Storing Film

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Quite frankly, I don't know why I'm bothered about this. I have boxes of my grandfathers film that he used to keep in the loft, all just in whatever they came back from the lab, or loose as negatives and prints. They're all fine.

Will my film break if I keep it in the sleeves it came back from the lab in, in a plastic storage box (Really Useful Co) with a couple of sachets of silica gel? I'm skint, I'm a student and I travel around and move house alot.
 
The only issue I can think of is if the plastic of the box contains any chemicals that could transfer through the film sleeves to the negatives and affect the archival qualities. I keep mine in a four ring binder (admittedly sold for storing film) or in archival "binder boxes" - ring binders built into a box, to keep the dust out.

My negatives from the 1960s have been kept in Paterson ring binders just anyway in the house (no silica gel) and they seem to be OK.
 
StephenM said:
The only issue I can think of is if the plastic of the box contains any chemicals that could transfer through the film sleeves to the negatives and affect the archival qualities. I keep mine in a four ring binder (admittedly sold for storing film) or in archival "binder boxes" - ring binders built into a box, to keep the dust out.

My negatives from the 1960s have been kept in Paterson ring binders just anyway in the house (no silica gel) and they seem to be OK.
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Maybe I will just have to bite the bullet and buy some of the Kenro holders.

I suppose I should also ideally, at some point, sort out all my grandfathers negatives and slides too.
 
CharlotteM said:
Maybe I will just have to bite the bullet and buy some of the Kenro holders.

I suppose I should also ideally, at some point, sort out all my grandfathers negatives and slides too.
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You really must, and do it while you still have relatives who can help identify individuals in the photos as an interesting way to understand your ancestry.
 
As far as I know, any sleeves that films come back in should be archival.

Sorting out old photos can be a pain - I've just started in three/four households of photos (mother/aunt and wife's father/aunt).
 
Steve said:
You really must, and do it while you still have relatives who can help identify individuals in the photos as an interesting way to understand your ancestry.
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Well I'm hoping that my Mum and Dad aren't going anywhere for a little while... but yes... if I'd put my mind to it I could have done it before I lost my other grandparents which would have been more than a little helpful!

The plan is eventually to digitise the best and lodge them with one of the historic collections at an agency. If my grandfather had access to all these kinds of tools (he passed away *just* as digital was taking off) then he would have done the same, I'm entirely sure.
 
My negatives from the 1960s onwards have been stored in ring binder sleeves made of glassine (the stuff that looks like greaseproof paper) and they are just fine. I prefer glassine to the plastic sleeves, as negative strips are less likely to stick to the sleeves. It's been around for a long while and stood the test of time. Good luck with your archive project.
 
I've been storing my negs and some small prints in a big A4 folder in the glassine sleeves, some sleeves hang out of the end a little but the film doesn't. They are quite well traveled (4th year student) and have had no damage from being moved around a lot, only my own stupidity in not keeping them in the sleeves.

A fairly large pack (100) of glassine sleeves can be had for about £25 on Amazon, which will last for a very long time.
 
StephenM said:
As far as I know, any sleeves that films come back in should be archival.
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I don't believe this is the case - I've seen several manufacturers offer standard sleeves, and then sleeves of the same design and material but specifically archival - without those chemicals that can attack the negatives.

Negative sleeves aren't cheap, but it seems a shame to not look after the negatives after the effort and cost of shooting and developing.
 
OK, I stand corrected. All the sleeves that come from my local processor are archival - or so the sleeves themselves say. I hadn't considered supermarket processing...
 
I've been taking photos since 1967 and have all of them. They're pretty much all still in the enveleopes they came back from the processors in. A number of the early ones are damaged, but mainly because they have escaped their sleeves and rattled around in the bottom of a box amongst the dust. Three of my favourite rolls were Plus X taken in Queensland on Magnetic Island when my OH and I got engaged. These negatives have hairline cracks in them that don't show up at screen resolution, but do at 100%, scanned at 3600 dpi. A number also have scratches of course, from various sources. Some early sleeves had somehow stuck to the negatives and had to be teased away from them, but only a few.

BUT

These envelopes were in a box in a cupboard in Adelaide for >20 years, with no central heating, temperatures ranging from ~10 to ~40 degrees C, and humidity ranging from zero to close to 100%. And 99% of them are just fine. Just treat them reasonably and they'll be fine!
 
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