Organizing negatives

[bljkasfdljkasfdljskfa]

My negative sheets are adding up to the amount that I now realize will

force me to organize somehow. By subject, chronologically, or

something else.

 

What size negative pages do you use? How do you organize? Thanks.

[mikeseb]

This is a vexing question, one with which I continually wrestle. If you are like me, your image catalog contains a mix of film and digital, and older "legacy" negatives as well as newer work on film.

A further need is to make sure that scanned film images can be matched back to their original negatives or slides.

 

For digital-camera images I let Bridge rename each file based on date and time taken, which gives me names like 20050831_163445. I depend on keywording rather than on a descriptive name to search and findimages so this is not a problem.

 

For film, I use PrintFile negative pages which I number based on year, month, and then a serial, like 200508004 which means the fourth roll I've shot/developed in August 2005. This works for the amount of film I shoot; for a high volume shooter you'd have an additional two digits for the day of the month just before the serial. Each frame is then numbered, so I might have 200508004_15 for the 15th image on the fourth roll of August 2005.

 

Whether a digital capture or scanned film, each image gets metadata and keywords after renaming or scanning, so that this information is propagated through subsequent versions, editing, etc.

 

I always save for archiving the original file; for editing I save as Photoshop format with the file suffix _0--just before the file extension--for the "master" image. This gets sharpened, spotted, color- and contrast-corrected, and becomes the basis for other images. If I significantly crop, or desat a color image to B&W, or otherwise create a substantially different image, those subsequent images are suffixed _1, _2, etc, and saved separately.

 

Once I am ready to output, I resize, downrezz, and output sharpen, and save these versions separately also. FOr example: 200508004_12_1_rz360sz7ops360MT.psd stands for a 7 inch (shortest dimension) final image at 360ppi, with PhotoKit output sharpening at 360 dpi for matte media, made from the first post-master version of the 12th frame of the fourth roll of film shot in August 2005. Whew. It's long I know but I can tell at a glance just what I'm dealing with. I keep working files (*_0, _1, etc) in one folder, initial images unmodified in another, and images output for printing in yet another.

 

For legacy film images, some 35 years old, I name them based on whatever negative-file sheet naming convention I had in effect at the time. SO I have something of a hodgepodge of images: B66_19_12.tiff, for instance, from the 12 frame of the 19th roll of 6x6cm black and white images in my files. The key is for me to always be able to match a digital image with its film original, on whose file pages I've written all pertinent information.

 

This system is less cumbersome to implement than to describe, and works for me at a relatively modest rate of image production. It takes into account that I might have a roll of film that spans days or even months, so I merely name it based on the latest month represented in the images. It also allows for not knowing the exact date taken of each film image. (WHy can't my contax 645 imprint date and time on the film just as it imprints exposure data?) If I were a busy pro shooting film it would be tough to keep up; but then again, in that case i'd be all-digital anyway.

 

Hope this helps. If anyone has a better system I'd be happy to use it instead.

[bljkasfdljkasfdljskfa]

Thanks. I just have B&W negatives. I don't shoot digital, and I don't scan.

 

It seems that the date a roll was taken on is irrelevant. I think I'll split my negative sheets into several workboxes. Each workbox will be, mostly, dedicated to the style/subject. E.g, the music workbox, the family workbox, the street workbox. Further, I could pull out the strips I like the best into the 'most interesting' workbox. Do you think this will work?

[jtk]

I don't like sheets, particularly the soft plastic kind...hassle to load and unload. And I don't like binders/files because they gather dust.

 

Check: Light Impressions....I'm using 35mm Nega Gard Box Kits 20215 (29.95 for 100 rolls).

 

... archival box (like 1/3 a shoe box) holding archival folders, in turn holding side-loading "FoldLock" sleeves (clear archival polyester for 35mm).

 

www.lightimpressionsdirect.com

 

Much more compact than pages, much easier to organize and label, much less hassle and liklihood of scratching than sleeves (because slide loading). Imo archival polyester is the ultimate material for this purpose.

 

Organization's another story. I organize by theme, person, project...not brilliant but it serves.

[mendel_leisk]

I think just chronological, and keep a log file, of the subject(s) of each roll. A simple text file, or a database, will be handy for searching. Or just paper, if that's more your thing.

[timothy_nelson]

I also use the NegaGuard archival system from Light Impressions, including the polyester

(side-loading) sleeves, archival folders (one per roll) and boxes (50 rolls per box). I don't like

pages that require you to slide negs--you're asking for scratches. I number and file each roll

sequentially, and each frame just keeps its number in the roll. 1098-21 is frame 21 on roll

1098. This is simple and unambiguous, so I can locate any negative without problem. My

C-41 negs go into the same system as my B&W. My color lab sleeves them in polyester, so all

I need is an archival folder for the roll. As to how you keep track of subjects, dates, and other

information to find particular photos, that's the job of a database that you need to keep up as

the photos come in.

[andykowalczyk]

Does anyone have an informed opinion on the standard folding sleeves that most mini-labs use?

 

What about the glassine envelopes standard in the old days (do I need to re-sleeve my ancient stuff?)

[david_sargent]

I second Mendel's suggestion - chronologically and keep some kind of database. In the database - could be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet - have Volume, Page (assuming you keep them in pages in a notebook), Date, Category, Film Type and Speed, Comments (in this field you could put "Uncle Bob's 50th birthday," or "trip to Mesa Verde," or whatever else you think you might want to use to help find a particular negative), and you may want other fields for stuff like f/stop, shutter speed, developer, etc.

[jordan_w.]

For what it's worth: I use PrintFile pages. In the writeable area at the top, the month and year go in the Date area, the Description area is just that (plus camera, lens and development info), and the file number is YYNN where YY is the year and NN is just a "serial number". So I just developed and filed away 0553, the 53rd roll of 2005. Individual negs/images are then in the form 0553-12 (i.e. frame 12 on roll 0553). I do this for both 35mm and 120, and (this year) for colour and B&W, negative and reversal -- all part of the same numbering system. This is mostly adapted from something I read in a David Vestal book.

[craig_shearman1]

I think the date on which a photo was made is one of the most basic pieces of information you need to have. It depends on what you're shooting of course. Most of my background is in newspaper/wire service photography, so the basic caption info is the name of who's in the picture, where they are, what they're doing and when. If you're doing nature or landscapes or abstracts, etc., it may not be as important but it doesn't hurt to know. Once you've got a unique number on each page, whether it's derived from a date or not, you can then use that in something like Microsoft Acess to create a database for any kind of cateogories and cross searching you want.

[jtk]

Don't know about longevity of minilab sleeves, but they seem OK for the short run. I like the ease of insertion.

 

My own 30-year-old glassine sleeves still seem good (Savage and Agfa) but the unknown-age new-old-stock Hassleblad sleeves I picked up last year are useless...the glassine paper is stiff, perhaps starting to self destruct.

[mark_wilhelm]

For those of you that use Printfile pages, do you typically make/order contact sheets to file with the negatives?

[andykowalczyk]

I asked my local lab about their sleeves and got a very informative reply:

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

Cord Camera uses Crown Sleeving Material. Below is some data and a link to Crown's website.

 

*********************************************************************

 

From http://www.crownphoto.com

 

"85% of the worlds sleeving comes from Crown:

The best in archival protection, all Crown sleeves are made of acid free, durable, pliable materials, providing total protection for negatives. Some feature a white write-on area simplifying orders for reprints and enlargements. Perforated design allows simple separation, folding and packing of negatives, plus increased customer convenience when returning negatives for reprints. Crown quality sleeving is made for Noritsu and Crown type sleevers and is available in 1,000 foot lengths (300 meters)"

 

*********************************************************************

 

Let me know if you have further questions. Thanks,

 

Phil Kinstle /

Imaging Services /

www.cordcamera.com

[daniel_robbins]

<p>I was taught in all of the college courses I've taken to use Printfile sleeves. I use the ones that hold 7 strips of 5 frames, which are a huge pain for 36 exposure rolls. If you are going with Printfile, I'd suggest the ones that hold strips of 6. They make me nervous about scratches.<br /> @Mark, Yes I make contact sheets of all of my negatives. Right now I have the contact sheets stored right behind the negatives. I dont have a ton of negatives at this point though, so that might not be possible in the future.</p>