Thoughts on data imprinting

With times changing, and motives evolving, and the desire to document, I'm thinking about using data imprinting in my slides. I have never liked the idea of having a date across the film, just looks out of place and can ruin a picture, but now my mind might be changing on this subject. Let me state, that I only shooting slide film for document/historical family pictures, trips, events........anything I want to remember. And I shoot B&W for everything else, wildlife, landscapes, all the extra, plus, anything I want to print in the darkroom.

Im thinking later on in life, it might be really nice to have the date imprinted on my slides. A very quick reference to the time it was shot. I still don't like the idea of having a date on every picture, (think the late 90’s point and shoot cameras with the huge date across the bottom, that took up a 1/4 of the image)

I have been using the date imprint on the 1st blank picture on my b&w rolls for a reference, too then write the date on my sleeve, the sleeve fits 35 pictures, so minus the first blank image with the date, it leaves me with 35 images.

Our workflow for slides are, shoot, develop, mount, light table, project, then place into a sleeve, we then will get them out time to time and put them back on a light table or project.

If I ever come across a scene that I think will be printed, I would probably turn off the imprinting then turn it back on after.

What are your thoughts on data imprinting in the frame?

Have you considerd data printing on the frame, with other words: on the mount?

Some cameras do not expose within the image, but on the space between images. By this thechnique you still would have the data, but the image not spoiled. You then could print that again on the respective slide mount.
Howver, saving the data would mean yielding only a tiny residual free space between images, which after cutting the film might be troublesome, depending on type of slide mount.

Or you save the data just as a file in a data back without exposures and then print that data on the respective mount.

I have thought about that, for b&w, that is what I want to do. As I put b&w in sleeves of rows of 5 images, it would be perfect, but with slides I send them off to get developed and mounted. I wont be able to see the borders. And yes writing on the mount is possible. But permanent marker is not working the best, and also write where we were or what was going on, (when we get around to actually doing it.

In the old days there were special inkjet-printers for printing data on the mounts, today consumer printers yielding CD print might be modified. But then the mount must be modified to take the ink.

If you keep your slide rolls together, you can photograph a single page per day calendar at the beginning of each shooting day.
In a pinch, a shot of a cel phone screen can suffice.
As for the mounts, a date stamp and an ink pad makes the most sense to me.
That being said, the cameras that imprint data in the rebate are neat.

Despite good intentions, I don't always get round to labelling slides as quickly as I should, but at least a date mark of some kind does allow the location, etc., to be remembered or identified more easily. I usually use a date stamp and ink pad (the card mounts for Kodachrome were ideal....some were already printed by the Kodak lab with month and date of processing).

I've recently been sorting out some family snapshots dating back to the 1930's......the prints marked with year and location (even just "Scotland" or "London") were quite easy to identify to family holidays and events, but the unlabelled ones were very difficult, in some cases to even identify relatives.

I do really like the idea of a date stamp and ink pad. Might might have to look into that. Any problems with the ink on the plastic slide mount?

Also like the idea of a label maker and stick them on with a key word and date.

And realwayman3 thats also my problem. It might take a while for me to get around to labeling them.

cjbecker said:

I do really like the idea of a date stamp and ink pad. Might might have to look into that. Any problems with the ink on the plastic slide mount?

Also like the idea of a label maker and stick them on with a key word and date.

And realwayman3 thats also my problem. It might take a while for me to get around to labeling them.

Click to expand...

No real problems with plastic mounts.....you just need to get the correct stamping ink for glossy/plastic surfaces, there's lots if you Google, e.g..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PERMANEN...39133&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

It needs to be used with a new uninked pad (not on a pad which has been already inked), and a bit of care not to smudge the printed date until it's dried.

cjbecker said:

I do really like the idea of a date stamp and ink pad. Might might have to look into that. Any problems with the ink on the plastic slide mount?

Click to expand...

There are special permanent inks similar to those in permanent markers. But with the ink pad of such stencil the issue of drying out is a serious one. In a similar case I made a mask with only a tiny opening to cover such pad.

I just write on the slide mounts in pencil - it works for me.

I have heard of people who use the first frame of a roll to photograph a title card that has the information the want to remember. I suppose you could laminate a 4x6 piece of paper and write on it with a dry erase marker.