Ployester Negative Sleeves: pre-cut or rolls?

Hi Everyone,

After reading a recent thread about Print File binder sleeves scratching negatives, it all made sense. I too have seen what appeared to be very faint scratches on the non emulsion side of some of my negs. These didn't seem to show up in any prints, even at 16x20, the largest I print. However, I do recall very well several years ago taking a 120 strip out of a print file sleeve and discovering a scratch that did show up on the print. It wasn't there before when I made prints some time prior. I figured it had to have occured when I just put the neg into the carrier (a Bessler 23C) or some grit was on my anti-static brush when I gave the negative a quick sweep.

So now I'm sold on fold lock sleeves. The trouble is that I'm uncertain if I want to transfer hundreds of rolls from their print file sleeves to polyester sleeves. I do re-visit old negatives from time to time. My first concern is cost since this will require quite an outlay of $$$. I suppose the polypropylene sleeves are acceptable as was noted in the pdf file uploaded in that thread (thank you to the person who uploaded it) which will bring down the cost. However, after some searching around I did find a place called Hollinger Metal Edge that offers a 36"x213' 3mil roll of polyester for $165.55. I suppose it shouldn't be too difficult (although time consuming perhaps) to cut my own sleeves from such a roll.

Furthermore, I'm uncertain if the pre-cut sizes some of the other vendors carry will work. So far the sizes as suggested in the pdf file don't quite match up with what I'm seeing on some of these sites. The six frame sleeves for 135 is a no brainer. However, I also shoot 6x7 and cut these rolls in two strips of three frames and two strips of two frames. Most sleeves cut for 120 simply say three frames so I presume they mean 6x6 frames.

Any advice or suggestions?

Thanks,
Marc

Since scratching is likeliest to occur when inserting or removing film strips into/from the Print-File pages, it makes sense to leave them where they are until/unless you remove the negatives for printing. When you do, you could re-sleeve them in the fold-lock sleeves. There are some, even many, you'll likely never touch again. Why not just leave them alone for the time being?

I cut my 6x7 cm negatives in strips of 2 frames, which is a shorter piece of film than most of the available fold-lock sleeves fit. I decided just to deal with the excess length, given the other advantages of the pre-cut fold-lock sleeves.

I looked at the rolled sleeve material also, but since it's tubular in nature I didn't see the difference, scratch-wise, between inserting film into a Print-File page and inserting it into that stuff.

Thanks Mike. So the rolls are really just regular sleeves, that one slides the negs into? A first I kind of thought they might be just a roll of flat polyester that one would cut to size and fold the sides over to secure the strip. I live in LA and Freestyle didn't have any but they said they would look into stocking some in the future. They have the largest selection of traditional photography supplies in town so I doubt Samys Camera would have any but I'll try anyway.

I'm going to spend some time going through everything and seeing which negs that I'm probably going to re-print in the future and go from there.

I also cut my own from rolls both sizes. B & H carries them for both 35mm and 120. They come on a roll of several thousand feet wound up in a box.

I'd go for the pre-cuts. You want polyester and nothing else. As far as removing from the printfile sleeves - you can use a straightedge and a razor blade to slice the sleeve open and then remove the negative without sliding. If you have 1000s of sheets you might consider just yanking the negs, but it's your choice.

Anyways, a typical sleeve for 120 (atleast the ones I buy) is 4 frames - not 3. This is convenient as it ends up with only 3 strips. I buy mine from Printfile.

Polyester fold-locks also have a hidden convenience in that you can stack and move rolls around when outside of album sleeve or envelopes without worrying about film being damaged.

This is during some "organization":

Thanks for the replies. So with the 120 size fold lock sleeves, I can fit a strip of 4 6x7 frames per sleeve? If so I'll start cutting my rolls 4-4-2.
Regards,
Marc

Well that's my fault for not noticing the 6x7. Nah, you wouldn't be able to fit another 30cm in there. With 6x6 you can do 4, with 6x7 I'm sure it's limited to 3 per strip.