film storage: envelopes vs negative sleeves

[msbarnes]

I'm tired of using negative sleeves.

They're a hassle to take in and out and I feel that they scratch my negatives.

I believe some people use envelopes instead? Do I need to look for a speical type of envelope or are they more or less the same? Any recommendations?

 

[MartinP]

Any envelope will allow movement of the negatives against the envelope, and possibly against each other if you have more than one in there. Not to mention the materials used for normal envelopes are unlikely to be acidfree!

For large format you can look at glassine bags for one negative at a time while for 35mm perhaps something like these sleeves or these (no sliding in and out required) would be useful? Personally I use the usual style of glassine sleeves, but very carefully, and lying flat in dust tight archival boxes. I'm fairly confident my negatives will last longer than me (my apartment will now catch fire just before the flood caused by the earthquake).

Edit: It seems very possible that there is a different meaning to the noun 'envelope' between American and British versions of English? Possibly you already mean the same products as seen in the links above.

 

[sazerac]

I switched from sleeves to envelopes a few years back. I had been getting them from light impressions before they went criminal. I have polyester type from archival methods. I like them, but I need to do a better job of editing so that I dont waste so much space.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sleeves: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/mt print file.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[Terry Christian]

Another enthusiastic vote for Print-File sleeves! I have a bag of Vue-All sleeves I bought at a heavy discount that I'm working through, and the Vue-Alls are terrible by comparison.

 

[citizen99]

I use the same brand as shown in Roger's link above; I find them to be very convenient 🙂.

 

[Dylan Hope]

Gotta give another vote for print file sleeves. Filing them is incredibly easy and it gives me enough space to write developing information, and at the end of the year, I've got a nice, heavy folder with all my film in it. I'm more worried about the neg carriers in the enlarger scratching my film than my negs getting junked up in the sleeves

 

[rlouzan]

Alfred Eisenstaedt used plain envelopes to store his negs.

 

[msbarnes]

Sleeves it is.

Thanks

 

[Jamie123]

I use Print File sleeve pages which is how I get the negs back from the lab. But I don't put them in folders. Instead I put them in cardboard envelopes on which I write a short description of what's inside, like e.g. "Spain road trip 2012. (35mm, 120, 4x5)". Then I put those envelopes in a box and when I look for something I can just flip through them like you would flip through records at a record store. Granted, it is not the most organised way to do it but it is simple enough so I can keep up with it.

 

[Vics]

Sleeves: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/mt%20print%20file.html

Cheers,

R.

Plus one for Print File. I use the CP 35-7HB and just wind on one more frame at the beginning of each roll. These sleeves also house the Contact sheet at 8x10" and any 5x7 work prints from that roll. For 6x6cm, it's CP 120-3HB 3 strips of 4 frames each, though I'm gettging our of MF now. I've filled 8 file drawers with them, and must soon expand. Mine hang from the Print File file hangers, so it's easy to find things.

 

[charjohncarter]

Print files, I've had negatives in some for over forty years. Scratching has not been an issue, although I am very careful with insertion and removal (gloves, slow in both directions).

 

[Matus]

I am using Adofile products from Adox (see here) for all my films from 35mm to 4x5 and they are great. Easy to load/unload, archival, do not tear (polypropylene) and show much less Newton rings on light table than those very thin polyester files. The binders are semi-hard and seem to last (I use them since about 4 years).

100% recommendation. Well worth the price.

 

[Vics]

Alfred Eisenstaedt used plain envelopes to store his negs.

Yeah, and look what happened to him!

 

[Kenj8246]

Another vote for PrintFile. Good stuff.

 

[johannielscom]

PrintFile is unknown to me. Only specialty shops still carry negative sleeves in the Netherlands. They are hard to find and expensive when you find them.


I stack my six-frame negative strips and fold them in a sheet of printing paper. Tape all sides shut and write the film code on it, sometimes a little note on the lower right corner. Like this:

Since I took that shot, I have switched to negative identifiers like: 20121008-35RolleiRetro100 This allows me to locate the accompanying folder in Lightroom, since that is also called 20121008-35RolleiRetro100 and it is located in the catalog for October 2012. The '35' bit also tells me this was a 35mm film, for Rolleiflex films the film type indicator is '66' and in the past I have also shot camera's that got me '67' or '69' indicators.

Any photo I can thus quickly retrace to the correct catalog and folder in Lightroom and also to the appropriate envelope, containing all paper-folded strips of film for the month October 2012. So it's easy to find any digital file and also the original negative. Since I do not scan the negatives in order, I will have to find the correct frame from a roll of 36, but most of the time that's easily done.

I should update my article on my website: http://www.portretteur.nl/index.php...atives-without-hassle&catid=38:film&Itemid=59

 

[finguanzo]

Printfile also makes flap negative sleeves.. They are not a page, but individual sleeves. Avoids scratching because there is no sliding in and out, flaps over the neg... Then these individual neg strips get stored in a cardboard folder, in a box...
Thought about ordering these, kinda forgot about it until now..

 

[Gareth Rees]

Print File sleeves.

 

[rlouzan]

What happened to him?

Yeah, and look what happened to him!

 

[ChrisLivsey]

Eisenstaedt died in his bed at midnight at his beloved Menemsha Inn cottage known as the "Pilot House" at age 96.

So no idea about that comment, 96 would suit me.