Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

I'm in the process of scanning about 300 colour 35mm negatives that go back 50 years or so. The earliest that I can date is 1971. They have been stored in a cool, dark, and dry environment.

Many of the negatives have deteriorated and the sharpness is gone. Some are OK and the only reason I can think of was that processing for those was better.

If anyone has old colour negatives, I would suggest that they be scanned ASAP. The negatives in glassine (sp?) pages have 'aged' more than the ones in plastic pages. It may be that the glassine pages are several years older.

Another issue I've noted is that there are lots of pictures of people that I don't recall; I used to take pictures of strangers and events that I did not record any information. This is not an issue with digital work, but, with the old film type of cameras this can be a problem.

One of the 'sets' I photographed was an ordination at what was the oldest wooden Church in Western Canada. The interior was lovely and the Church was torched by vandals. I took 6 films, and I'm missing one film that had the interior without the ceremony. The photos still show the interior of the church and are likely the only ones in existence. I've sent the negatives out for high resolution scanning and will turn the digital files over to the church as well as the negatives. They can likely store them better than I can.

Just a caution if you want to retain your early work.

Dik

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's a smart move having them professionally scanned. Digital is much more durable than film. Let us know how this turns out.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Of the 1000s of pictures so far, there are likely 100 or so that I will have scanned. Just got an eMail from the Church this AM and they want copies; I'll give them the negatives, too. Waiting to hear from Don's Photo in Winnipeg... a pretty good and friendly place. Some of the good photos, are in pretty poor condition.

I picked up an Epson V550 scanner and it works great, albeit, a tad slow. Just using it on Auto and 600 dpi to provide something to view. Some great memories and lots of stuff I don't recall. I have a bit of a problem with colour which I will post in another thread.

Dik

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I don't know about that. I have negatives from the late 1930's that look great. And I have CD's burned barely 20 years ago that have become completely unreadable.

henryp Loc: New York, NY

Depending on the age and composition of the storage, you may find they are not at all archival and should be discarded. You want to avoid PVC or Vinyl. Look for Archival Polyester.

More on this at http://wilhelm-research.com/

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

True about DVDs, but with colour negatives it's all in the processing. If not carefully done and properly washed... just like B&W. With B&W I always did archival processing... they will likely outlast me. Not so with colour.

Dik

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

Thanks... the plastic ones were... not sure about the glassine, but were likely the choice 50 years back. Some negatives are OK, others are 'fuzzy'. Likely due to the difference in colour processing back then. I don't know... just wanted to flag the item in case others run into the same. Thanks...

Dik

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Color film will fade and/or change color over time; when I scanned negatives from forty years ago, often I had to boost the blue channel to make overall colors look OK. The real strength of digital is that you can repeatedly make copies without degrading the image at all - but with digital, you may have to make copies consistently to keep anything.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

I've noticed the 'sharpness' of the negative is also affected. Also having an issue with a few scans... there is a slight green tinge to the overall photograph that is produced from the negative, but, nothing seems to be out a whack with the negative.

Dik

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Both effects could be a result of colors fading differently: most photo editors allow you to try several different color variations in parallel.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

I may have to try that with a couple of pictures... of the thousands of shots I have there are likely 100 or so that I would like to retain.

Dik

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

Digital is not durable necessarily. It does require backing it up for long-time storage. I have bw negatives from the 1920s that are still good. I don't expect my digital files to be around 100 years from now unless I take care to keep them backed up.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

My B&Ws will likely be around that long and are still OK. I took special care in processing them to make sure all the chemicals were gone/neutralised.

Thanks for the caution... hope others can learn from this discussion.

Dik

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

I recently had this procedure done to my 50plus year old color & B&W negatives by a professional lab with a pro grade scanner and it was one of the best things I've ever done. You'll get good & bad results depending on the deteriorization of some films over time but that's always a given in this arena.
The important part is to digitize the images and get them on file in your computer storage for future use.

I highly recommend that one should do this and scan old photos as well and repeat the process for the assurance it provides on those priceless images that are irreplaceable.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Are you sure they were sharp to begin with?

Your scanner should provide you with adjustment tools that allow you to alter the color balance of the scanned image (my Epson V500 does) so you can adjust out any color tinge you may see in the preview. There is also a color restoration tick box in the settings that will do a great job of eliminating color distortion due to age.

Stan