Question about negatives

[smtjoy]

Hi All,

I just purchased my first negative and had a couple questions.

1- Do I need to store it in any special way

2- Whats the best way to get a quality print made and do you have any recommendations for who to use and what I should ask for.

3- Any special tips I should know?

Thanks for the help and once I can get a print made I will for sure post it up here.

[D. Bergin]

Store in a cool dry place, away from any light source.

It's not the type of thing you should take to a show and display out in the open on your table.............especially an outdoor event with the sun blasting down on you....LOL!!

Is it a glass neg or an acetate neg?

Glass negs are much more complicated in getting somebody willing to handle them for you. I found one guy in my area years ago and then he went out of business.

Thinner acetate negs, much easier to find somebody. Anybody who develops photos can handle them...........though most are done digitally now, rather then through a traditional photo process.

I solved the problem of other people handling them for me by picking up an Epson Perfection V700 Dual Lens System scanner, that specializes in scanning larger format negs. A bit pricey but well worth it if you handle negs on a regular basis.

Try not to touch the negative with your bare hands...........use cotton gloves of some sort. The acetate will instantly absorb the oils in your fingers and you'll have a permanent fingerprint(s) on your neg.

[drc]

You can make high quality quality digital prints from negatives and slides. I knew a retired Vogue photographer who made gallery quality large prints from his old old Vogue slides. He had a special scanner and printer. There will be many places than can do this type of work for you. You can even try and scan it yourself if you have a home scanner-- see how that comes out.

I don't know if it's proper conservation technique or not, but I met another pretty famous Vogue photographer who kept his old film negatives in normal little manilla paper envelopes. I assume he knew what he was doing.

[Runscott]

I don't know if it's proper conservation technique or not, but I met another pretty famous Vogue photographer who kept his old film negatives in normal little manilla paper envelopes. I assume he knew what he was doing.

How "pretty" was this famous photographer?

I used to have a special 'slide and negative' attachment for a scanner - it worked great. This was eight years ago - I assume they have made a lot of progress since then.

I would go with David's recommendation, simply because you are going to want to control the finished product (sepia vs b&w, paper type, etc). I recently purchased some silver gel prints made from original glass negatives, and they do NOT look like vintage prints - as nice as they are, they still look sort of cheap and modern, and they cost enough that I doubt I'd do it again.

[D. Bergin]

I forgot to mention, if it's a smaller 35mm neg or slide, you don't need much in the scanner category. It's pretty standard nowadays to get a fairly cheap scanner with a 35mm neg attachment.

The one I mentioned above is for the larger then 35mm negs...............up to 8x10 or so.

[thecatspajamas]

Was just about to post that David may have some good pointers, then saw that he had indeed posted but recently changed his avatar :)

The negatives I have handled seem to have always come in either a manila envelope or glassine sleeves, with a few more recent ones having archival quality album pages (typically for negative strips). Adorama has a number of different storage options, including archival glassine envelopes in all manner of sizes. I personally like to put them in a glassine envelope and then drop that into a toploader for stability, though that added thickness adds up fast with a stack of negatives. My understanding regarding storage is that temperature and light (well, lack of light) are of key importance. Humidity can be a factor as well, though few of us have options for controlling that in our homes. I know the Library of Congress has done some research on optimal storage conditions, and may have that info on their site, though I don't recall the specs off the top of my head.

I would add that if/when you have prints made, have them do a high quality (as high resolution as they possibly can) scan so that you can do any further prints or englargements from the scan, and can also go in and clean up any scratches or other faults with Photoshop or other programs. The reason I say "scan as large as possible" is you can always reduce file size if you need to upload the scan somewhere, but if you decide to do an enlargement later on, you won't have to re-scan it to do so.

If you decide to scan them yourself, as the above poster said, the Epson V700 will handle the medium-format and larger negatives up to I believe 8"x10" size. I have an Epson Perfection 4990 that will also handle the same size range. I'm not sure what the new retail price is on those, but you can find them somewhat frequently on eBay in the $400 range, or maybe a little cheaper if you don't need the film holders/guides. If you decide to go that route and have trouble finding a scanner, let me know as I have a "back-up" 4990 available (don't really use the main one enough to justify keeping a back-up :p ).

[drc]

The photographer wasn't pretty. He was an about 60 year old British guy with a white beard.

I'm not saying he was ugly.

[D. Bergin]

If you decide to scan them yourself, as the above poster said, the Epson V700 will handle the medium-format and larger negatives up to I believe 8"x10" size. I have an Epson Perfection 4990 that will also handle the same size range. I'm not sure what the new retail price is on those, but you can find them somewhat frequently on eBay in the $400 range, or maybe a little cheaper if you don't need the film holders/guides. If you decide to go that route and have trouble finding a scanner, let me know as I have a "back-up" 4990 available (don't really use the main one enough to justify keeping a back-up :p ).


If you do have a lot of negs I would suggest making sure the film holders/guides come with it. They really have come in handy for me and the software in the scanner is programmed to line up with them.

[repsher]

I own a few negatives including some glass ones. I store them individually in glassine envelopes which I then store them together in acid free photo envelopes. And then they go in an archival (acid free) box.

Do not store glass negatives horizontally.

I have not had any prints of my negatives made yet. I would like to send them away to be processed the old fashioned way (non digital), but haven't really found a place to do that yet. I will probably purchase a scanner like the Epson v700 in the future. Just can bring myself to spend the $.

I've listed links to some of the storage stuff I use.


http://www.adorama.com/FSGE2350S.html

http://www.amazon.com/Acid-Free-Lignin-Free-Archival-Envelopes-Negatives/dp/B001THPMWO

http://www.adorama.com/FSBN45.html

[steve B]

The best results for a print would be having an actual photo lab make a photographic print. Local photographers will know who does good work, assuming they still work with film. Unless you want it enlarged, nearly any place still doing film can make a contact print. Enlarging means having the right holder for the negative to fit their enlarger, and most places don't have carriers for older formats.

My scanner has a negative attachment that is supposed to do 35mm negatives. I've never been able to get it to work. The scanner won;t even run with it plugged in. Plus it only handles strips of 3 like you get from the typical lab. I've got a fairly wide range of negatives, from 110 size up to some glass ones.

What has worked for me is scanning them by placing my wifes small light table over them. It's just like the attachment and I can do up to about 8x10.
The light table was inexpensive and she got it from one of the sewing/craft stores.

Steve B

[william_9]

I used this company last summer for a large format scanning project and was very impressed with the quality of their work. They are definitely worth a look - and they still offer darkroom services, which is very appealing to me.

http://www.panopticonimaging.com/

[drc]

You can always start at home with your home own scanner (if you have one), see how it works and go to a professional if you need to. It may be actually be you go to a professional more for their printer than their scanner, as many home scanners may make a good scan but the home printer may not of good enough quality. In short, see how it works.

If you can get a high quality high resolution scan on your own (maybe you can, maybe you can't), then you can send the just the scan to a professional printer's and not have to send the negative anywhere. Obviously, that's if you chose to get a digital photo rather than a real photo photo.

I once had some valuable slides and, on a bit of a lark, dropped them off in the envelope at the local drug store. My only concern the slides getting lost, but I wanted to see how the converted to photos (snapshots) and I got all the snapshots and slides back fine. Not saying I'd do it again.

[smtjoy]

Thanks for all the great information, here is the negative I won, listed as an acetate negative, I tried my scanner but I could not get anything near a clear scan.

http://www.legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?inventoryid=153523

I'm still a little confused about what I need to search for in a printer, and would you all feel comfortable mailing it to someone else, should I be worried at all?

Thanks again!

[drc]

My only personal experience doing something like this was with those slides at the drug store. Rite Aid to be exact. And I can say they photos came out great, really clear. My only real point being that it can be done.

The story is I bought the collection of a famous botanist, Dr. Alfred Byrd Graf, who discovered and photographed over 100 new exotic plants all over the world, many of the plants used in medicine. He was known as the Indiana Jones of botanists as he travelled to many dangerous and remote areas to search for new plants. In New Guinea he hired locals as bodyguards due to the presence of cannibal tribes. I had 5,000 exotic plant slides he photographed, including in New Guinea, and sent in a few to Rite Aid to see how they would come out.

You will find someone, as I'm sure there are people/companies who will do it. Lots of people these days want their old family photos and negatives scanned and printed. Plus there are lots of artists who use these types of services-- such as making a painting of theirs in to a poster, or a photo into a poster. It's just a matter of finding someone reputable.

[drc]

It just dawned on me that I help install the exhibits at a local art gallery with, like, artists. I will ask one or two art photographers and one of the digital artist who makes HUGE abstract digital prints about this and get back to you. We install the next exhibit on Sunday morning, and I will ask around then.

[Michael B]

I wanted to get a chance to scan a couple of 4x5 acetate negatives before I chimed in. You can purchase a high end photo/negative scanner which would allow you to do the scanning yourself. I use a Microtek ScanMaker i800 for my negatives and slides. It can do 9600x4800 dpi and 48 bit color. They no longer manufacture under that name. B&H photo in New York City is a good source for high end photo scanners and all other supplies. Most of the dedicated scanners of this type can cost from $250-$400. They usually include negative and slide holders for regular slides, 35mm negative strips and 4x5 negatives. All of the good scanners will also come with installable programs like Photoshop and Digital Ice which allow you to remove dust and imperfections during and after scanning. The two attached images are 4x5 negatives from the 1960 Olympic Boxing Trials. I have not worked on identifying them yet, but the first one appears to be Phil Baldwin and the second one appears to be gold medalist Eddie Crook, Jr. The referee in the second one is 2013 Boxing Hall of Famer Mills Lane. These are quick scans that took me about 5 minutes to do. I just did some quick cropping without removing scratches or dust. These came from a group of 36 negatives taken at the trials and include Skeeter McClure and Cassius Clay. I have not identified the Clay one yet.

As for archival storage; there are several good options. You can store each negative in an archival sleeve and then in an archival file box. You can also store the negatives in Print File or Vue All archival pages. These are similar to the pages you would put baseball cards in, but they are inert and used by photographers to store negatives and prints. These can be stored in special three ring archival boxes. These are inert plastic and unlike a normal three ring binder these have four sides and the front cover snaps shut to keep out light, dust and moisture. I like the boxes made by Beseler, though Vue-All and Print File also make storage boxes. I use the archival pages and storage boxes for my own work (30+ years of concert photography, Australian wildlife and flowers) and for my Olympic photography collection of American Olympians (3000+original photos, plus orignal negatives, glass plate negatives and 1000+ slides).

While a good photography store like Adorama or B&H are decent sources for archival storage supplies, I prefer the companies that are dedicated to archival methods and archival supplies and also have expertise in that area. My favorite is Light Impressions as they also have a toll free number to assist you with particular issues - www.lightimpressionsdirect.com. I can also recommend University Products - www.universityproducts.com and Archival Methods - www.archivalmethods.com

I hope this is of some help.

Cheers,

Michael

[Michael B]

I stated in my post that Mills Lane is the referee in the second photo. This is what I get for staying up too late I get easily confused while typing. He competed in the 1960 trials and lost to Phil Baldwin in the semi-finals.

[drc]

As promised, I talked to folks at the art gallery this morning. One digital artist who has very large pieces in art galleries said he could/would print the image but doesn't have a suitable scanner. You'd have to provide him with the image.