Storage of negatives

[Mailio]

Hello everyone!

I've recently been thinking about getting a few negatives, but i have a few questions before i delve into that field.

First, and most important; how do you best store them, and do the glass negatives get stored differently than film ones? I have a few non-war glass negatives already which i just keep in their original box, but what do you do with loose singles?

second, how are they best scanned? Is a normal flatbed good enough or is something else required?

I apologize for all the questions in recent days.

Friendly cheers from Denmark

[Witt]

Hello there,

I only possess three negatives so I do not have to worry much about their storage. The motorisiert negative is secured in an album that contains other German photographs. The other two are very new to my collection so I have not done anything with these two yet. They will probably be put into an album as well. Otherwise I would think you would want to store negatives in the same manner as loose photographs. Placed in acid-free, plastic sleeves and stored flat in the correct environment to protect against the same effects that can damage printed photos. I think glass negatives can be stored vertically in compartmentalized organizers where they can be kept separated and away from humidity, light, etc. again.
As for digitizing your negatives, I am sure the flatbed scanner would work just as good as it does for photographs. I have never tried it however so I cannot say exactly how well it turns out. I did it quickly by holding the negative up to a light and taking a picture with my phone. You could take a good shot of the negative by doing it this way but with a nicer camera.


Ben

[Gwar]

Quick fix for Negatives

[BlackCat1982]

Film Negatives can be stored in negative sheets, available in 35mm or 120 medium format. Glass negatives best stored out of direct sunlight as said and ideally boxed with card dividers to avoid them scratching together.

[Kohima]

I agree with BlackCat.
My concern with plastic envelopes (even acid-free), would be the possibility of ‘sweating’, if the ambient temperature is not right.

[Mailio]

Thank you all, very useful replies! I will be experimenting a little with the negatives then, to see what can give best results.

as for the "sweating" Kohima mentions, i do agree with that worry. Thrips too, are known to be attracted to photos (very common to find in period framed photos), as far as i know they don't hurt the photos, but it's not something you want to have near them regardless. Going through your albums ever so often, is imo the best way to prevent them from taking damaged.

Regarding glas negatives, i found that you can buy storage boxes for them, going to be ordering a few and start getting into glas negatives a bit. The sharpness of their images is really appealing to me

Friendly cheers from Denmark