SquantoWV Loc: Born in Iowa

I have just come into possession of a box of about 2000 family BW sheet film, 35mm and various other strip negatives which were taken by my father who was a portrait photographer at a studio. The dates they were taken were between 1935 and 1960, but some may be older. The larger sheet film is thicker and curled slightly on the edges which makes them difficult to scan. The smaller, thinner sheet film is flat, and so are the roll film. I did my own darkroom processing earlier, and have given away all of my equipment, etc. I don't want to try to print these myself. I would like some advice on how and where to get these printed and/or digital images of these on my computer, as negatives or positives. Currently I only have inexpensive Epson and Canon scanner/printers myself which satisfy me for printing and scanning photos - they will not scan the negatives satisfactorily. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Ourspolair

Just a thought - you could set a light box on the scanner and put the film on it (emulsion side down), even use a cellphone or tablet as a light source... Otherwise, you need a scanner like the Epson V600 series or the V850 which has the light source built in. I built myself a light box back in the day for 120 film use with a cheaper scanner. Works well as long as you hold the film down with a piece of glass.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The Darkroom is one suggestion. Tempe Camera is another. I have personal experience with Tempe Camera. Tempe Imaging Center is part of their operation. I have had Tempe Camera do a number of prints from scanned negatives. They also do the scan to CD / DVD if you so choose.
--Bob

richardsaccount

Sir: From the date span of those negatives, could some of the film be on a nitrate base?. I ask this because for about twelve years I worked at a historical society. Some of the negatives were nitrate. When they deteriorate they give off a vinegar odor, thus called vinegar syndrome. The problem with that base is it is highly inflammable. Google Cleveland Clinic Fire. In the late twenties there was a huge fire at the Cleveland Clinic.
Much of the X-Ray film was destroyed. Many people who inhaled the toxic fumes were found dead in their hospital beds the next day because of the gases that entered their blood stream. After nitrate based film the
improved film base was acetate. They called it safety film not because it was safe, that you would be ensured of a good image, but that it would not catch fire. Acetate will deteriorate. Film base now is on Mylar. Kodak has its own name for it but I can't remember what Kodak calls it. I would investigate some professional scanning
services. Good luck.

SCLovely

I have a few hundred negatives that go back to the 70s that I never printed. I recently bought a 60mm f2.8 Micro Nikkor to go on my D90. I wanted to try digitizing some of them so I used the following - admittedly pretty crude - method. I have a copy stand, and mounted the camera on it. Then I put a piece of glass on two coffee cans so it was up off the base. One piece of copy paper on the base below the glass, a second sheet with a 35 negative hole in it to act as a mask. I put the negatives into the holder that came with my Cannon scanner and placed the negatives one at a time over the hole in the mask. I had a couple of small halogen lamps that I pointed at the bottom sheet of paper. Then I took pictures of the negatives. I did it in daylight, using auto focus and getting the whole negative in the frame. I'm sure with a bit more care and some experimenting I could have gotten better results, but this was just a lets see what happens trial. I was pleased with what I got, better results than I got using my scanner on negatives in the past. The negative in question is panatomic x, probably developed in Rodinol which I used a lot of then. It is an FB-111 heading out to the end of runway 16 at Pease AFB in April of 1972 when I was stationed there in the AF. I realize now that I should have done something about the dust, but just looking at the negs I didn't notice it.

The negative image is cropped, but the resolution is still better than what I could get with my scanner. I am only beginning to learn how to use Raw Therapee, but am amazed at how easy it was to make a positive from the negative compared to back when I was doing it in the darkroom. It's not a perfect B&W image, but a lot better than I expected when I first developed the negatives.

I wan't sure where I should post this, but since I'm dealing with a lot of old negatives and the OP was asking about dealing with old negatives I put it here.

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bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I've got a bunch of Tri-X negatives from the '70s. I also have a couple of prints I made then. When I scan the negatives, use Lightroom for adjustments and print on a Canon photo printer the new is noticeable better than the old. Progress!

pendennis

I use the Epson V850 scanner, and it's a superb scanner, but my volume is quite a bit higher than yours. Another option, if you don't want to purchase a would be to check on the various companies which will scan the negatives, and return digital images for you. There are a ton of them, just do a Google search.

The old negatives which have developed a curl, can be scanned. However, before you do anything with those, call an film archival service, and they can advise you the best path for scanning. Sometimes the older films can be flattened using a wetting agent, then pressing between a special type paper for drying. They may even be able to scan those negatives for you.