Some film storage questions

v_roma

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Hello everyone,

One of the labs that I use every now and then sends the negatives back uncut and loosely rolled. Are there any reasons why I can't just roll the negatives tighter and hold it in place with a rubber band or masking tape, and throw them in a box for storage?

And speaking of boxes, I would be very interested in hearing what you use to store your own negatives (particularly if you recall where you got it from if within the US). I find the system below appealing since I would probably just take the negatives from the lab, stick them in a folder, scribble some notes on an index card, and be done with it. But maybe this "kit" is a little overkill.

http://www.archivalmethods.com/Product.cfm?Productid=168


Thanks!
 
Rolling them tight could cause scratches on the film. Buy some Print-File brand pages; they are archival plastic pages for 3-ring binders that hold negatives. They're cheap, about $20 for 100 of them. Each hold one roll of 35mm film. I've got over 1000 rolls of 35mm and 120 film stored in these pages, which I keep in a file cabinet in hanging folders.
 
And in addition if it's rolled tight You may find they're very difficult to flatten out if you want to print them down the road.
Printfiles
 
Thank you, Chris and Landshark. Chris, I've used something similar to the Print-File pages but was looking to avoid even having to slip the negatives into those pages. I am that lazy... :) Either way, it looks like rolling the uncut negatives up is not really a good option.
 
I wouldn't use a rubber band or masking tape, if you're going to leave the negs uncut. Both will eventually rot and leave some sort of residue on the film.
 
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