Are multiple negs in one sleeve considered "archival" ?

polyglot · Jan 3, 2012

Is it considered OK to cut a roll (120 in my case) into a bunch of shorter strips, stack them up and put the whole lot into a single slot on an archival sleeve sheet? That way I get four rolls per page, which saves me bucketloads of room (and makes the sleeves 4x cheaper!).

It's not for chromes of course 'cos I want to see those. But are there any archival problems doing this for B&W or C41 negs?

I note that if you took 35mm film to a consumer lab any time in the last 30 years, you got all your negs back in a single paper sleeve that's on the back of the 6x4 print folder. So it's probably not that bad, or is it?

2F/2F · Jan 3, 2012

That is how I store my negs. But I use glassines; one roll per glassine envelope. I guess time will tell if it is a good idea or not! No problems so far, though.

spacer · Jan 3, 2012

Is there any danger of sticking?

Helinophoto · Jan 3, 2012

I would think that there may be an issue of scratches over time, dust tend to get into everything, moving the negatives around and stacking them on each other may induce scratches.....at least that's my initial thoughts, I may be wrong though, scratches may as well occur when inserting and removing the single negatives from the sleeves as well.

I like to have one strip per sleeve, much easier to find stuff, I also make a contact sheet, representing the sleeve-page and I store that along with the negative sleeve, so I can very easily find the exact negative to print (I also mark the frames I print on the contact sheet).

Vaughn · Jan 3, 2012

I would consider the possibility of sticking together if the humidity is high.

If you are not going to be accessing these negatives very often, then it might work nicely. The more one handles film, the greater than chance for damage. So if you are using these negs often, then you will be handling several negative strips to get the one you want. But as long as one's filing system doesn't become a PITA for finding negs, then it is a good one.

I just went through a couple cardboard boxes in the garage -- there were the drug store envelopes; the prints gone (in albums) and the color negatives tucked in all together in the little flap -- and a bit stuck together. Totally the worse storage conditions for 10, 15, 20 years. Photos of me at half my present age...fit young punk of 29 summers!

I double and triple up on my 8x10 negs in 4-fold paper envelopes. But I have interweaving paper between the negatives and there is no sliding of the negatives in or out of the 4-fold envelope.

polyglot · Jan 3, 2012

They don't seem to stick, no. Of course, I am careful that they're quite dry. I figure the dust/scratch risk is the same since you can get the same relative movement between negs and sleeves; I'm also currently using PrintFile sleeves which are kind of tight and rubbery so I don't reckon anything will move.

I think I'll stop worrying and transfer all my negs from their old (suspected to be PVC) sleeves. I have a 1000' roll of 70mm sleeves of unknown provenance that I've been using but now an suspicious of what they're made of.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 3, 2012

polyglot said:
Is it considered OK to cut a roll (120 in my case) into a bunch of shorter strips, stack them up and put the whole lot into a single slot on an archival sleeve sheet? That way I get four rolls per page, which saves me bucketloads of room (and makes the sleeves 4x cheaper!).

It's not for chromes of course 'cos I want to see those. But are there any archival problems doing this for B&W or C41 negs?

I note that if you took 35mm film to a consumer lab any time in the last 30 years, you got all your negs back in a single paper sleeve that's on the back of the 6x4 print folder. So it's probably not that bad, or is it?

considerthe tim consider the time you've invested in those managerse and fforty consider the time and effort you invest developmentou consider've iconsidernvestd the time and effort in those younegativ invest within those maybenega managerstives, because You'll regret thiafter the 1st after humid summer, when the strips start sticking to ea each other each other

mdarnton · Jan 3, 2012

My negs have been stored that way in my attic for about 40 years. I just dug them out and started scanning them, a couple of months ago, and they're all fine.

Consider this: when you pull one strip out of a sleeve, you're sliding it in and out,and both sides can get abraded; when you pull out a pile of strips, only the outer strips are sliding. Then when they're out of the sleeve, you carefully unpile them. That way, they are much LESS likely to get scratched, except for the first and last strip. If you sleeve them individually, every strip gets a chance to be scratched as it goes in and out. Unless you live on top of a jackhammer, once they're in the sleeve, there's no further risk.

Bill Burk · Jan 3, 2012

Over the holiday I found 8 rolls of 120 on two sheets of glassine. About 8 years old.

Some of the negs had been improperly fixed, some had photoflo residue. The crud on some strips transferred onto adjacent strips.

Same thing would be expected of any speck of dust... Each speck would affect two strips of film - the one it stuck to and the one it dented.

They are not stuck together, or "ruined" but I would have been happier if they had been in their own sleeves.

BrianShaw · Jan 3, 2012

I store my 120 one roll per page. I've always done that to avoid scratching and sticking. Considering the relatively low cost of the storage pages (I just bought a package of 100 for USD 18+ tax) I can't see doing otherwise just to save some money.

Leigh B · Jan 3, 2012

polyglot said:
...which saves me bucketloads of room...

When assessing storage of large amounts of film, it's the volume of material that matters.

The volume is the same for one roll regardless of whether the negatives are side by side or stacked.

The only volume that would be reduced is that taken up by the sleeving.

- Leigh

mdarnton · Jan 4, 2012

Bill Burk said:
Some of the negs had been improperly fixed, some had photoflo residue. The crud on some strips transferred onto adjacent strips. . . .
They are not stuck together, or "ruined" but I would have been happier if they had been in their own sleeves.

Man, that's not a sleeve problem, that's a hygiene problem. The solution to your spoons sticking together in the drawer isn't to lay them next to each other instead of stacking them.

polyglot · Jan 6, 2012

Leigh B said:
When assessing storage of large amounts of film, it's the volume of material that matters.

The volume is the same for one roll regardless of whether the negatives are side by side or stacked.

The only volume that would be reduced is that taken up by the sleeving.

- Leigh

The volume of a sleeve is several times the volume of a roll, which means that reducing their number has a dramatic impact.

While I can see this being a problem in humid areas... this is South Australia. Driest state in the driest continent.

NB23 · Jan 6, 2012

RalphLambrecht said:
considerthe tim consider the time you've invested in those managerse and fforty consider the time and effort you invest developmentou consider've iconsidernvestd the time and effort in those younegativ invest within those maybenega managerstives, because You'll regret thiafter the 1st after humid summer, when the strips start sticking to ea each other each other

Typing on an iphone?

garysamson · Jan 6, 2012

BrianShaw said:
I store my 120 one roll per page. I've always done that to avoid scratching and sticking. Considering the relatively low cost of the storage pages (I just bought a package of 100 for USD 18+ tax) I can't see doing otherwise just to save some money.

+1

Jim Noel · Jan 6, 2012

No, but you can pick up some nice scratches on the negatives.

George Collier · Jan 8, 2012

I wouldn't do it. Too much risk of things mentioned already. How much is a great shot worth vs some storage material?

Are multiple negs in one sleeve considered "archival" ?

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