"archival" sleeves from 77' destroy Ektacolor prints

<p>Simple story: for a project I had a dozen 11X17 Ektacolor prints made in 1977 by Faulkner Color Lab, one of San Francisco's best three pro labs at the time (Fine prints, 4X5 interneg from Kodachromes). I worked for Faulkner at the time, so price was right :-)</p>

<p>Some were simply stacked in photo paper boxes. Others were sleeved in fancy (unknown brand) vinyl sleeves (each has a zillion rectangular perfs for portfolio binder clips...these sleeves aren't dimple-textured, but prints in dimple-textured vinyl sleeves seem OK).</p>

<p>I inspected all prints carefully about 5 years ago, when I started inkjet printing. No obvious color shifts but blacks were slightly fading.</p>

<p>I've just pored through all of them again while "reorganizing" my photo storage .</p>

<p>The Ektacolors NOT in sleeves look pretty good after 32 years...blacks are weak, colors are fading, but no strong shift. They look 1/4-1/2 stop thin.</p>

<p>The Ektacolors that were "protected" by vinyl portfolio sleeves have become throw-aways...strong magenta "stains," especially near the entrance to the sleeves...but extending as much as 6" into the 11X14s). I'd be pretty damn unhappy except that it's good to get rid of old stuff.. sometimes. Looks like I'll have to find, scan and inkjet-print a couple of personally "important" slides before they go to hell in storage (I now trust backed-up digital files more than film).</p>

<p><strong>If I were you</strong> I'd remove all film and paper from sleeves that aren't SPECIFICALLY polyester (though my Savage and Agfa glassine sleeves from the 60s have been fine for negs). Why don't I fear polyester? Because my 4X5 E6 chromes from the 70s look GREAT.</p>

<p>I don't see how anything made from polyvinylchloride (PVC, or vinyl) could be considered "archival." Without the addition of plasticizers, PVC is hard and brittle. Plasticizers are small molecules, with significant vapor pressure, and may be leached out of the polymer material or diffuse to another material in contact with the PVC. Polyester and myler are the best polymer films for archival purposes. Use the sniff test: if a polymer film or sheet has a detectable odor, it is not archival!</p>

<p>Sorry those prints were ruined. I haven't seen any vinyl sleeves that were claimed to be archival. Long ago I threw away several dozen vinyl 35mm slide pages used for a short time and went only with polyester pages for slides and negatives. Vinyl and PVC plastics release chlorine which is no good for any living thing either. </p>

<p>No plastic is good. Reread above answer.</p>

<p>Since you problem is worse near opening, the contamination may be from another source like the cheap box it is stored in.</p>

<p>This was a big issue a long time ago.<br>

A company called 20th Century Plastics made clear pages from PVC. One of the photo mags warned people against them, and 20th Century made a big stink and produced "scientific tests" to prove they were OK. The "sniff test" method to determine safety was part of the argument. After trying the "sniff test", I ended up throwing out about $25 worth of PVC slide pages. The polyester ones have worked fine so far.<br>

The statement "No plastic is good" seems a little overbroad. Film base is plastic.</p>

 

<p>Thanks very much for the info John (from this post and your other, archival related, post).</p>

<p>Cheers! Jay</p>

<p>Jeff Livacich is right, but as I recall Century wasn't the only problem brand. Century's slide pages caused very rapid damage...that was known by cc 1970... but I didn't generalize that knowledge to prints a decade later. These particular pages were an unknown European brand.</p>

<p>Yes: If the plastic stinks you can bet the fumes are bad for prints (or film).</p>

<p>Importantly, prints in the same box that were not sleeved at all look fine except for general fading...no evident color shift. The box (Kodak paper box) isn't the problem.</p>

<p>Interestingly/oddly, prints from the same era in similar-feeling dimpled/nonglare pages (presumably a version of vinyl) are OK...but I'm putting them in polyester pages. Maybe the dimples allowed gas to escape...it's also interesting that the problem took over 25 years to show up.</p>

<p>I now use polyester sleeves for prints and polyester "side lock" sleeves for film. Savage and Agfa "glassine" paper sleeves from the 60s/70s are obviously yellowing, but OK (ie they show no flaws, Nikon scan as if they were just processed)..</p>

<p>Glassine envelopes aren't universally archival. You may be able to buy archival glassine envelopes, but you cannot say that they are intrinsically archival.</p>

<p>http://cool-palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/1998/0366.html</p>

<p>Besides polyester, Mylar D can also be used for archival storage.</p>

<p>Peter</p>

<p>Peter, "intrinsically" and "universally" are irrelevant to my experience. I don't even know if glassines are available today. As I said, I use polyester side-locks (I fear scratches from end-loading polyester sleeves).<br>

Most serious photographers used Savage and/or Agfa glassines in the 70s ... I'm just reporting my experience. Hasselblad glassines were far inferior to Savage and Agfa in my experience...got brittle. </p>