Plastic sheet quality to store the negatives

[AndreiF]

Hi everyone! For years when I was younger, I was making my own plastic negative film sheets from the tipycal A4 office plastic ones. My question is: this plastic affects the negative in time?
Thank you very much!

 

[AgX]

What are "typical" office envelopes?
There were at least PVC and PP ones. The PVC ones due to them containing pasticizer affected Xerocopies, making the text stick to the envelope.

In general envelopes containing plasticers are rejected by archivists for storing film. (However most films contain a plasticizer themselves... but this is another issue...)

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Polyester, polyethylene and polypropylene are all suitable for archival storage. If your A4 sleeves are any of these, everything is fine. When I lived in Europe, one could get both polyethylene and vinyl sleeves (PVC - polyvinylchloride). The latter aren't so good for long-term storage. The ones you picture seem to be the stiffer, clearer polyethylene ones, but check the packaging. Polypropylene is alright, but can create more static.

Best

Doremus

 

[AgX]

Polyester is preferable to polypropylene, and polyethylene is generally avoided nowadays.

There is no chemical reason to avoid polyethelene. One reason to prefer PP over PE in many uses is the higher clarity of PP.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Polyester is preferable to polypropylene, and polyethylene is generally avoided nowadays.

https://www.archivalmethods.com/product/film-storage-systems

Here's the argument to the contrary: https://printfile.com/ufaqs/why-doe...-polypropylene-for-their-negative-preservers/

Really, all three materials will do well for long-term storage from what I can glean. It's the PVC we should avoid along with cheap cardboards that have a lot of acid and other contaminants.

Best,

Doremus

 

[AgX]

Here's the argument to the contrary: https://printfile.com/ufaqs/why-doe...-polypropylene-for-their-negative-preservers/

Polypropylene offers this clarity, whereas Polyethylene is more translucent.

What is the use in storing for a higher light transmission with at the same time lesser clarity ??


By the way, there are also arguments against any plastic foils: their impermeability vor water vapour in contrast to paper based sleeves.

 

[AgX]

For some statements from the archivist world I never found scientific proof. Also different storing conditions are often mixed up. For instance tightly wrapped bulk film in contrast to film strips in loosely stacked strip files from diffusable sheets.

 

[Bikerider]

Beaware plastics can also make the negatives stick to the surface inside unless both the negative/plastic surfaces are completely dry. They may be able to be parted again but in all instances I have seen this does leave a residue on the film surface (not the emulsion side)

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Hi everyone! For years when I was younger, I was making my own plastic negative film sheets from the tipycal A4 office plastic ones. My question is: this plastic affects the negative in time?
Thank you very much!

which plastic are they made of? PPenvelopes should be OK.

 

[AgX]

I have a lot of conservation science papers. But on some allegded threats I found no research proofing that threat.(That I myelf may consider such threat likely, by sheer deduction, is another matter.)

 

[AndreiF]

Wow! Thank you everyone for the answers, I have been traveling since I open the threat, so many answers!
So, from what I understand most of the plastics are ok, minus pvc. I looked at the sheet doesn t say what they are made from.. I looked on internet for any info by the sheets name - "noki" - but no luck. Any ideea how to figure it out?
What s the worse can hapent to the negs? To get sticked to the sheet?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I've found old prints keep under plastic covers in a photo album got stuck to the plastic. I don;t know what type of plastic they were but these were old albums.

 

[takilmaboxer]

I have negs stored in Print File sleeves that are perfect 40 years on. I have negs stored in lined thin cardboard sleeves that are also fine 50 years on. You do realize that when you pass, your negatives will likely end up in the trash, eh?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Definitely NO to anything PVC, vinyl. Then the risk of even appropriate plastics ferrotyping film or getting stuck to it if smooth has been brought up; and it's a real issue. I went to textured mylar sleeves; but those do interject a bit of frostiness if you're trying to view your images on a lightbox in those sleeves. Then I switched to archival paper sleeves without plastic at all. Albums are a compromise because the covers themselves might contain bad ingredients - so one more thing to research in advance. Let's just say I've seen a lot of film ruined in albums. You also need to think about trapped humidity, perhaps the worst culprit of all. Therefore when someone states that they haven't had any trouble at all with this or that in their particular climate or storage conditions, that kind of generic advice might completely backfire under somewhat different circumstances. But I do recommend shopping for supplies at a place like Archival Methods.

 

[AndreiF]

Thank you all for your replies!! Really helpful

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I wish Wilhelm Imaging Research provided citations, but here's what they say in "Chapter 14: Envelopes and Sleeves for Films and Prints" in The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs (2013):

Should be avoided: Low-density polyethylene (e.g., Print File, Vue-All, and Clear File notebook pages and sleeves); cellulose acetate (e.g., Kodak Transparent Sleeves); polyvinyl chloride [PVC] (e.g., 20th Century Plastics vinyl notebook pages); surface-treated polypropylene (believed acceptable for slide pages, however); conventional glassine; acid-free glassine; kraft paper and most other common types of paper; matte polyester (e.g., DuPont Mylar EB-11); and synthetic paper-like materials (e.g., DuPont Tyvek).

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_14_of_20_HiRes_v1c.pdf​

They don't make fold-lock sleeves in polyethylene anyway because it's less rigid. Outside of negative sleeves, they still use polyethylene sleeves for sheet film and big prints.

So "... e.g., Print File, Vue-All, and Clear File ...and on" ??? screw that advice, how long have these been in use? never heard of problems with any of them, nor have I had any, have you? As AGX is saying, you want to tell why not, tell why so. if you cannot, the point is beyond moot, WIR or otherwise. sleeves don't fix storage by themselves anyways, keep them high & dry as a saying goes (and out of UV).

And on top of that, I don't claim any material is good for long term, yet have found some of my father's negatives hidden between pages of a cheap book for at least 55 years, negatives were pristine, I have no scientific way to prove this type of storage, just a factual instance how it did no affect anything