Now that I am not cutting my negatives to scan, and no longer sleeving them, I was wondering if other people have a solution to properly storing their negatives.
Is anyone else not cutting their negatives after scanning? I am returning them to the plastic their delivered in from the lab after scanning but no longer putting them in sleeves I could then organize in folders. But I don’t just want to have negatives laying around— I’d like to find a way to store them and was curious if others in a similar situation had found a solution. I shoot primarily 120mm but also some 35mm.
Respect your decision but are you sure that’s a good idea once you’ve scanned them? If you buy good quality sleeves then they will be protected and kept flat. I’d say if you store them uncut, rolled presumably, then they will inevitably be more vulnerable. I’d agree that there can be an issue scanning frames at the end of a cut strip, especially with certain holders, but they are not insurmountable.
Some of my 120 negatives are cut, some a rolled.
The cut ones are as flat as I sleeved and foldered them 40 years ago.
The rolls are kind of bistable, and they always bulge unless I put them between glass sheets risking newtonian rings.
I’ve always used the Hama pockets, not the ones from plastic, but from “pergamin”.
Unless you have very wide drawers, uncut film needs to be rolled. Rolling and unrolling bears the risk of scratching the film too. Better not roll/unroll too many times.
I actually haven’t rolled them yet. They are currently laying flat on a shelf in my office as I figure out what to do. It’s helpful to hear that you don’t think the re-scanning would be too much of an issue. That was my biggest hesitation. Thanks!
My background has been in the darkroom pre-digital and enlargers were not generally designed with uncut film in mind, I can only think of the early Leitz Valoy enlargers that had concave trays either side for uncut 35mm film but there were probably some others. This means that enlarger style negative carriers (hinged, clamshell) will work well for cut negatives, or even actual enlarger carriers. These days you can get film holders for camera scanning that are designed for uncut film, they are great for that but maybe not so great with cut film strips, some can make it fiddly to feed the leading edge of the film in, especially 120.
I didn’t realise you can still buy them, I suppose that inevitably once you have assembled all the components for your particular format(s) the cost will add up. Certainly the film collector scoops either side will help with uncut film.
Kaiser also do their FilmCopy Vario system and the same cost implications will be true for that I suspect. It doesn’t get mentioned a lot compared with NS & Valoi but whenever it does it seems to be favourably.
As far as I’ve (superficially) researched the matter, Beseler and Kaiser are still in that business…and due to low volume production, prices can get high indeed.
Cutting the strip into smaller strips for putting into sleeves doesn’t seem ideal to me, because the last frame of the strip will be too close to the edge to be properly rescanned. There won’t be enough space next to the frame for the film holder to hold on to. I also wonder what’s the best way to store them uncut. I hope someone enlightens us.
There are two ways to store uncut film. Rolled and in a rather long box.
I have a bunch of 120 negative films in their sleeves. Kept them all tightly rolled up since the late 1970s. Obviously, the film was hard to flatten for scanning without sandwiching them between glass. I’ve now had them rolled the other way around in a round cardboard box of about 5.5 in diameter. After about 4 years, the films lie flat, at least in one direction. All the cut films are flat. They’ve been in archival paper sleeves (mostly Hama) Since the 1070s too.
Camera scanning uncut film is undoubtedly easier using holders like the ones from negative supply that are made for uncut film.
If I’d still use film, I’d probably scan the uncut film right after development and store the films cut, sleeved and in archive boxes kept flat.