How do you inspect your negatives?

[hoot]

Having finally finished developing and archiving about 60 rolls of black and white film shot this summer, I now face the daunting task of visually inspecting each and every photograph to see if it's worth making a wet print or a nice hi-res scan of. Yikes! That's roughly 2000 photos. To top it all, I have binders chock full of archived film exposed in the past three years (probably another 10,000 photos?), very little of which has been thoroughly inspected.

How do you go about this task? Feel free to use the attached poll, but especially your written comments and suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[lkgroup]

I would like to have someone explain how they make contact sheets on a flat bed scanner. I have a couple years of negs which I need to closer inspect and don't get into the darkroom much anymore.

Leo

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I actually inspect them against the light before cutting them; I check whether they're thin/dense, or any obvious problems with development -- which thankfully I don't have any, except the casual "streaking" effect on a few frames when developing with Diafine.

Then I scan them before I archive them, not after. Once they're scanned, they go through the Gabriel naming/numbering "convention" and then into the negative binder.

During the old darkroom days, I'd print a contact sheet after putting them in negative sleeves.

 

[back alley]

i cut the film and put into clear pages then visually inspect with an oversize loupe, holding the page to a light source.

but in truth i have a hard time 'reading' a neg so if it looks interesting i scan it. (used to print it)

joe

 

[24x30]

60 rolls ... huh, that's a lot. Would be to much for me 🙂. I normally inspect the negs in front of a window, and make a list what to print for the next darkroom session. This way I'm not able to print more than the selected negs of one film per week. This also means I'm always behind ... and when there is a lab session like the last one, I'm one more week behind :-|.

I do just one lab session per week, more would cause problems (I've a wife and 2 kidz).

/rudi

 

[sf]

checking over my negatives

checking over my negatives

Most of my work is medium format, but even for 35mm, I check to see what is worth my time by scanning all the film on a flatbed (doing a simple digital contact sheet).

That is certainly the most effective way of doing things. You spend maybe 200 to 500 bucks, get a good flatbed for scanning film, and your 60 rolls will be an easy job.

Buy the Epson 4990 and save yourself the cost of hi-res scans, contact sheets, etc.

It will scan your 35mm in batches if you want, and shoots at 5400 - 9600 dpi and 4.0 DMAX. That is really really good (better than most dedicated scanners), and though it is marginally less awesome than the Coolscan EDs, the 9000, etc, its price tag (400 bucks) and flexibility (scan up to 4x5 film, entire rolls of film, all medium formats, digital Ice, etc) make it the perfect machine for many tasks.

 

[varjag]

I use a pocket folding inspection stand with 5x loupe to glance through 35mm negs. Use the same loupe to inspect 120 negs as well, tho I don't shoot it nearly as often.

If I scan at a local prolab I get "digital contacts" printed in the package too.

 

[oftheherd]

I would like to have someone explain how they make contact sheets on a flat bed scanner. I have a couple years of negs which I need to closer inspect and don't get into the darkroom much anymore.

Leo

Go to http://www.snapfiles.com and choose the freeware section, then look under Graphics Tools > Misc.Imaging Tools, for DPIC, and find the below writeup and download and use if you wish.

DPIC (Digital Picture Index Creator) allows you to create a picture index (contact sheet) from a directory and save it as single JPEG image. You can customize the output in detail, specify the size, select color fonts, details to include and image quality.

Be careful of looking at the other graphics tools, or any of the other files you find there. Especially if you don't have a broadband connection and lots of free time. You can spend hours there. How well I know. :bang:

 

[GeneW]

I'm in the 'batch scan' category. I cut the roll into strips of 6 and batch scan each frame to a resolution and size roughly equal to what the 1-hr labs provide, except I save B&W images as 16-bit TIFF. I then use the Photoshop Contact Sheet II action to create an 8x10in contact sheet that I print out and keep for future reference. I then inspect each image and if there are some decent frames, I post-process them for web posting. Then I delete all the scans to keep HD storage reasonable. For any outstanding shots, I re-scan, fine tuning the scanner settings, at max resolution (nominally 5400 dpi on my Minolta Scan Elite 5400). These are the time-consuming scans, but there aren't that many of them.

Same basic procedure for medium format, but I cut the negs into strips of 3, and scan them on an Epson 2450 flatbed.

I use Vuescan for all of the above.

Gene

 

[Ara Ghajanian]

I also batch scan negs after cutting them into strips of six. I have the Nikon Coolscan V, but I wish I could have bought the next model up which batch scans the whole strip of 36. So much more convenient. All in all, I like my workflow so far. I just scan everything at 25% at 8bit and save them in a folder. I save them as TIFFs, but I should probably just save them as JPEGs to save file space. I most often inspect them on screen with Photoshop's file browser. I can get much more critical this way than with a traditional contact sheet (although I miss those). After I decide which frames I love, I'll go back and scan those at the highest resolution at 14bit. I get really critical with those scans and adjust everything I can to be perfect before going into PS.

With 120, I'll scan the negative page on a flatbed film scanner that I have at work. I haven't been shooting much 120 since the Coolscan makes 35mm so much cheaper and more convenient.
Ara

 

[VinceC]

For visually inspecting negatives, a 50mm or fast 35mm lens -- removed from the camera -- can be substituted for a loupe, if you don't have one. It's a quick way to check focus and whether or not eyes are open.

 

[Biber]

I make a temporary light table with my desk lamp and a sheet of white paper and inspect the negatives with a loupe, then I scan everything that looks interesting.

 

[XAos]

Someone suggested a slide viewer - some of them will work with negative strips, but then you'd need to pull them out of the sleeves. If they haven't been sleeved already it's probably the fastest way to inspect them. Not a projector, but it's a light source, lens, and a small screen (usually a couple inches wide)

 

[ZeissFan]

35mm is pretty tiny, so it can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a shot is appropriately sharp, even with a loupe.

My scanner allows me to scan four strips at a time with six shots per strip. In other words, a roll of 24. That allows me to make quick 300 dpi contact sheets. For 36 exp. rolls, I then scan the other two strips and cut and paste them into the first contact sheet.

I do contact sheets for all of my rolls these days, as you can quickly sort through winners and losers.

While the film is drying, I have a small portable light table, which I use to check negative density and overall images.