Filing system for negatives

I now have several hundred sheets of negative sleeves and would love

to get them organized. Can anyone offer a simply way to categorize

them so that I can easily find negatives after a few years? Got a

good numbering system? Let me know.

Up until recently I have them numbered by subject matter. However, I am thinking of filing by year. It has become a task to pull and replace from so many binders. I made a contact sheet and then the sheet of negatives and the contact have the same number. The contact sheets can be reviewed and then the negative pulled from it's binder.They are kept separate. The problem that has increased the work load is that the binders are plastic archival types and they will not hold a label. The labels continue to fall off which leaves the fun task to find the correct binder (s) to replace the negatives in use. I haven't work out all the kinks that might occur with filing by year but am leaning in that direction. Am sure there are as many ways to do this as there are photographers.

Start labeling by year and then roll shot that year. Use a two digit

number for year (03) followed by roll number. The first roll of

2003 is 0301. The frame numbers already on the film identify the

individual pictures.

 

Got this from "Advanced Black and White Printing" Photo 303 The

Pratt Institute Handouts by David Vestal put out by Photo

Techniques magazine. It's like $6 and has lots of great tips.

 

http://www.phototechmag.com/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?i

d=10

I don't number my negative sleeves, but I write the following info on them:</p>

 

1. Location<br>

2. Date (month and year)<br>

3. Developer, dilution, temperature, time</p>

 

The last one is by far the most valuable information.

Mark,

In the last month or so, I have been doing all that you have listed. But to make life a little easier, I thought I should have a better filing system.

I've been numbering mine with the date of processing, in ISO format (today is 20030921), followed by a letter if I had more than one roll that day, followed by a hyphen and the frame number on the roll (two digits with leading zero if needed); this lets my computer sort the images in the "natural" order of the filing system. The first few rolls I shot this summer aren't yet categorized, but everything I've shot since I started using this scheme is neatly numbered and filed. Index sheets get the same number as the roll, of course, and if I got prints (my local lab charges less for single 4x6 or 5x5 prints than for just the develop and index -- go figure!) I put that same information on the outside of the print envelope. I also record (on the negative sleeve and on the index print) the camera used and film type, along with any special processing (push or pull) used.

 

So, for instance, one of the images I uploaded today was 20030919-07, which I can reference from my records to verify it was shot with my Wirgin Auta 6.3 on TMY, no special exposure or processing. I haven't yet been recording exposure in detail, but I need to start...<div></div>

I've filed thousands of rolls of BW negs for the last many years using the year and a serial number: 03-127 is the 127th roll shot in 2003. Frame number can be added. All film formats go into the sequence. Contact sheets get the same number automatically because I write it on the plastic negative sleeve before proofing.

 

Contact sheets and negative sleeves go into a series of three-ring binders labelled on the spines.

 

Simple and it works. It's surprisingly easy to find a single frame by scanning contact sheets, even if you've only got a vague idea when you shot it.

I made a database in FileMaker Pro that uses an unique ID number for each image. I did this for slides that made the cut, and I am going to apply it to negs that have a contact and 35 other images with them, and eventually digital originals. Along with the UID (my unique ID) I can have a whole bunch fo fields that are relevant. For contact sheets, a specific frame is linked to a UID. The contact needs an ID number to find it and its image from a UID. Does that make sense for the condensed version? Rather simple, just make up a system that has a unique ID for each image and contact sheet (and they need not be assigned by you if you have other data for things like date and so on) and you can search the database to find what you want. The problem with all this? Data entry. It took me a long time to get on my butt and hammer out the captions and dates.

I just file them in date order. I date them when processed. If I process two or more on the same day then I give them a serial number within date. I can identify any negative by a number of the format YYMMDD/NN/nn where NN is the serial number of the sheet and nn is the number of the negative.

I number each roll consecutively, with a prefix to denote the type. A=colour trans, B=b&w, C=colour neg.

 

A27301 is transparency, roll 273, frame 1.

 

B112133 is B&W, roll 1121, frame 33.

 

This way I can number images individually - for example, when referenced on my website or slide mounts. It means I have both a record of the individual image selected, and can identify their originating roll if I need to locate similars or other shots taken on the same day/roll.

 

This system can accomodate 9,999 rolls in each format without exceeding the 8-character limit for burning CDs with the ISO 9660 cross-platform standard (just in case). If I use another format or digital camera images I can substitute a different prefix.

The key thing is to file the negs in proper sequence and keep

them that way. No scheme works unless you stick with it.

Before I post my question, please pardon me for being ignorant here with the discussion, I am a new kid on the block.

 

Mark Farnsworth wrote:

>> 3. Developer, dilution, temperature, time

>>

>> The last one is by far the most valuable information.

 

Mark, I am curious as why #3 is the most valuable info to you? Do you intend to use them as "lesson learned" or something else that I missed completely.

 

 

-eng