Archiving negatives and slides

[bernardsia]

I have some slides that are absolutely stunning. How do I keep them this way forever? Will the heat and moisture fade off the colours and eventually cause the slides to pale away? Will fungus grow on film like they do on tape? Do I need to buy another dry cabinet to store them? (I already have two filled to the brim cabinets.) Are they better off stored in the fridge? Sounds extreme, but I don't mind for those million dollar shots.

Somebody told me printed slides look nothing like the real thing. In fact it's absolutely crappy. How do I go about getting the slides printed in 4R with all it's glory? Is it techincally possible?

Phew. Appreciate all advice.

 

[theITguy]

Hi, I looked into some stuff for achieving some time back. You can get thsoe acid free album from CP or Ruby, or order them online at www.bhphotovideo.com. If you look at the film specification, normally for unprocessed film it is best to keep at Below 15°C (59°) for short term and Below 0°C (32°F) for long term. For processed film Below 25°C (77°F) at 30 to 60% RH for medium term storage and Below 10°C (50°F) at 30 to 50% RH for long term storage. RH is relative humidity. Best keep in a fridge (low humidity? not sure here).


How to print good I am not too sure. Hopes the information helps (from Fujifilm data).

 

[blurblock]

I have some slides that are absolutely stunning. How do I keep them this way forever? Will the heat and moisture fade off the colours and eventually cause the slides to pale away? Will fungus grow on film like they do on tape? Do I need to buy another dry cabinet to store them? (I already have two filled to the brim cabinets.) Are they better off stored in the fridge? Sounds extreme, but I don't mind for those million dollar shots.

Somebody told me printed slides look nothing like the real thing. In fact it's absolutely crappy. How do I go about getting the slides printed in 4R with all it's glory? Is it techincally possible?

Phew. Appreciate all advice.

a. It is not possible to keep anything forever.
b. Printing Slides on 4R will never get you back the vibrant colours of Slides, something even digital cameras cannot get.
c. I suggest you recopy all your slides every 3-5 years even if you keep inside a dry cabint.

 

[forbytes]

so you have come back from your nature trip. Its great to hear that you have got keepers that will be your prize possession for the time to come.

 

[Ah_Seng]

Hi,

I hope this helps.....quite an interesting read.

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_19_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf

 

[theITguy]

Hi,

I hope this helps.....quite an interesting read.

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_19_of_20_HiRes_v1a.pdf

Very informative read, thanks for the link

 

[bernardsia]

Thanks for all the overwhelming information guys. I am actually surprised such old school technology is still so difficult to deal with. Looks like we are all doomed to appreciating slides placed on a light box and viewed thru a loupe.

I'll plan for a small friedge to archive my flims.

One thing though. Like all things analogue, won't duplicating slides cause degarding in the copies? If duplicating is not a good option. Where can I get drum scanning done locally? The cost of westcoastimaging.com is unaffordable, so high in fact I am considering just shooting solely on digital again.

 

[theITguy]

so far the best scanning is probably on a drum scanner, not that affordable to most people. The best prosumer (high end consumer scanners) are those from Nikon and Konica-Minolta from what I see. Maybe there are others but I am not sure. The Konica-Minolta Elite 5400 is quite good consider it is under $2000. The higher end Multi Pro from KM and 8000 from Nikon are good for Medium format films.

 

[jsbn]

I dun think any photo labs in Singapore can help ppl to clean up negatives at a reasonable cost though.

I advise u to keep ur negs properly. Dun like me, organised my travel photos frm 6yrs ago juz recently, only to realise how badly degraded my negs had became.

Kinda regretted not taking up photography seriously in my younger days. Now den regret, see all da badly handled negs I want to cry man... :cry:

 

[bernardsia]

Aw. I am considering putting my negatives and slides in the vegetable compartment of the fridge. But that is going to start WW3. Already my wife is making alot of noise about my unused film fighting for space with the food.

 

[theITguy]

LOL, get another fridge that is meant for the film

 

[locksley]

Aw. I am considering putting my negatives and slides in the vegetable compartment of the fridge. But that is going to start WW3. Already my wife is making alot of noise about my unused film fighting for space with the food.

why put developed negatives in Fridge ?

me currently using a metal air-tight tin with a bag of dry sillicon for storage.
and I kept them with the acid-free negative sheet from CP

 

[Photomic]

Well, I scan my negatives and slides using a Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 with digital ice blah blah into 4000dpi 8 bit 60Mb TIF files (12 bit goes to around 160Mb at times ... a bit big for now) and cut into CDs. A < 1Mb Jpeg is generated for occasional viewing on the PC. Your PC screen (or projector) can look similar to the projected light since light is coming 'through' the image rather than being reflected off paper.

I think a new 4000dpi Nikon Coolscan for 35mm is around SGD$1000 at the moment. It's worth it if you scan a few hundred rolls. I no longer print my photos, prefering to develop and scan instead. Saves space and money. The scanner has paid for itself (and I bought it new at $2500 a couple of years ago).

The above works well enough for me. Your mileage may vary.

If you store your negatives or slides in hot and humid places, you - will - get mold, fungus or colour shifts, I have scanned and digitally recovered Kodachrome 64 slides from 1965 with mold, fungus and heavy blue shift. The blue shift you can correct for, the mold or fungus can be removed with isopropyl alchohol - if - it hasn't eaten into the emulsion.

 

[boochap]

if the slide print is crappy, that simply means the lab is lousy.
NG photos are mainly printed from slides, have they ever look crappy?
i send all my slides print to konata, so far so good and very consistent colors, in fact much better than rgb and color lab.
you may want to try another lab...and do keep us posted of your new findings. :>

 

[sriram]

You can get stunning prints from slides. You need to find a good lab. I've had excellent results from colour lab at adelphi.

 

[Ah_Seng]

You can get stunning prints from slides. You need to find a good lab. I've had excellent results from colour lab at adelphi.

Did you do a direct print or scanned image of your slide?

Can share the cost here?

Thanks.

 

[pipefish]

Did you do a direct print or scanned image of your slide?

Can share the cost here?

Thanks.

CL does scanned prints. The prints are excellent most of the time. They are having a 50% discount on enlargements at the moment.

I also learnt that they print up to 15R in house. Anything larger is sent to another lab for printing.

 

[bernardsia]

if the slide print is crappy, that simply means the lab is lousy.
NG photos are mainly printed from slides, have they ever look crappy?
i send all my slides print to konata, so far so good and very consistent colors, in fact much better than rgb and color lab.
you may want to try another lab...and do keep us posted of your new findings. :>

Sorry boochap. There is no way I will send my precious film to Konata. There have been reports time and again of how irresponsible they can be. Not so long ago, I walked in to browse the film they had on display. I noticed a nervous and upset looking guy talking loudly into his mobile. In mandarin, he was informing the person on the line Konata has lost the negatives. On the other side of the counter, were two staff trying to look busy with a face of ignorance. Basically too busy to entertain this fella. The guy on the phone appeared to be visibilly getting more upset by the moment. I didn't stay to watch the end of the show.

I read in one of the local photography magazines about a shop in Chinatown run by two young fellas with a mantra for perfection. Maybe I'll go find that article again and try out this shop.

 

[Ah_Seng]

CL does scanned prints. The prints are excellent most of the time. They are having a 50% discount on enlargements at the moment.

I also learnt that they print up to 15R in house. Anything larger is sent to another lab for printing.

Thanks pipefish.

Since its scanned prints, it should be printed in the same way as normal digital images ya?

 

[locksley]

Sorry boochap. There is no way I will send my precious film to Konata. There have been reports time and again of how irresponsible they can be. Not so long ago, I walked in to browse the film they had on display. I noticed a nervous and upset looking guy talking loudly into his mobile. In mandarin, he was informing the person on the line Konata has lost the negatives. On the other side of the counter, were two staff trying to look busy with a face of ignorance. Basically too busy to entertain this fella. The guy on the phone appeared to be visibilly getting more upset by the moment. I didn't stay to watch the end of the show.

I read in one of the local photography magazines about a shop in Chinatown run by two young fellas with a mantra for perfection. Maybe I'll go find that article again and try out this shop.

Is it Kim TIan ?