ( i'm always using analogies to make my point! Drives her nuts) Anyone else been through this 'tossing of the negatives?
Click to expand...

Scan her favorite pair of shoes... :angel:
 
In '67 when I left home for mysterious whereabouts, my mom cleaned out my room. Just like that. Gone were all my negs from my Brownie, gone were all my hip car magazines and gone were all my inane stat sheets of the play times of the 2 top 40 radio stations in town.
"Castles made of sand fall in the sea endlessly."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dogman
My detour into film photography
2
Replies
27
Views
4K
sojournerphoto
S
D
Scanning 4x5 negatives
2
Replies
21
Views
6K
Joao
Joao
J
  • Article Article
How Long Will Your Pictures Last?It all depends on you, your successors, and whether anyone else cares.
8 9 10
Replies
180
Views
10K
Freakscene
Freakscene
A
My Leica SL2-S settings
Replies
0
Views
525
Archiver
A
F
Flatbed vs Film scanner for old slides
2
Replies
22
Views
3K
agentlossing
agentlossing
Back
Top Bottom