writing on the leader?

[michaelwj]

Hi,

Recently I started getting back into film, and many thanks to everyone here even though I haven't asked a question yet (thank you search function!). I'll post some of my first attempts once my scanner arrives!

Now I have a few rolls developed and sleeved, and looking into the future I see a nightmare coming! At the moment, I put a bit of paper in a sleeve with dev times and the like to keep a record, but its easy to forget when I shot that roll, it may be a month between shooting and developing.

Does anyone write the date (or anything else) on the film leader before loading it in the camera? If so, what with, and does it survive developing? It'd be nice to have the date permanently on the negs I think.

Cheers

 

[Shac]

I write the info on the negative storage sleeves (I use the pages that take several sections 6 exposures long) - works for me

 

[Particular]

I'm not that fussed about when I shot something, but I like to file rolls in the order I take them in. I often write the date on the cassette when I take it out of the camera, or once I get home. If I am batch processing and I don't want to loose that info, I use a scribe to scratch the date in the leader. I think using permanent marker on the film backing should work ok too.

 

[michaelwj]

Thanks, roll order/date are really interchangeable for my purpose. For the EI I have a sticker on the canister, which is bulk rolled. The sticker is colour coded to tell me the type of film.
I'll try the scribe idea, but I though I heard a while back of someone using a wetted pencil or similar?

 

[ChrisN]

HCB used to lick the emulsion side to soften it, then use a scribe to write the necessary (date, place etc).

 

[Athiril]

Hi,

Recently I started getting back into film, and many thanks to everyone here even though I haven't asked a question yet (thank you search function!). I'll post some of my first attempts once my scanner arrives!

Now I have a few rolls developed and sleeved, and looking into the future I see a nightmare coming! At the moment, I put a bit of paper in a sleeve with dev times and the like to keep a record, but its easy to forget when I shot that roll, it may be a month between shooting and developing.

Does anyone write the date (or anything else) on the film leader before loading it in the camera? If so, what with, and does it survive developing? It'd be nice to have the date permanently on the negs I think.

Cheers

LumoColor markers survive processing when written on the leader.

 

[taskoni]

I write the info on the contact sheets then store them together with the negatives.

Regards,

Boris

 

[ath]

I have a notebook where every roll I load in a camera gets a number and then exposure data.
This number is written on the film leader with a sharpie if I have more than a few films or development takes longer.
The same number is transferred to the negative sleeve after develpoment.
This way every single frame has an individial number (roll/frame#) which finally appears in my notes of a print.

 

[Photo_Smith]

I write some info on the neg sleeve date etc and sometimes a number, then have index sheets at the front of the file with that number ,date plus developer times and other info.
It works two ways, if I see a negative and want to know how I processed it I look up the date/number and find in the index, if I want to know which films I developed in Ilford Hyfin in 1980 I look in the front and find the number on the neg sleeve.

I've been filing like this since my first roll I developed in the late 1970's

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I remember seeing some people marking the leader with a wax pencil. Not something I did and I don't know if you can even get wax pencils any more.

 

[Photo_Smith]

In my lab we used a China graph pencil:
http://www.internet-stationers.co.uk/Shop/istationers_shop/index.asp?deptID=1211&ptype=2

Used to write gradings on prints, it wipes off with some effort with a dry cloth though.

 

[michaelwj]

I have a notebook where every roll I load in a camera gets a number and then exposure data.
This number is written on the film leader with a sharpie if I have more than a few films or development takes longer.
The same number is transferred to the negative sleeve after develpoment.
This way every single frame has an individial number (roll/frame#) which finally appears in my notes of a print.

Hi Andreas, sounds like a good system, but do you write the number on the leader after development or before? My main problem is loosing track between exposure and development, and therefore not really knowing the roll#.

Chris,
"HCB used to lick the emulsion side to soften it, then use a scribe to write the necessary (date, place etc)."
I knew I'd heard something about licking it, but didn't know it was to soften it, sounds interesting.

Photo_Smith, I like the index sheet idea, I might transfer to that. It sounds a lot cleaner and more organised than what I currently do!

Cheers, I give some of these ideas a try.
Michael

 

[Tom A]

When I load a camera I shot the first frame off a small erasable white board. I put the camera/lens combination on it and if there is a change of iso - I write that down too. This way it stays with the film and is easily found.
If I know I am going to shoot a lot - I use gaffers tape, tear off a piece and write down the number of the roll and the the sequence is easy.
Another trick is to shoot the first frame from a new roll of the same subject that the last frame of the preceding roll was. This helps you keep track of sequencing too

 

[bsdunek]

I sometimes mark on the leader with a 'Sharpi" pen. Works well and doesn't seem to affect the development. After development, I write info on the sleeve.

 

[Athiril]

Hi Andreas, sounds like a good system, but do you write the number on the leader after development or before? My main problem is loosing track between exposure and development, and therefore not really knowing the roll#.

Chris,
"HCB used to lick the emulsion side to soften it, then use a scribe to write the necessary (date, place etc)."
I knew I'd heard something about licking it, but didn't know it was to soften it, sounds interesting.

Photo_Smith, I like the index sheet idea, I might transfer to that. It sounds a lot cleaner and more organised than what I currently do!

Cheers, I give some of these ideas a try.
Michael

http://www.staedtler.com.au/Lumocolor_permanent_universal_pen_au

Survived B&W, C-41 and E-6 processing when written on the leader prior to processing.

 

[michaelwj]

http://www.staedtler.com.au/Lumocolor_permanent_universal_pen_au

Survived B&W, C-41 and E-6 processing when written on the leader prior to processing.

Almost seems too easy, I'll give that a try too.

I also like the idea of taking a shot of the details of the film, but I'm just too unorganised and lazy really (hence my current predicament!)

Cheers.

 

[Keith]

If you use ball point pen and press hard enough with the film on a compliant suface the result is a permanent indentation that is easy to read.

 

[Godfrey]

I never really bothered to write much down because I could almost always remember what camera, what film, what lens, and approximately what exposure I used. I never leave film in the camera for long ... typically a week or two on a "daily shooter" basis, more usually whatever shooting session I have in mind. After which I develop, process, and scan it immediately. Then I annotate the scans with all the relevant information using EXIFtool and Lightroom, and I put the film through the shredder.

Once I have a film scanned, I'll never touch it again. No point to cluttering up the shelves with boxes of stored film that will never again be used.

G

 

[ath]

Hi Andreas, sounds like a good system, but do you write the number on the leader after development or before? My main problem is loosing track between exposure and development, and therefore not really knowing the roll#.

Michael

Hi, I write the number on the leader when I take out the roll from the camera (and only if i have more that 2 or 3 rolls or know that it will take me some time to get them developed. I also take notes of the development so i know what is in the batch I develop and afterwards sleeve.