kshapero
South Florida Man
Best way to store negs? Any and all ideas, please?
Best way to store negs?
- Thread starter kshapero
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Andy K
Well-known
peterc
Heretic
Same as Andy, but in binders rather than a fireproof box. Guess I'm living dangerously.
Peter
Peter
bmattock
Veteran
Same as both Andy and Peter, but also in binders, nothing 'fireproof'.
It all depends upon how much risk you wish to assume, and how long you intend your negatives to last. I also scan all my negatives and back up the resulting files.
Nothing lasts forever. Once we consider that, we may wish to consider matching our negatives to our storage materials. For example, it is probably of little use to spend extra money on special negative sleeves if we don't treat our negatives properly to begin with - if they are contaminated with chemistry from the developing process, for example, they won't last as long as the sleeves that hold them.
As to safes - one must have some understanding of how they work. A safe is usually a tamper-resistant box, which may or may not have fire-resistant properties. There is no such thing as a 'fireproof' safe. Oh, the safe may well survive a fire without popping open or disintegrating, but if the interior gets hot enough, the contents will be damaged or destroyed - and negatives are heat sensitive.
In the USA, safes are rated by UL as to how long they keep the interior below a particular temperature. The better safes cost quite a bit more, of course, and have to give over a great deal of space to insulating materials.
However, there is little doubt that a fire-resistant safe of any kind will offer more protection than no safe at all. Again, one must match one's risk level and budget.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
It all depends upon how much risk you wish to assume, and how long you intend your negatives to last. I also scan all my negatives and back up the resulting files.
Nothing lasts forever. Once we consider that, we may wish to consider matching our negatives to our storage materials. For example, it is probably of little use to spend extra money on special negative sleeves if we don't treat our negatives properly to begin with - if they are contaminated with chemistry from the developing process, for example, they won't last as long as the sleeves that hold them.
As to safes - one must have some understanding of how they work. A safe is usually a tamper-resistant box, which may or may not have fire-resistant properties. There is no such thing as a 'fireproof' safe. Oh, the safe may well survive a fire without popping open or disintegrating, but if the interior gets hot enough, the contents will be damaged or destroyed - and negatives are heat sensitive.
In the USA, safes are rated by UL as to how long they keep the interior below a particular temperature. The better safes cost quite a bit more, of course, and have to give over a great deal of space to insulating materials.
However, there is little doubt that a fire-resistant safe of any kind will offer more protection than no safe at all. Again, one must match one's risk level and budget.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
ywenz
Veteran
i fold my negative strips along the frame edges and build them up as a model of the Burg Rheineck.
wyk_penguin
Well-known
sleeve them and stack them. Gravity helps me drive out the air and moisture (some silica gel helps too).
sf
Veteran
I leave the sleeves on mine, cut them, and put them in archival pages. I used to store them in a cedar cigar box, but grew out of it.
I cut mine into individual frames and put them in 6x6 slide pages.
I cut mine into individual frames and put them in 6x6 slide pages.
jano
Evil Bokeh
Andy K said:
Those things scratch my negatives. Everytime. I have tried to be as dust-free as possible, no luck.
Anything better?
MCTuomey
Veteran
I bury all mine in the backyard in pine boxes ... like Kertesz. Except mine really belong there.
bmattock
Veteran
MCTuomey said:
I'll wait until my surviving relatives toss mine in a dumpster. But until then...I guess I'll keep 'em around.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
C
ch1
Guest
For years I never had this problem since I only shot slide film. But now that I've gotten a scanner and "hybridized" I've been shooting print film.
So far, after scanning I return them to the plastic sleeves I get them in from the lab. (yeah, I know - I should develop my own - and there should also be 8 days in a week and 27 hours in a day 😀 )
I haven't really thought about longer term storage - but then I am getting to the age where the longer term isn't necessarily all that long! :angel:
So far, after scanning I return them to the plastic sleeves I get them in from the lab. (yeah, I know - I should develop my own - and there should also be 8 days in a week and 27 hours in a day 😀 )
I haven't really thought about longer term storage - but then I am getting to the age where the longer term isn't necessarily all that long! :angel:
ErnestoJL
Well-known
I keep them (allways B&W) in paper envelopes, in strips of five negs each, and all of them in plastic boxes.
Didn´t take any special care for the boxes, other than keeping them dust free.
This was the past 30 years practice, and it wasn´t so bad as no scratches nor any other damage was found yet.
Ernesto
Didn´t take any special care for the boxes, other than keeping them dust free.
This was the past 30 years practice, and it wasn´t so bad as no scratches nor any other damage was found yet.
Ernesto
sf
Veteran
the most important issues for me are moisture, heat, and handling. I handle my negs with tweezers, dust them with an air can or compressor, keep them out of the heat (high heat warps negs), out of moisture. And I keep them flat in a very big binder full of hundreds of pages of negs. I don't keep wet towels in the same room as any of my equipment, or drinks left for extended periods of time to evaporate . . .I'm very very obsessed with the safety of my negs, lenses, cameras. I even keep my scanner covered with a plastic trashbag when not in use to protect it from dust, spills, whatever.
Negs are important to protect as well as possible - look at Al Pauk's recent postings. His father's 1950s negatives are priceless.
Negs are important to protect as well as possible - look at Al Pauk's recent postings. His father's 1950s negatives are priceless.
matti
Established
For some reason, plastic sleeves make my Tri-x and FP4+ curly. So I use that "pergamyn", or what it is called. Efke film is allways flat.
matti
matti
amateriat
We're all light!
Now, now, Mike, are they really that bad? 🙂
I take a page from David Vestal's book, almost literally: classic glassine envelopes, one entire cut roll per glassine (I'm talking 35mm here), stacked upright in a row in a print box of suitable height (finding these boxes can be a problem if, like me, you largely print digitally...find a friend who does a lot of wet-darkroom work, maybe?). Some take a dim view of glassines versus "more modern" materials, but I've never had a problem. Now I just need to get my #^%*&@! database together so I can actually find what I'm looking for...
- Barrett
I take a page from David Vestal's book, almost literally: classic glassine envelopes, one entire cut roll per glassine (I'm talking 35mm here), stacked upright in a row in a print box of suitable height (finding these boxes can be a problem if, like me, you largely print digitally...find a friend who does a lot of wet-darkroom work, maybe?). Some take a dim view of glassines versus "more modern" materials, but I've never had a problem. Now I just need to get my #^%*&@! database together so I can actually find what I'm looking for...
- Barrett
C
ch1
Guest
Isn't this query in some ways just one of those "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" things?
Seems as if almost everyone scans their negs to some form of digital media and then stores the negs. Provided you keep them dry what is the big deal? It's not as if you are "using" them! They are an archive and, short of some kind of catastrophe, should never need to use them again.
Keep them warm and dry and you are okay!
Like Barrett says, the greater issue is database manging all these damned scanned images! :bang:
Seems as if almost everyone scans their negs to some form of digital media and then stores the negs. Provided you keep them dry what is the big deal? It's not as if you are "using" them! They are an archive and, short of some kind of catastrophe, should never need to use them again.
Keep them warm and dry and you are okay!
Like Barrett says, the greater issue is database manging all these damned scanned images! :bang:
sf
Veteran
There is no magic way to store your negs. Just do whatever makes it easiest for you to manage the collection.
Of course, you DO have to pay mind to moisture and the general health of the negatives.
But other than that, the only thing that matters is that you find the method makes searching, organizing, and printing easier.
I went through . . . lots . . . of strips and cut approx 1200 of my favorites (those that I might print someday, or which I treasure for some reason) into individual frames. I did this to make the organization of the collection easier to manage.
Now, I have all my portraits of one genre together, all my flower pics together, all my travel shots, all my Los Angeles street stuff, all my Seattle stuff. . . .everything into categories. Would have been impossible with the negs left in strips of 5 or 6.
Of course, you DO have to pay mind to moisture and the general health of the negatives.
But other than that, the only thing that matters is that you find the method makes searching, organizing, and printing easier.
I went through . . . lots . . . of strips and cut approx 1200 of my favorites (those that I might print someday, or which I treasure for some reason) into individual frames. I did this to make the organization of the collection easier to manage.
Now, I have all my portraits of one genre together, all my flower pics together, all my travel shots, all my Los Angeles street stuff, all my Seattle stuff. . . .everything into categories. Would have been impossible with the negs left in strips of 5 or 6.
Andy K
Well-known
copake_ham said:
Those of us who enlarge our negatives with an enlarger reuse our negs all the time.
Cool and dry is better. A sachet of silica gel in each box does no harm either.
kshapero
South Florida Man
copake_ham said:
Workflow
I buy film, C41 usually Kodak Hi Def 400 color. I shoot a lot of pictures, but try to be thoughtful. Send the exposed cassettes into Kodak. For $4 they make negatives and scan photos onto my website. Bingo!! I download the ones I want to publish/print/save, into Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0. I clean them up, maybe take out the color, add a yellow filter, whatever. Then I publish on my website/ Rangefinder Forum and/or print. save everything on a second hard drive. Now I have three sites for each photo. BTW Kodak allows you to save unlimited photos on its site for free. See my gallery.
broadie
holding steady
I think what causes the negs to scratch when they;re in those plastic sleeves is if there is dust on them when they enter--as you slide the negs in and out when dust is there, the dust will get caught somehow or another and scratch the negs as they go by. So the key is to keep your negs as dust free as possible from the start. I've been trying to do that and it's been working out. Definitely, the plastic sleeves make life easier when looking for frames.
