Some film storage questions

[v_roma]

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!

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

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.

 

[Landshark]

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

 

[v_roma]

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.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

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.

 

[E__WOK]

How do you guys store an uncut roll of 36?