How do you store your negatives/slides?

[GeneW]

I'm curious about ways of storing negatives and slides. I have mostly negatives and I store them in PrintFile holders (I use the 6 strips of 6 size). PrintFile is supposedly archival and acid free, but I find them to be serious dust attractors, maybe they hold a bit of static charge? I wondered if there were a more inert material out there...

I also find my negs beginning to curl a bit at the edges with PrintFile.

So far I still store my slides in a metal slide box. I don't have that many so haven't looked beyond that, but I see PrintFile also has slideholder sheets.

Recommendations anyone? Alternatives to PrintFile? (must be archival)

Gene

[RayPA]

I use the clear acid-free negative holder, the ones that go into a binder. Mine are 5 across and 7 strips long. They have a little sleeve at the top. I cut a piece of paper the same width, write the informaion on that and insert it. I prefer the paper (glassine?) ones, but rarely print contact sheets, unless I'm saving to disk, so the clear ones work good for viewing negs. Besides, I can't find the other ones anymore. That's too bad they weren't such dust magnets. The curl is a problem. I have a film dryer so I have to be careful and monitor the heat. Otherwise I can get some pretty severe curl.

[reellis67]

I use various PrintFile sleeves for all my negs and slides and then store them in 3 ring binders. I know that Light Impressions has a number of different options that are archival because I used to get their stuff, but then I found it less expensive to just use the PrintFile sheets. Here is the link if you are interested

http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com

[Rick Waldroup]

All I shoot is B&W film and slide film and I store everything in PrintFile sleeves. I then place everything in binders or folders and store it all in metal filing cabinets. Keeping track of negatives and related materials can be time consuming and a pain! I just went through my stuff and it took weeks to get everything together (negatives, contact sheets to me made, filing, etc.). I have a problem with curling in my negatives as well, especially the ones that have been in the sleeves for a while.

[fraley]

You guys have me beat hands down. All my negatives are stored in their little paper or cardboard envelopes from the developer. They are stacked up inside my nightstand which is alarmingly short of space in there. When it's full I'll have to do something else ;)

[Doug]

I'm yet another who uses PrintFile pages, and I use several different formats. I have some for slides too, but my slides are mostly in old metal slide file cases. I rarely shoot transparency film now, but I just put it unmounted in strips in the same PrintFile pages.

I've found the pages sag and stretch over time if the binder is stored vertically, so I now lay them flat.

[SolaresLarrave]

Print File here too!

However, for prints, I put them in 4X6 plastic boxes for index cards with a little bag of dessicant inside.

[novum]

Anyone clever enough to let me know how to make a scanned "contact sheet" for my negatives? It would sure help storing my negatives if I can see what the positives looked like! Surely this problem has presented itself to many other people who don't soup prints.

[williams473]

I thought of two ways you could get a digital contact : 1 - get one of those flatbed Epson film scanners that do full 8 x 10 film scans and scan the whole bed with your negs on there. 2 - maybe try a poor man's digi contact sheet - set up a digital SLR on a copystand-type setup, except you're shooting down onto a lightbox. Throw a sheet of negatives under a piece of glass on the lightbox (for flatness) and take an image. Then simply invert the resulting picture file from positive to negative in Photoshop and - voila - poor man's digital contact sheet. Best to shoot max file size so you can zoom in to study smaller frames ala 35mm.

[mich8261]

Anyone clever enough to let me know how to make a scanned "contact sheet" for my negatives? It would sure help storing my negatives if I can see what the positives looked like! Surely this problem has presented itself to many other people who don't soup prints.

saw this elsewhere and haven't tried it, but it sounds good. Pull up a blank Photoshop page (white background), stick the PrintFile page on your monitor (static should help keep it there), take a picture with your digital camera, import into PS and convert negative image. This should give you a low resolution contact sheet.

[Disaster_Area]

For all you PrintFile people I desperately need some help. I also use the 6 wide 35mm neg pages. Problem is that the sheets are too wide for any standard 3 ring binders. I've checked every local stationary store (Staples, Grand & Toy etc) and none of them carry a binder that's wide enough. I've even checked with all my photo stores that carry PrintFile and none of them can even order a PrintFile binder that's made for these pages. So far I just have them all stacked in a drawer but I'm running out of space and they're getting more and more disorganized

[Disaster_Area]

ok.. I've found that PrintFile DOES make oversized binders, but they're going to be about $30 after shipping and exchange.. anyone know of any lower cost solution? A regular binder is a couple bucks at most... $30 is a bit of a rip off.

[BTMarcais]

none of them carry a binder that's wide enough. I've even checked with all my photo stores that carry PrintFile and none of them can even order a PrintFile binder that's made for these pages.

I know printfile does make such a binder, because we stock them at the photo store I work at, although usually only a few at a time.

I'd also check LightImpressions, see if they have anything that would work.

-Brian

[Disaster_Area]

I really don't like the idea of the ends of my negatives sticking out, if someone pushes the binder too far back it can crease and bend whatever sticks out... but yeah.. I agree.. $30 for a binder is a rip off. I can't believe that NO ONE besides photographers ever have use for oversized binders, they've gotta be available somewhere for less.

[MartinP]

I suggest not using ring-binders, as they provide zero dust protection and hold the neg sheets vertically. Instead, buy archive acid-free storage boxes meant for valuable paperwork, and use them horizontally. It works for me anyway (famous last words). They are also fine for contacts and printing-notes, though whether you store those in the same box as the negs is perhaps debatable.

So far as sleeves go, I have been using archival paper neg-sheets for around thirty years and haven't seen any problems yet.

[Luddite Frank]

Does anyone have any preference as to "archival" cardboard or "archival" plastic when it comes to binder-boxes ?

I've seen the plastic variety from Print-File and Vue-All, I went to "light impressions" and saw they offered a "Tru-Core" binder-box with the "classic" metal corner re-inforcements....

Is one more moisture / mold resistant than the other ?

I plan on storing these in a "habitable" area of the house ( ie: not a damp, dark basement, nor a blazing-hot /freezing cold attic.).


Luddite Frank

[Chris101]

I use 2" Avery Heavy Duty binders - they are wide enough so my Print File pages (7 rows of 5 frames) don't stick out. It's made of fiberboard covered with polypropylene plastic - PVC free, it says. They list for $18, but I find them on sale for $8 in the summertime. I do lay them flat, alternating direction in a drawer to maximize the storage capacity. I have negatives that are 40 years old stored in a similar manner. They are fresh as the day I developed them.

[sepiareverb]

I don't know if these binders are still available: Samsil DXL. They fit most of the PrintFile pages. Downside is they're vinyl. I've switched to a Staples binder, rubbery joints and brightly colored plastic cover, label-holder too. No Vinyl. I use the 6x6 PrintFile pages for my XPAN rolls, and tey seem to fit in that binder.

http://www.office-supplies.us.com/dxl_locking_d-ring_binder_standard_ring_binders_1010066731_prd1. htm

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p4_1-Staples-better-binder-trade-View-Binders-with-D-Rings_157355_Business_Supplies_0_10051_SC1:CG2:DP3 717:CL142224

[ReeRay]

saw this elsewhere and haven't tried it, but it sounds good. Pull up a blank Photoshop page (white background), stick the PrintFile page on your monitor (static should help keep it there), take a picture with your digital camera, import into PS and convert negative image. This should give you a low resolution contact sheet.

I use a flatbed scanner for this. Epson V700, Epson software, and my own self constructed/height adjusted tray

Then scan and print

Dead easy

[ReeRay]

And this method.........

One thing that works really well -- if you have a light table, you can put the negs on the light table, and use a macro lens to photograph the photos using your best digital camera. You can also do this for contact sheets. Just bring the file into photoshop, convert it to B&W and invert it. Voila, instant contact sheet or web resolution scan.

[clayne]

Fold-lock polyester inserts for each negative strip into acid-free envelopes. Standard slide-in sleeves are asking for negative damage in a big way.

[stompyq]

Fold-lock polyester inserts for each negative strip into acid-free envelopes. Standard slide-in sleeves are asking for negative damage in a big way.


Clayne where can i buy these envelopes? I've been looking around and can't find any for my 35mm negative strips (and 4x5 slides)

[Roger Hicks]

I really don't like the idea of the ends of my negatives sticking out, if someone pushes the binder too far back it can crease and bend whatever sticks out... but yeah.. I agree.. $30 for a binder is a rip off. I can't believe that NO ONE besides photographers ever have use for oversized binders, they've gotta be available somewhere for less.

No it's not. A4 paper (210 x 297 mm) is the international standard for paper size, at least outside the United States.

Millions of people buy A4 binders, But very few indeed would buy (let us say) 245 x 297mm. It's not just the marginal cost of production of 10,000 units: it's the marginal cost of selling and distributing 10,000 units.

If $30 is more than you want to pay, the answer is easy. Don't buy it. But don't complain it's a rip-off. Just be grateful it's available at all to those who are prepared to buy it.

And don't say, 'If it were cheaper they would sell more'. Yes, they might. But equally, they might not. And the price would probably only drop $5 anyway -- with exactly the same number of people complaining that it's a rip-off...

Tashi delek,

R.