35mm negatives

[jayd]

I have many years worth of 35mm Negatives and while the sleeves are very nice and I have binders full I have been looking for a method to put documentation directly on the negative.
How could I attach something over the sprocket sections like Fuji labs used to do ?
It would need to be something acid free attached with acid free adhesive and write on or printable on computer.
Transfer to CD DVD is not a permanent solution for many reasons: the physical media does not last forever as many think and future readability are the two that come to mind. I would rather preserve my negatives and perhaps have CD DVD copies if I get to that.

Thanks
Jay

[daveh]

Jay,

Years ago there used to be white ink for writing on film and prints. I can't really see that you can put much directly on the negative, even using a sticky label.

In terms of what lasts forever - well nothing does in its original form, not even diamond.

Dave.

[mickeyobe]

Jay,

How about a fine pen nib and India ink.

Or a very fine permanent marker.
Sharpie makes Series 35000, EXTRA FINE POINT,PERMANENT MARKER.

Mickey

[33dollars]

I think its best to not disturb your neg's until needed. Stored in a safe dry place with silica gel & a numbering system index/directory. Just keep em safe. Sure, they won't last forever. But nothing ever does.

[daveh]

One of the problems of CD/DVD storage is that some drives won't read some of the disks. Re-usable disks have often been a problem with their extra shininess. Others just have a type of dye that can't be read by some drives. I have some disks that I can write to without problem, but no drive I have seems able to read the result. As I always check the disc is readable immediately after writing, I found out early on not to continue using these disks. Anyone want 97 DVDs?

[Berndt]

Mmmh ... can't see any reason for writing something on the negatives directly. I just put a note on the envelope for each film ( date, camera, event, etc. ) and store them properly. Additionally, all pictures are scanned, but I don't use DVDs as a storage medium, I use harddisks ( usually saving them on 2-3 at the same time in case, one will break ). Data transfer is fast meanwhile and harddisk space costs nothing. If you want to go super safe, make a back up on a virtual disk in the internet ... in case, your house burns down or whatever. Depends on where you live. It's a serious option here in Japan, because of the many earthquakes ... unfortunately.

[grenouille]

All my B/W negatives are placed in A4 Sheets for negatives, 35mm, labled with stickers on the sheet and filed accordingly. For the coloureds, I do the same but a CD is added.

Hye

[daveh]

I still have (somewhere) the Patterson Index Easel. It holds 6 strips of 6 (cutting into strips of 6 was always the standard until the processing people cut them into 4) and a 10x8 contact sheet can be made and then written on till your heart's content. Now, however, it makes more sense to scan and print out from the computer. There is so much more variation easily possible: pictures only, or pictures with full information and everything in between.

[jayd]

Daveh i have found that non readable disc is often a software issue more than a hardware issue so upgrading your software to a full version of Nero or Roxio is well worth the investment, as you will find far fewer disc get rejected when trying to write and those old disc can now be read, another issue can be OS I find some PDFs read only in the windows platform with adobe and others don't care if I'm using a Linux reader. I think probably the best most practical solution is just to keep negatives and slides in the archival Clear file or Printfile pages and annotate on the pages then make sure to keep them in the correct page. And I do use an index number month, day, year a,b,c .... for roll if more than one that day I used to use international date format of day , month ,year which makes more sense to me but figured people her in the US might get confused.

Jay

[jayd]

Anyone using a film scanner they like that is not to expensive " I have a good flat bed Epson,but it is slow., and does not have digital ice software.

Jay

[daveh]

Just a quick note on dating of whatever:

I use yyyy/mm/dd which I think is the most logical method being easier sorted in filing systems, especially digital.

The American system, however one looks at it is the most illogical of all.

Jay, just to add I use an HP Scanjet G4050 with the latest version of Vuescan. Vuescan has infra-red clean. If the slides or film are "clean" I don't use it.

Dave.

[carl19]

To be honest, I'd never attempt to mark anything directly on the negative itself. I always use Print File negative sheets and number each one individually. I'll then place them in archival ringbinder storage boxes specifically made for these sheets and then just write out an index sheet for the whole contents.

I'm not saying this is the best method, but it works fine for me and have always managed to locate a particular negative without any hassle when I've needed it.

[Deleted]

Dave hit on one of my photographic sore points. 35mm negs used to be cut in six-neg. lengths and stored in sleeves of the same lengths. Then photo labs started cutting them in four-neg lengths. So, with a 24 exposure roll you get six four-image lengths instead of four six-image lengths.

W.

[carl19]

Jun 8, 2012 18:07:08 GMT -5 wayne said:

Dave hit on one of my photographic sore points. 35mm negs used to be cut in six-neg. lengths and stored in sleeves of the same lengths. Then photo labs started cutting them in four-neg lengths. So, with a 24 exposure roll you get six four-image lengths instead of four six-image lengths.

W.

That's true. When processing myself, I've always cut them into strips of 6 negatives which meant a 36 exposure film would all accommodate nicely into one single sheet. However, strips of 4 negatives meant you ended up having to place some on a separate sheet which made indexing a little awkward.

I'm sure they used to make negative sheets specifically for strips of 4 images which slid vertically into sleeves rather than horizontally as normal. Perhaps my memory is playing tricks.

[hansz]

My 35mm 'workflow':
Develop, cut in strokes of 6 frames, scan (Nikon Coolscan IV - adapted to W*s 7...) in TIFF format, store on disk and on backup disk (so, 2 copies). Negatives in A4 binders, stored high and dry. Cross referenced by computer program (which is a nightmare to put it mildly...)
Hans