After development - how do you store your many films?

[rayonline_nz]

I just developed some b/w film today at home and got me thinking. I am not a huge shooter. But over the years and I hear that some of you guys got thru a bulk roll in a few months. I am one of those that shoot 1 or 2 rolls a month unless I go somewhere specific.

Do you use many ringbinders, boxes, what do you use?

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I use negative sleeves and archival boxes. I don't do proof sheets as I find them rather a bother. They are really ridiculous for 35 mm negatives as the images are too small to discern any real detail. If a particular negative looks promising I make a 4x5 or 5x7 print. After some practice it is easy to read a negative.

I dislike the clear plastic sleeves and pages as they tend to stick to the negatives making it hard to get them out. Sometimes you can get "frosted" plastic sleeves that don't stick. I use archival glassine sleeves and have never had any problems with decades of use.

 

[canvassy]

I use PrintFile brand negative sleeves, and keep them in a binder. No issues with the pages sticking together or the negatives sticking inside.

 

[Svenedin]

I use Clear File negative sleeves. I do make contact sheets from 35mm (and 6x6, 6x7) and clear negative sleeves mean less negative handling because the contact print can be made with the negatives still in the sleeves. I think the contact sheets are more useful as a quick reference to what is on the film rather than helping me decide what to print but they do help me with that as well. I used to use glassine (and have a lot of films still stored that way) but it is hard to see the negatives through the frosted material (so a contact sheet is even more useful). I don't like clear acetate negative sleeves because, as Gerald says, the negatives tend to stick.

 

[rayonline_nz]

I use a ringbinder and glassine sleeves for 120 and 135 formats.

For you guys. How many ringbinders and or boxes are we talking about here? Does it take up much room? 1 or 2 shelf's in a cupboard?

 

[wilper]

I have around 400 rolls plus 200 sheets of 4x5 in two binders. It is time to start a new binder now.

 

[Luckless]

I've been dragging my feet on getting my collection into actual proper storage, and my negatives are currently sitting in an archive box divided up with little folders of acid free paper. I only recently got back into film, which I hadn't shot on since I was a teenager, so my collection is still small enough that I could easily square it away into something more suitable in less than an hour, so it hasn't been a huge priority for me.

I'm still debating what the 'final' sorting and storage method will be, as I'm really not a fan of the idea of things like plastic sleeves that I end up having to drag a set of frames out of. I kind of prefer the little folders in a way as I can open them, get a fingernail under the edge of the negative, and then lift away from the paper without rubbing the negative along them. Of course the downsides are that I wouldn't want to move the collection in them for fear of random scratches from the paper as nothing is very securely held in place, and they don't do much to protect against stray dust getting in whenever the lid is opened.

However, one thing that I have been trying to keep on top of is getting reference scans done so that I can keep a digital catalogue of everything on hand. Physical collection storage becomes based on reference to it from the computer. Everything gets suitable keywords, gets a few notes, and also points back to physical journals/sketchbooks where I've been mulling over ideas of how I want to try making real prints of a given negative when I can get a proper darkroom setup.

This way when the collection grows and I get more than a few dozen rolls of film to deal with then it will still be easy to go back and find an original when needed. Or go back and explore specific elements of the collection by pulling stuff up based on keyword. A friend wants prints of horses for their office? Well, keyword search for horses, skim through what I've actually photographed that contains a horse, select potential targets, and then go revisit the negatives on a light table and decide where to go from there.

Eventually I'll code up a checkin/out system for the physical negatives to make sure stuff is harder to get out of sync.

 

[Jim Jones]

For decades I've used 35mm negative wallets by Printfile.com, but they no longer sell them. The wallets have the advantage when folded up of storing the negatives alternately face up and face down. This counteracts the tendency of the film to curve as it does in flat sheets. The only disadvantage of this system is the negatives become so flat they tend to accidently slide out of unfolded wallets. Perhaps there are other sources of similar wallets. I have enough to last the rest of my life, but an jealously hording them.

 

[removed account4]

if they are roll films, in print vue negative pages, sometimes in a tall stack, sometimes in a 3ring binder.
if they are sheets of film, either in stacked loose in empty film boxes, or glassine envelopes, or archival shoe boxes
if they are sheets of paper / paper negatives in piles on flat surfaces, or in a small piece of chip board furniture purchased
from michael's arts/crafts. it has 4 drawers. wishful thinking i had a flat file ... ( flat files cost thousands, this cost about 60$ )

 

[grahamp]

All my early 35mm and 120 film is in Paterson binders with their glassine pages. More recent roll film is in PrintFile sheets in US 3-ring binders. Sheet film is sleeved individually and kept in boxes for the moment. I write a lot of reference notes on the sheet film sleeves. At a minimum date, location/subject, equipment, and development information. Roll film sheets get similar notes, but obviously for the whole sheet, not individual frames.

 

[Leigh B]

I've been doing my own processing and printing for over 60 years, so I have quite an accumulation.

I generally use PrintFile or similar archival storage pages in binders stored horizontally.

- Leigh

 

[MattKing]

This is my 35mm black and white negatives from about 5 years in the 1970s:

I'm not fond of glassine, and have been using Printfile pages for the last few decades. My negatives (and unmounted slides) are in those pages, and those pages are in binders which are organized by date. They fill about 2.5 feet of shelves.

The slides are mostly in the Printfile pages designed to take sleeved films. Those pages are slightly larger, so they tend to be in slightly larger binders.

 

[jeffreyg]

PrintFile sleeves and acid-free negative envelopes. Medium format each strip of four negatives in a sleeve with the printing records written on the sleeve. Three sleeves in the envelope and the envelopes kept in archival boxes. The same type system for sheet film. every now and then I go through them and get rid of the "why did I ever shoot that" to make more room.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[Sirius Glass]

I use PrintFile pages in binders or archival boxes.

 

[Saganich]

PrintFile enclosed in a three ring binder box. When used Azo with a contact printer the images were great for deciding what to print.

 

[ic-racer]

I use hanging sheets in these bins. That picture was a few years ago, I have 13 bins now.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Images (transparencies) destined for printing are snipped out of a sleeved MF strand, then mounted in archival card mounts and polyprop sleeves and vetted on the lightbox. The vetting process precedes printing. During this time various people will handle the images so protection from grubby paws is paramount. Images not treated like this iin card masks are put in PrintFile clear sleeves, and stored in an archival plastic box (no rings). 35mm is treated the same. After printing, images are re-mounted in the masks and stored in an antique file box that is just the right size for the masks. But I must look around for something similar now the present box is close to full.

 

[BMbikerider]

The negs are stored in glassine sheets - one film per sheet and give each sheet a reference number. I then scan each film (low resolution) and store the images in suitable categories with a corresponding refrence number, on a memory stick so I can search without going though masses of sheets. With low res (I don't intend to use the scans for anything else) a 35mm film will be scanned in about 15 mins and a 12 sheet a little longer So far I have used about 1/3rd of an 8 gig memory stick. it is quick and it works - for me anyway.

 

[LAG]

(Bottom . 3rd Row . Right to left)
Color slides in Album(s) | B&W slides in Album(s) | 9x12 on separate sheets in Box(es)

(Middle . 2nd Row . Right to left)
Color & BW (+ & -) 120 Album(s) | Album(s) for all prints up to 25x30 | 13x18 on separate sheets in Box(es)

(Top . 1st Row . Right to left)
B&W Negatives | Color negatives | 135 Film bags awaiting single free frames ...
​

 

[Ces1um]

I don't save them anymore. Where this is a 100% analog forum I won't go into what I do with the images (does this merging of analog, hybrid and fully digital workflow really work well?). The only ones I've saved are the ones that I've actually made physical prints myself from. The process of printing from them made me value them more.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I've always used Savage binders with slipcovers. I have nine of them right now stuffed. Those aren't being made anymore and I have been looking into alternatives. the slpcovers are great since I keep them on a shelf and can just pull out the one I need even with other things on top of the slipcovers. I use PrintFile sleeves and store the 120 and 4x5 at the end of the binder so they don't take on the curl of the 35mm. After reading Jim's post above, I think I might start alternating the orientation of the negs to keep them flat.... I've never really shot much in the way of slide film, so those are sleeved and kept in a box. I also keep color separate from black and white. Little quirk of mine.

 

[Logan Becker]

I like Print Files for 35mm and 4x5. I store them in a binder with dividers... First in sequence is the contact sheet, followed by negatives, followed by 5x7 prints in their own clear sleeves in order of appearance on the contact sheet from left to right, top to bottom. Exposure information is obviously listed on the back of every print, and each divider has the date of development and film type (HP5+, TriX, etc.). So far I only have one binder, but it is filling at a steady rate. Getting ready to purchase a new bulk roll Currently about 3/4 through this one, lasted about 3 months so far.

 

[faberryman]

I use PrintFile negative sleeves and Vue-All Archival Safe-T binders for 35mm, 6x6, and 4x5.

 

[NJH]

Kenro glassine sleeves (bags) in Adox ring binder storage boxes.

 

[tomfrh]

Ring binders.

When I was a kid I'd throw the negatives away. It didn't really occur to me that the negatives ARE the photo.