How do you arrange your negatives?

[msbarnes]

I've been shooting for 2 years and I've filled 2 binders: 120 and 135 formats. Right now I separate the color from bw within each binder and organize each in chronological order.

I currently shoot 120 mostly for portraits and 135 for personal and so it seperates nicely but in the future this might change...I'm just trying to learn from experience. What is your method?

 

[marcr1230]

I currently put in binders and label with Camera/Year/Sequence , I also try not to change lens mid-roll so each sheet has one lens listed. what this does is basically organize by equipment and development info (I also list location, dev info etc on each sleeve).

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I have a four drawer file cabinet full of film, several thousand rolls. I put the negs in Printfile pages. Each page is numbered, and I have notes I keep that I can look up a roll number and find the date, subject, location, developing used, etc.

I put the pages in archival envelopes, about 10 rolls in each envelope (thicker stacks do not fit well), and each envelope goes in an archival hanging file folder in the file cabinet. I get the archival envelopes and file folders from Archival Methods.

 

[noisycheese]

I put my negs and slides in Printfile 35-7B pages (35mm and 24x65mm panos) and keep those in archival binders like these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

I keep one binder per major project or category of subject matter.

Each roll of film is given a number based on the date it was photographed, such as 130515-3. This translates to the year (2013), the month (05) the day (15) and the roll number (#3). Negatve #23 from that particular roll is numbered as 130515-3.23

When I exhibit or sell prints, an adhesive label with the print title, the print number, my contact information, website URL and copyright advisory goes on the backing (foam core or gator-board) that the print is mounted on. That way, when someone contacts me to buy their own copy of a print that their friend bought three years ago, I ask for the number on the back of the print (such as 130515-3.23) to make sure I am getting the right image made for them.


This numbering system makes it easy to track down a particular image or to keep track of where they have been published or exhibited, or who has bought which image as there is only one negative in my archives that is assigned the number 130515-3.23

 

[sepiareverb]

FIlm comes out of the camera and gets a sequential number (just did #6501 yesterday) written in a notebook and on the cassette. After development the number goes on a PrintFile page in sharpie, so it appears on the proofsheet. Films are filed sequentially in the pages, in binders. Whenever I make a print or scan that print the number is associated with it. I write image numbers on the back of every print before it goes into the developer. (6501-24A for example). The scan gets the same number. If I have the scan or the print or the proof sheet I can get to the negative in a few minutes. Just dug out some very old films last month. With the print in hand I had the film in the enlarger in about three minutes. Flaw is that I don't always have the print or proofsheet or scan in hand. Another roll I remembered was not found as I had no prints. But I have 6500 rolls of B&W...

 

[kossi008]

I also try not to change lens mid-roll so each sheet has one lens listed.

This would definitely not work for me. Too little throughput. I gues I can count my rolls shot with a single lens on one hand... over 33 years, that is.

Each roll of film is given a number based on the date it was photographed, such as 130515-3.

Same here, same reason (throughput).


What I do is assign the films running numbers, now based on the camera I'm using (e.g. Z121 would be the 121st film put through my Zeiss Ikon. Note how I don't expect to need a 4th digit 😀).



Details on the film are kept in a notebook and a sub-set of parameters for quick reference in an Excel sheet. Low-res scans are stored ony my hard drive(s) in a folder starting with the film number. Parameters and Negs are accessed only for the handful of pictures worth bothering.

 

[froyd]

Aside from the numbered and dated negative page, I also include a contact sheet (initially from the darkroom, now from the lightroom). I circle the images that interest me on the contact sheet. This makes it easy to thumb through the binder without having to use the light box to find a specific image.

My volume is low enough that I don't cross reference the negative carrier numbers with a database of any sort, but I now have started tagging the images that I have scanned with keywords important to me.