Printing for photo albums

Just generally curious here. How many people are actually printing for photo albums, rather than matting/framing?

I've given prints away to people when it's a good photo they happen to be in, but as happy as they are to receive them, what are they going to do with all these 5x7s? No one has the space or the desire to frame them all. And unless you want to buy an ugly archival 3-ring binder (or have the patience for scrapbooking), no one's putting them in albums either because there simply aren't good ones for 5x7s.

Anyway, enough preamble. I'd prefer to print 4x6s, which can actually be put into normal, attractive albums. When I browse this site it seems like everyone is talking about printing big, matting, exhibiting, storing in boxes, etc. Is anyone printing for photo album sizes? What paper are you using? I'm only seeing one 4x6 quality, Ilford MGIV, and it works out to 18 cents per sheet which is pricey. The 3.5x5 is slightly cheaper at 14 cents, but 4x6 is a more common size for albums. With Arista Ultra EDU I can get 6 4x5.5 sheets plus test strips per each 11x14, works out to 8 cents per sheet, but of course there's the slight added hassle of cutting the paper.

Has anyone used regular photo albums? My oldest photo albums are about 15 years old, mostly color prints. Everything looks to me the way it should, although I realize the process is different than b/w. My parents oldest color prints in albums are about 35 years old. I think the oldest are faded although I don't know how the originals looked, and the ones from when I was a child are generally still vivid. After how many years does the non-archivalness actually affect the prints? I've read how emulsions can stick to glass when prints aren't matted; does this apply at all to the non-archival print sleeves? (I guess I'm wondering if there's something about the prints made in the darkroom compared to the ones made from labs decades ago which makes them sticky).

Anyway, I realize this is long and rambly, I suppose I'm wondering how to best turn myself into a photo production line . For me, the content is always most important...I don't need to turn out some split-toned masterpiece of artistic wonderment (on 11x14 of course!) every time. 4x6 seems the best way to get good prints out to the people that they'll matter to.

If you like 4x6 and aren't afraid to cut down 11x14 to get it, you might want to look at 4 inch rolls.

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/9884500-Kentmere-Select-VC-RC-Lustre-4-inch-x-500-ft.-roll?sc=24100
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/41245...RC-4-inch-x-500-ft.-roll-312-Matte?cat_id=501

Theoretically you get a 1000 4x6 sheets per roll, at about $60-$90. It should be easier than trying to cut up 11x14s too, so long as you work out a good system.

What i do, is i print 5x7 since i like 5x7, then i go and get really cheap 8x8 scrapbooks for about $3 a piece at the hobby store (the ones without sleeves, they're basically just blank books) and a packet of photo corners. Gives you a nice inch to write in or whatever, you can put the prints in the right orientation, and if you feel the need you can swap out prints really easily. Since i like matte prints, it's also one of the few methods that keeps the matte look. What's the point to matte prints if they get stuck in a glossy sleeve? Not to mention it has a nice "old school" look that's about ten times classier than a cheap album but is about half the price.

I keep the Ilford postcard (4x6) stock around in case i want to give out a loose print or two, or for using as postcards, but that's about it.

Amazing. I somehow previously thought rolls were only for giant murals and didn't realize there was 4" size (and now I see, also 5" and 6"). I love Variant III and it's only 6 cents per print essentially. Even if 100 feet (hopefully less) went to test prints, it's still a bit cheaper than cutting 11x14 and much easier. Awesome, thanks so much.

Photo corners are also a great idea. Don't those come unstuck eventually, though? I think some of my parents' scrapbooks used photo corners and they definitely have lots of loose photos (although they may have used some other adhesive). How is the fading in non-archival photo album sleeves (basically, normal photo albums sold anywhere) vs. completely unprotected, i.e. in photo corners? None of my parents'/grandparents' b/w photos--ranging from 45-65 years old--were in any sort of sleeves, and seem fine, but of course I don't know how they originally looked.

I really like the scrapbook idea for making albums for other people, which can work well for either 5x7s (which I have a ton of) or 4x6 if I want to add more photos per book. Although, 4x6 is still good if I'm not personally making the album for someone...they can put the photos into any album they find.

Hi there,

Glad you got an answer with using rolls - good solution.

I think that the "archival quality" of materials is to do with the permanace or stability of the components used i.e. the chemicals used in a plasitc neg bag will not "leach" out and affect the contents either by gas, liquid or contaminate by touch. Same with papers/board used for mounting, the components of the paper/board are "stable".

I to have looked at the scrapbook market for albums etc, a very good resource though the pages that I have found in the uk are acetate and not very clear - which is a shame. Can't seem to find paper/card insert pages at all!

I have got photo corner mounts from Silverprint in London, you may be able to google the product names:
http://www.silverprint.co.uk/ProductByGroup.asp?PrGrp=821

Hope that may be some use for you,
Sim.

Here's the 8x8 albums i found - looked on one of the packages and found their website - $4.50 right now, i must've found a decent sale.

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/depa...OnSale=0&IsFeatured=0&IsNew=0&perpage=15&pg=3

They come in a veriety of colours - here's a link to the black ones, which are blacker than they show on the website, but still not a real inky black.

http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item...&IsOnSale=0&IsFeatured=0&IsNew=0&ItemId=97302

By no means are they super nice - you get what you pay for. The covers are just sort of a squareish textured cardstock kind of stuff. Oddly enough, the paper is stiffer than the covers. You could probably make them a bit nicer by cutting some cardboard to fit in the little pocket behind the cover and gluing it in place to stiffen them up.

Um, so I can be pretty girly at times and this:
http://www.craftsetc.com/store/item...&IsOnSale=0&IsFeatured=0&IsNew=0&ItemId=79018

is WAY more appealing to me than 5x7 archival 3-ring binders. Good option. At first it seemed the 8x8 albums were a way better deal than Kolo albums, but your description vs. the value (only 10 sheets) and the fact that Kolo albums are available locally mean I'll probably go for those. I would love to find something almost as nice as Kolo for half price though, to offset the cost of prints .

Sim2, I can buy photo corners locally, no worries! http://www.aifriedman.com/browse.cfm/4,1103.html

I keep albums of the 4"x6" 35mm color prints and the 5"x5" 120 color prints. I get these prints and use them a "proofs" to sort through first. Then I put the best into albums. Unfortunately, since I set put the darkroom, I have gotten two years behind on filling the albums.

Steve

You print your own color or you're getting 4x6 from a lab?

i would prefer not to use borders as wide as I currently do for 5x7s, and try to maximize the image size on 4x6. That's another reason I was curious if anyone else was regularly printing 4x6. I'm imagining I will have to use gloves instead of tongs if I'm printing a narrower border.

When I was a kid it seemed everybody had those photo albums with black pages and used photo corners to hold the photos.
Now all the albums are those ones with sleeves or stick pages. I hate those kind of albums.
So, yearning for the look of yesteryear I use scrapbooks with black pages and photo corners.

Whenever i do 4x6s i either forget the border or do a black border by sticking the neg in one of my MF carriers. I've never been able to find an easel for 4x6 - but during this postcard exchange i've gotten a number of postcards with very nice borders - so apparently it's not impossible.

The easel I have adjusts from 11x14 down, so I should be able to create a small border on 4x6 (maybe 3/16" is enough to hold the paper down smoothly...will try this weekend). When you say you "forget" the border do you mean you print edge-to-edge 4x6? So I assume you have to use gloves to move prints from tray to tray rather than fiddling with tongs?

Yep, edge to edge. I use tongs, and have never really had a problem with it. I just make sure to use a light touch.

You're right, I tried it this weekend (with 4x6s that I'd cut from 5x7s) and it was fine. I'd recently had bad experiences with Fomatone Warmtone, where the slightest touch had the emulsion chipping off. Although the odd thing was that only happened the second time I used it, not the first time.

I had to use the easel because I don't trust myself to get the paper straight for exposure...I barely get it straight even when using the easel! I made the border very small, about 1/8" on each edge, maybe 3/16". And then happily stuck a whole bunch of new prints into a regular photo album, as this wasn't a special group I was setting aside to make a scrapbook with. Excellent for flipping through...am planning to order that 4" roll straight away and from now on only use my larger papers for tests, work prints and things I will actually frame.