Archivability of color 35mm negatives

[imaging_tibet]

<p>Does anybody know the average expected lifetime of exposed colour 35mm negative film, assuming that the negs are stored appropriately in sleeves (though at room temperature, not specifically temp. controlled)?<br>

We use Fuji Superia 200 and 400 ISO to be very specific, but a general ball-park figure for color neg film in general would be very helpful.</p>

[randrew1]

<p>Henry Wilhelm has compiled the published results of various manufacturers at: <a href="http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_05_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf">http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_05_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf</a></p>

<p>The typical criteria is the time it is predicted to take for a 20% loss of the least stable dye. Results range from 6 years to 70 years for color neg films. The biggest variable is the ratio of yellow couplers. There are two classes of yellow couplers used in most films. One of them is more active and allows for thinner, sharper, and cheaper products. It is also less stable.</p>

<p>The 20% loss is probably too much for optically printed materials. Scanning allows for correction of much bigger dye losses. I've scanned Kodacolor from 1955 where 50% of the yellow dye had faded. </p>

<p>Slide films last longer. Kodachrome is predicted to last 180 years. Older Ektachrome films are predicted to last 105 years while recent products are predicted to survive for 220 years. </p><div></div>

[benny_spinoza]

<p>Ron,<br>

Regarding "Christmas 1955" .....Kodachrome?</p>

[randrew1]

<p>The Christmas image is one example of Kodacolor that is 50+ years old and badly faded. I've recovered several old family pictures by scanning negatives and adjusting curves. I've had much better luck scanning negatives than scanning faded prints. With faded negatives, the dye loss is more or less proportional so a contrast adjustment will correct it. With faded prints (especially if light fading is involved) the fading of one dye record depends on the dyes above it. </p>

<p>I've had a few Kodachrome slides that developed a yellow stain (bad processing?) but I've never seen a faded Kodachrome slide.</p>

[imaging_tibet]

<p>Thanks Ron, this is incredibly helpful advice. We will now make the transition to slide film.<br>

Our project's members are young minority photographers from on and around the Tibetan Plateau. Our aim is to train them to make documents of lifestyles in their home communities, as many aspects of cultural diversity are being rapidly lost.<br>

Thanks to your advice we will now have the chance to make much longer lasting documents for coming generations' uses.</p>

 

[lovcom_photo]

<p>Scan your negatives!</p>

[matthew_newton]

<p>Its good to know the general relationship of temperature and humidity vs time. I didn't realize such a minor temperature difference can impact fade rate so much. I am of course scanning all of my negatives (just another 6 months or so to scan the last 3 years of work), but it is good to know that storing them in my basement (which hovers around 60F in the winter and 66F in the summer) helps out so much more then storing them in my office on the top floor of my house (which hovers around 70F in the winter and 80F in the summer).</p>

[luca_stramare2]

<p>Scan them, but don' toss them away. Store them in a cold dry place. If possible, shoot film with a higher archival capability, such as Rollei Digibase. Don't rely on your scans, unless you become obsessed with bcakups and backups of backups, it takes nothing to loose a whole digital archive. I lost all my digital files of the late 90s and early 00s because the CDs became unreadable after some years.</p>

[tales of a flaneur]

<p> </p>

 

<p>I recently completed a rather mad enterprise - take 1100 slides and some negatives made from the mid 1960s to 1991 and scan them at full res with a Nikon Coolscan 8000. My comments aren't particularly scientific, merely anecdotal after six months of continual scanning and processing in Photoshop and Lightroom.<br>

I had the opportunity to observe how time and careless keeping affected:<br>

 

<ul>

<li>Kodachrome in 35mm - most of our family pictures were made with a Pentax K1000 on Kodachrome. When Mum and/or Dad nailed the exposure, the results were stunning and feel as though they were shot yesterday. Gorgeous, timeless images.</li>

</ul>

<br>

<a title="My beginning by Tales of a Flaneur, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3293/2757153585_da5201d6eb_o.jpg" alt="My beginning" width="820" height="535" /></a><br>

 

<ul>

<li>Kodachrome in 126 - the rest of the pictures were made on a brown Instamatic. Lovely colours, though oddly these seem to have faded more. The exposures can be a bit wonky and the focus dodgy (to be expected), but these also have a vibrancy that belies the passage of thirty years since they were made. I also have a couple of 126 negatives, but unsure what emulsion. They've survived nicely as well.</li>

<li>Kodachrome in 110 - I was in love with my little 110 camera - and the slides scan surprisingly well. The focus is madly soft, but the colours generally have survived with very little fading.</li>

<li>Ektachrome - these occur mostly from the early to mid 1980s and I can't detect much (if any) fading of the images. </li>

<li>Kodacolor X - although the negatives scan a bit green, there's nothing a little colour correction in Photoshop can't wipe away.</li>

<li>Kodak Gold 100/400 - these generally look rather good for their age (vintage 1980-1988), not a lot of fading or colour-shifting as far as I can determine.</li>

<li>Kodacolor VR 1000 - For some reason, we used this film on a family holiday to Boston and New England. Grainy as is possible, but the colours are appropriately autumnal and elegiac.</li>

<li>Some Kodak 120 negatives from the 1960s - these have been much abused and they still scan beautifully. Really gorgeous, retro colours with a vibrancy that summoned up so many fond memories of my grandparents.</li>

</ul>

<br>

Now, the real problematic images are found on slides in white mounts with the words "Color Slide Film" printed on them. I've been loathe to rip apart of the mounts to see what sort of devil-film this is - but goodness how it has aged. Mum and Dad seem to have used it in 1979 - 1981. Any thoughts as to what this hellish film could be?<br>

It's ugly. Really ugly. The entire cyan layer seems to be missing. Whatever it is, the original manufacturer should be drawn and quartered. I've spent far too long trying to tweak what should be gorgeous images back toward some semblance of normalcy.<br>

Then again, I have a batch of slides from 1972 whose predominant colour is blue. The whole rolls looks like it was shot with a deep blue filter. Bizarre. No idea what sort of slide film it is, either ...<br>

So I suppose, the 35mm Kodachome wins hands-down as the archival film of choice based on my family's collection of photographs.</p>