Do you store negative binders horizontally or vertically?

Joseph Bell · Jul 7, 2022

Hello!
I pray you will please pardon this vaguely moronic question!
RE: negative storage - I cut my negatives into strips of 6, place them into Print File negative sleeves, and store the sleeves in plastic Besfile binders. I've been storing my binders in an upright / vertical orientation, but now I realize I may be erring grievously?
Will you kindly advise me - is it healthier for the negatives to be stored horizontally or vertically? Or does it matter?
Thank you most sincerely for your time and trouble!

Andrew O'Neill · Jul 7, 2022

I've always stored my binders (and film boxes of negs with no home), vertically. It feels like a better way to do it. Same with my LP's... easy retrieval!

Patrick Robert James · Jul 7, 2022

I store them vertically. The binders are in slipcases so they are easy to access. I also keep the different kinds of film seperate. 120/4x5 goes at the end of the binder so it doesn't get wavy being sandwiched between 35mm. I've heard of people reversing every other roll of 35mm to keep them flat. I prefer to stuff the binders to keep everything flat. I have a lot of binders though.

snusmumriken · Jul 7, 2022

In my case, it depends whether they are being used as weights to flatten prints, or stored on shelves out of the way. So I don't think it matters.

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2022

Stored horizontally, there may be undue pressure on the bottom binders. For me, they are stored like books, vertically. Also easier to access that way.

BobUK · Jul 7, 2022

Binders stored like books on a shelf in a cupboard for me.
In the past, swanky professional photography catalogues of darkroom and studio equipment often displayed filing cabinets with suspension files for negatives.

Alan9940 · Jul 7, 2022

Vertically, for me.

Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2022

Store horizontally and some on a closet shelf vertically.

Doremus Scudder · Jul 7, 2022

Let's see... there are three ways to store your binders; stacked, on end (vertical) or on the side (e.g., sitting on the spine). The latter isn't really very good...

I would think that the best way to store them would be vertical, like books on a shelf. That's how all mine are. The only reason I could see to stack them would be to flatten curled negative strips. Maybe the weight of the top sheets would flatten the bottom ones. Then you'd have to flip them.

I don't think that storing them stacked would hurt anything. The plastic binders are sturdy enough that they would bear the weight of the binders stacked on top of them, not the negatives in the lower binders.

Best.

Doremus

BAC1967 · Jul 7, 2022

I store them vertically for the same reason I store my records that way. You don't want uneven pressure warping or bending them.

JerseyDoug · Jul 7, 2022

Doremus Scudder said:
Let's see... there are three ways to store your binders; stacked, on end (vertical) or on the side (e.g., sitting on the spine). The latter isn't really very good...

Actually, there is a fourth way. Spine up so the PrimtFile sheets hang vertically, like Pendaflex files. That's what I do. (I've never had a strip of 35mm film slip down either.)

Pieter12 · Jul 7, 2022

JerseyDoug said:
Actually, there is a fourth way. Spine up so the PrimtFile sheets hang vertically, like Pendaflex files. That's what I do. (I've never had a strip of 35mm film slip down either.)

Sounds interesting, just takes up more shelf depth than I have. And most of my negs are 120, stored parallel to the spine so they would't slip out.

JerseyDoug · Jul 7, 2022

Pieter12 said:
Sounds interesting, just takes up more shelf depth than I have. And most of my negs are 120, stored parallel to the spine so they would't slip out.

I do it because I don't have the shelf height to store them with the spine vertical. And like you, I have mostly 120 negatives in strips of four.

RalphLambrecht · Jul 7, 2022

Andrew O'Neill said:
I've always stored my binders (and film boxes of negs with no home), vertically. It feels like a better way to do it. Same with my LP's... easy retrieval!

That's what I've always done as well.

MattKing · Jul 7, 2022

Decoratively:

Joseph Bell · Jul 8, 2022

Ha! Delightful! Sincere thanks to one and all!

Philippe-Georges · Jul 8, 2022

I stopped using binders to store my negatives, as I find these not that practical to browse, compare a series of sheets next to each other and to extract that particular negative sheet with matching contact sheet, and take it to the darkroom.

I now use (home made-) boxes made of environmental friendly cardboard and Arabic gum (and thus less acidic and no aggressive solvents) of the appropriate size.
I organise these by theme/project and then by date, horizontally.
When I work on a theme/project, I just have to pull the appropriate box.
Different negative formats have their own pile of boxes.

I do the same for the prints.

Joseph Bell · Jul 8, 2022

Philippe-Georges said:
I stopped using binders to store my negatives, as I find these not that practical to browse, compare a series of sheets next to each other and to extract that particular negative sheet with matching contact sheet, and take it to the darkroom.

I now use (home made-) boxes made of environmental friendly cardboard and Arabic gum (and thus less acidic and no aggressive solvents) of the appropriate size.
I organise these by theme/project and then by date, horizontally.
When I work on a theme/project, I just have to pull the appropriate box.
Different negative formats have their own pile of boxes.

I do the same for the prints.

This is an excellent idea! It sounds like a very good system.

AgX · Jul 8, 2022

Doremus Scudder said:
Let's see... there are three ways to store your binders; stacked, on end (vertical) or on the side (e.g., sitting on the spine). The latter isn't really very good...

I am a bit confused by your wording. These are the ways that come to my mind.

-) horizontal
-) vertical, with the clamps running horizontally. But one likely would not use a binder, but just a tap to hang the files
-) vertical, with the clamps running vertically, like books are typically placed on a rack
-) vertical with binder resting on its spine (impractical, and files likely bend at the clamps)

Philippe-Georges · Jul 8, 2022

AgX said:
I am a bit confused by your wording. These are the ways that come to my mind.

-) horizontal
-) vertical, with the clamps running horizontally. But one likely would not use a binder, but just a tap to hang the files
-) vertical, with the clamps running vertically, like books are typically placed on a rack
-) vertical with binder resting on its spine (impractical, and files likely bend at the clamps)

For each way of storing a binder, there is always an acceptable explanation, and, oh, I think that Doremus will do what fits him best, don't we do all?

Sirius Glass · Jul 8, 2022

Joseph Bell said:
Ha! Delightful! Sincere thanks to one and all!

I could not put mine in one binder or box so some are horizontal and some are vertical.

npl · Jul 12, 2022

Haven't put my negative sleeves in a binder for months. Currently they are on my desk (that barely ever see sunlight), in two distinct piles : the "dev test / nothing worth printing here" pile, and the "I should print one or two from this one one day" pile. To answer the question, the one that are on a binder are stored horizontally, in a drawer.

Trask · Jul 13, 2022

In small (so no great build up of weight) D-ring oversized binders, stacked horizontally. I've tried putting them vertically, but I find the pages can buckle -- at least when they are horizontal, the pages are flat. I also have some negatives in individual 6-frame sleeves kept in heavy paper stock sleeves --old stuff from the days Light Impressions was a going concern decades ago.

Do you store negative binders horizontally or vertically?

Joseph Bell

Andrew O'Neill

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Patrick Robert James

snusmumriken

Pieter12

BobUK

Alan9940

Sirius Glass

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RalphLambrecht

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Do you store negative binders horizontally or vertically?

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