Correctly archiving negatives after scanning

[tehabe]

Archiving scanned negatives is kinda a chore than something I enjoy because mostly it seems many things are not standardised and even the same company did not check if everything fits together. I'm using currently negative pockets by the German company Herma. But because you put the negatives in from the top instead from the side it is not easy to keep them there. they like to fall out. I'm currently considering PrintFile ones, because they have a similar size and would fit into the binders I'm using, at least I think they will.

The next thing I need, is a table of contents for the archive. I'm not sure about which information I should include, besides film roll number, a description, dates, film used and maybe the ISO. Sadly for most films I have only the information on the roll itself, no written information about film or ISO. And for which I have these information, my father used DIN instead of ISO. He also noted when he used a different ISO setting on the camera, eg. Ilford HP4 shot with 29 DIN (640 ISO).

Any ideas or inspiration how to includes this in the table of contents would be appreciated. Of course also helping in identifying films, I had a list from VueScan which included some films but certainly not all.

 

[Pieter12]

Archiving scanned negatives is kinda a chore than something I enjoy because mostly it seems many things are not standardised and even the same company did not check if everything fits together. I'm using currently negative pockets by the German company Herma. But because you put the negatives in from the top instead from the side it is not easy to keep them there. they like to fall out. I'm currently considering PrintFile ones, because they have a similar size and would fit into the binders I'm using, at least I think they will.

The next thing I need, is a table of contents for the archive. I'm not sure about which information I should include, besides film roll number, a description, dates, film used and maybe the ISO. Sadly for most films I have only the information on the roll itself, no written information about film or ISO. And for which I have these information, my father used DIN instead of ISO. He also noted when he used a different ISO setting on the camera, eg. Ilford HP4 shot with 29 DIN (640 ISO).

Any ideas or inspiration how to includes this in the table of contents would be appreciated. Of course also helping in identifying films, I had a list from VueScan which included some films but certainly not all.

I write the month & year[ shot along with ISO and location(s) and roll number along the white strip of the Print File pages, using a Sharpie marker. I will also include the camera used. I scan each page to make a contact sheet that is printed and goes in a binder along with the negatives. I always use the same developer, so I don't need to write that on the page unless I have done something out of the ordinary (for me). Unless you are trying to record the ISO for posterity or to duplicate the look of the negative, having the (shot) ISO info is of little use.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'm so bad when it comes to archiving my work. The negatives get sleeved, then shoved in an empty film box. The box has and subject matter or locations written on it. No exposure or developing details are recorded. The only positive thing you could say about my "system" is while searching for a particular negative, it forces me to look at all my negatives, sometimes stumbling across a gem I had forgotten about.

 

[tehabe]

Thanks for the replies, while I haven't solved my binder issue, I think I will create a column with "film type" as in colour negative, b/w negative, or slide instead of the film brand and ISO speed. This seems to me more useful information in an archive, which is just hard copy backup for the digital one.

 

[MattKing]

Thanks for the replies, while I haven't solved my binder issue, I think I will create a column with "film type" as in colour negative, b/w negative, or slide instead of the film brand and ISO speed. This seems to me more useful information in an archive, which is just hard copy backup for the digital one.

I would suggest "film" as the classification - i.e. Tri-X, Portra 160, Ektachrome 100, etc.
That will tell you both the film category (colour transparency, black and white negative, etc.) and permit you to find results that meet your needs in various ways.