How are you all keeping track of your frames?

[seanjw]

Hello everyone!

This is my first step from being a lurker to actually posting!

I recently began the process of actually sorting and organizing my negatives, I had been putting it off for a few years and I could not take it anymore. I am trying to find some resources and information on how photographers with large collections keep track of it all! I did a general search on the forum and found some good information but I am curious about what people's storage workflows are.

I decided to assign each roll of film a numeric id and take note of what each roll's broad subject is as well as (roughly) when it was taken. So far this is working out for me, but I am all ears for additional information that I *should* be keeping track of!

 

[______]

I put my negatives in a plastic PrintFile page and number the page with the date and roll number for the year, such as 2016-001, 2016-002... When I print a negative, I pencil on the back of the print that number plus the frame number, e.g. 2016-001-18.

 

[MikeMGB]

I scan all my negatives then put them in archival storage sheets. The sheets are numbered sequentially with the camera, lens and subject matter written on it.

The scans are named "sheet001_01" with the second number corresponding to the frame number. The scans are then sorted into folders based on their subject and other factors. That way I can easily find an image and its corresponding negative.

 

[sepiareverb]

As a film comes out of the camera (or is exposed when shooting sheet film), it gets recorded in a little Luechttrum book with a sequential number. That number gets written on the cassette or the roll or on the film holder. The notebook also records camera, lens, iso, and location.

When I run films the number gets transferred to the film as it hangs to dry, then to the print file page as films are sleeved. It is simple enough to keep track of which film is which in the developing tank. The number on the print file page is quite legible on my proof sheets.

When I make work prints I note the date and the roll number.frame number on the back in pencil. I can then look up in the darkroom diary, by date, what developer and paper I used that day. These notes go back years. To 1986 actually. The three years of negatives I have from before this were retroactively numbered when I started this method, but there is no darkroom diary before '86. None of the papers I used then are still made anyhow, and I've long since left Dekol behind. I just sleeved up films numbered 7203 and 7204 today. After I proof them they'll go in a 1" Staples Better Binder, 50 Print File pages per book. If I print the first frame from roll 7203 it is noted as 7203.1

Color negative film is treated in a similar fashion, with the prefix C before the number. Those are a separate series, with proof sheets and paged films stored in a clear archival sleeve, and in boxes. Scans are done by the lab, when I transfer them to the hard drive I give the folder for that roll the number from the notebook. I don't re-number the individual scans. I think I'm at about C1200 something now.

Slides get a sequential number, stamped on the mount, and any scan is treated as the color neg scans. Slides get numbered year.#, so 95.0001 or 16.0001, etc. I rarely shoot slides anymore, but when I did stock shooting this was invaluable in knowing what originals were where and in keeping track of similars. I kept roll numbers on the stock slides when shooting and processing, but once they returned from the lab they were edited and numbered anew. This was a time saving thing as my numbering stamp was cumbersome to adjust. There was a carefully curated database of keywords, locations, etc that allowed me to find things, when the software was no longer compatible I printed it out, but it is likely useless, as are the bulk of the slides anymore.

Other than the slides, less time consuming that it might seem, and with a print in hand I can put my fingers on a negative within a few minutes, whether it was shot in 1986 or last year.

Digital files are another matter. I number each card as I do my films, with the prefix D, but do not have proof sheets of it all, have many gaps in key wording, and now at folder D1286 getting my cursor on a DNG can be very frustrating.

 

[Godfrey]

Okay, this will likely upset some folks, my apologies in advance.

I scan all negatives and add date, camera, etc metadata with EXIFtool. These, along with all my digital exposures, are stored in a date-organized directory structure and managed by Lightroom.

After I've scanned my negatives and have verified that I've gotten as much out of them as is possible, I know I'll never touch them again so I shred them. There's really no need whatever to hold onto them and fill up my office with media that has no further purpose. The negative scans are my image masters and are all I'll ever need.

Note: I don't do this with instant film images. Instant film print originals are unique, finished photographs in and of themselves, and thereby precious. So they get filed by date and numbered so that I can identify their scans' location in the digital archive easily.

In fifty years of photography, I've lost thousands of negatives and slides to time, deterioration, etc. In going on twenty-five years of digital photography, I haven't lost a single image yet. That's why I do what I do.

G

 

[sepiareverb]

...add date, camera, etc metadata with EXIFtool...
G

I will have to investigate this. When I do manage to add metadata it is to one image in the folder, this allows me to get to the card(s)/folder(s) that contain images of say "Eugene OR" or "Pine Bush NY". I'm fairly good about remembering when I shot something, and I keep jpegs on my laptop organized in monthly folders. The jpegs have the same number as the DNG, so when I find a jpeg from the same day or general time my hunt can involve fewer folders of DNGs.

As to tossing all the films, more power to you. I have six big storage bins filled with negative binders, and another two bins worth of binders stacked around in the darkroom, and that's just the B&W. I could set up an airBnB room in the space I have storing negatives alone...

I had a binder go missing when I was in college, and I left a bag on the subway once in '85 that had a lot of prints and a single page of negatives in it. I have lost some digital images to deterioration, early jpegs from a Nikon Coolpix, but nothing of much interest. I am fanatical about backing up files.

 

[Pioneer]

My process mirrors Godfrey's pretty closely. I don't shred and I print a contact sheet(s) to accompany the printfile negative sheet.

I do have some early digital stuff that has disappeared and I also have some negatives that have been water damaged so it is probably a write off.

I know that I should back up more frequently but I typically do it about once a month right now. At the rate of I have been shooting and scanning lately I should bump that up to about once a week at least.

But...best intentions and all that rot...

EDIT - I do like to print once in awhile but this is almost always large format, and that is usually 8x10 or 11x14 contact printed. It has been quite awhile since I actually printed a 35mm neg in the darkroom.

 

[giganova]

I shred them.

😱 😱 😱

 

[back alley]

shoe box...

 

[giganova]

Way to go!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Personally, I still have projector and old slide films. This experience is not replaceable by digital. I also don't have good scanner, so, I'm keeping old film negatives. And their OK for up to 8x10 scans.

For bw negatives it is most organized, because I print and re-print. I'm using folders and archive sleeves. I'm trying to have one film at one sleeve page and hand writing all necessary info at white paper stripe which goes inside of the sleeve as well.
I do it every few months and with this time frame I have enough time to chill and shred negatives stripes which I'm not going to print.

Currently, after bw film is developed, within few days I'm not scanning, but printing most interesting (at this time) frames. It gives me another archive type of the image.
I don't really like bw film scans, maybe once I'll be able to get something like 7600i...
But still digital is not going to replace FB paper and lith. Some of my negatives are only for lith and other strange kind of printing 🙂

 

[lawrence]

Negatives are stored in archival storage sheets in files. Each file has a sequential number, starting at 01, and each sheet has a number, starting at 001. So my negs are identified by File-Sheet-Neg E.g. 01-001-36. Works well for me.

 

[johannielscom]

I create folders per year (2016), in it per month(201609). In the month folder per day (20160914). I start a new Lightroom catalog every month.

My scans are named: 20150521_66Astia100_12.tif.

The file name tells me the film was scanned at May 21st 2015, is a 6x6 shot on Fuji Astia 100.
If it's a 4x5 inch film, I use a prefix '45', for 6x9 film '69', or '67', or '645' or '35', etc.

The film is wrapped in paper, and on it I write: 20150521_66Astia100 and some notes like event, location, camera used, name of person portrayed, etc.
For every three months, I combine the wrapped films in a new envelope which is labeled 2015-Q2, 2015-Q3, etc.

Once I can locate the film, I have maximum of 36 frames to look through and find the right one.

When I post scans (or digital files, same naming convention applied by Lightroom when importing) to Flickr or elsewhere, I include the file name in the description, or sometimes not rename the file.

20130508-35Kodak400CN-3981 by Johan Niels Kuiper, on Flickr​

The above file was scanned on May 8th, 2013, was shot on 35mm Kodak BW400CN, and scanned with a Minolta Scan Dual IV, which numbered scans consecutively so it was the 3,981th scan made with it.

And for digital shots:

Interesting! by Johan Niels Kuiper, on Flickr​

Filename: 20130512_0012622.jpg and file format tells me it's a Ricoh GXR shot.


I haven't lost a single scan or digital shot in years, I regularly back up to a NAS with RAID disks in it.

 

[Finglas]

I use my memory to recall what's what.

However every 3 years or so - I like to go through all the photos and slides and weed out those no longer worth keeping, including badly composed, error strewn photos, test shots, duplicates etc.

I then sort them by category eg, Dublin, Home, North America, Cuba, France, Peru, Sports, Politics, Night Time,
Work, Children (family) and one called "the best" -- also one called personal - as in -I'm in them!

This way the photographs and slides are within easy reach and as new prints are made - I just simply add to that particular category.
I would keep black and white with my usual colour photos too, rarely separate them out.

The negatives are in their original sleeves and they are kept in shoe boxes, suitcases etc on the above category basis.

I usually find that each cull (every 3 years) might get rid of 8% of the total.
I learn (well I hope I do) from looking at the bad photos and indeed some of them are kept too.

Since all my photographs are 35mm (print and slide) they are easy to keep.
Since 2003 in Dublin the usual places I get them developed now give a contact sheet for C41 process.
So on the back of those small contact sheet I usually write the Year they were taken and if by Nikon FE/FM3a or Leica MP

As you can see - nothing elaborate and no coding and NO Digital either, works for me.

all the best,
John

 

[aizan]

Okay, this will likely upset some folks, my apologies in advance.

I scan all negatives and add date, camera, etc metadata with EXIFtool. These, along with all my digital exposures, are stored in a date-organized directory structure and managed by Lightroom.

After I've scanned my negatives and have verified that I've gotten as much out of them as is possible, I know I'll never touch them again so I shred them. There's really no need whatever to hold onto them and fill up my office with media that has no further purpose. The negative scans are my image masters and are all I'll ever need.

Note: I don't do this with instant film images. Instant film print originals are unique, finished photographs in and of themselves, and thereby precious. So they get filed by date and numbered so that I can identify their scans' location in the digital archive easily.

In fifty years of photography, I've lost thousands of negatives and slides to time, deterioration, etc. In going on twenty-five years of digital photography, I haven't lost a single image yet. That's why I do what I do.

G

what's your digital preservation plan and infrastructure?

 

[nikonhswebmaster]

Okay, this will likely upset some folks, my apologies in advance.

After I've scanned my negatives and have verified that I've gotten as much out of them as is possible, I know I'll never touch them again so I shred them. There's really no need whatever to hold onto them and fill up my office with media that has no further purpose. The negative scans are my image masters and are all I'll ever need.

I have a version of that, I keep them in a box I bought at Ikea, and don't give a damn what happens to them. 😀

I too have never lost any digital files, but some like my Nintendo stuff is problematic to open.

 

[shimokita]

I scan all frames (img01 to img38) which end up in both digital & physical folders using the (folder) naming convention YYYYMMDD_film-reference_camera-lens_content-detail.

Folder: 20160915_BW100_F3P50_Karuizawa-stone-fences / File: imgNN

I also keep (1) a 'digital portfolio folder' as well as (1) 'ten best' shots for each year (Folder: YYYY / File: YYYYMMDD_imgXX).

I can usually remember when I took a particular shot (summer 2013 for example) and from there I can then find the image from the negatives using clues like film type, camera, content-reference.

For digital, I use the same filing system: YYYYMMDD_x100t_Karuizawa-stone-fences / File: IMG_ZZZZ

 

[Godfrey]

what's your digital preservation plan and infrastructure?

I have a multi-tier backup and migration policy and strategy, including working copy, two local archive backups, and an off-site archive backup. I've been working with this system for 15 years and developed it to its current form about 2006. Despite having lost two or three hard drives to failure in the years between then and now, I have not yet lost a single file.

I have 2.7Tbytes worth of photos in the archive at this point.

G

 

[Bill Clark]

Welcome to Rangefinder Forum.

How are you all keeping track of your frames?

I don't.

Look at the negs. make contact print of the roll. Maybe make a few prints.

I do have envelopes for each roll with information I write where send to address would normally be.

That's it.

Periodically I make a purge. Throw them away.

I enjoy making the photos. I spend less and less time in the darkroom anymore.

How many photographs are needed?

I started photographing weddings in the 1970s and back then I used at most two 36 exposure rolls of Ektachrome X transparency film. After the wedding and honeymoon I would have a fondue party and use my trusty Kodak carousel projector and, usually the bride, would say something like, "Oh, I like that one!" I kept the retaining ring off and would simply pull out the slide, slide into another tray, after looking and picking out the slides, would do a final review of the chosen slides which would be used for their wedding album and prints. I still have the projector and a nice quantity of trays loaded with slides.

Now some take that many of the brides shoes as I did for an entire wedding!

When my mom died last november, my wife and children made on a foam core board about 50 photographs, her life from the 1920s until last year and had displayed on an easel at a gathering at the place she lived the last 10 years of her life. It told a story. I don't think it would be much different with more photographs.

 

[KenR]

Shredded negs

Shredded negs

Wow. I never heard of anyone shredding their negs except for one of the Westons (Cole?) who didn't want anyone printing his stuff after he died. I have only lost 1 strip of negs over the years - I sent it off to be professionally printed and I got back a nice print, but somebody else's negative.

After 9/11 some friends asked me to see if I had any photos of the World Trade Center. I had some night views that I had taken in the late 1970s - some 23 years before the WTC was destroyed. The negs were pristine and easy to print - and continue to be, despite their rather advanced age. They were stored in glassine envelopes early on and then later switched to polyprolene, where they remain.

I still do more film than digital - I like the tactile feel of film - it seems more real to me than digital. I am more afraid of my digital files becoming unreadable than I am of my negatives become unprintable.