printing old negatives

[Paul Howell]

I just order paper and chemistry, got a replacement analyser for my defunt Bessler, order film to create reference negatives, but I have negatives that go back to the 60s, emulsions that no longer made, and brands and processes that are long gone. I have 3M, GAF, Ansco (old GAF) and Afga. Some of the negatives are likely to be fading, others seem to be in pretty good shape. Without a reference negative guess I will have to test print each negative I want to print until I get the color right. I have Kodak viewing filters, assume that they will work with any subtractive system. Any hints?

 

[koraks]

It won't be much different from printing fresh negatives, except for what you also indicate, which is that each set of negatives may have a different degree and nature of degradation. You'll be twisting those filter knobs a lot, it seems. Don't hesitate to make some drastic corrections between test prints to get a feeling for where you need to go. Also, there will be prints that you can only get so close to how you imagine them without getting them exactly right. Comes with the territory. Sounds like a fun project, just do it!

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Paul,

Why not start with contact-printing of the negatives? If you've been at this for quite a while, I assume that you have standardized your contact printing and processing procedures. After that, you should be able to proceed, as Koraks suggests, in your normal manner.

Konical

 

[Paul Howell]

Making contact sheets is a good idea. I can record my corrections.