Negatives Curling round themselves

[k9-70]

I've got thousands of negatives dating from 1979 that have started to curl into themselves.

I have tried to flatten them by placing them under heavy books.

No real joy with this method because as soon as I try to scan them, they curl up again.

I'm considering cutting the negatives to fit into glass slide mounts as one method to get them

to stay flat.

But due to the number of glass slide mounts I would require, it would cost me a small fortune.

 

Is there any other method I can try to get the negatives to go flat again?.

 

K9-70

[Poor Old Bruce]

Presumably these are 35mm negs but you don't say how long the strips are. Are they in sixes in negative filing sheets or whole rolls? Most of the time the neg holder of a enlarger should hold the neg flat enough to print. An alternative could be to buy a scanner (I got one from Aldi for thirty quid in March - the month, not the place - so keep your eyes open for the next batch which could be three to six months), that can take up to six 35mm negs in a strip and holds them all round to keep them flat while scanning.I have some negs from the 60s which have been kept flat without probs (so far).

[spamcan61]

This is normal with negatives, as POB says the film holder in most scanners will keep 'em flat when they're scanned. What sort of scanner are you currently using?

[ForestPines]

How do you store the negs? I'd suggest putting them in negative filing pocket sheets - the sort used for filing them in a ring binder - and leaving them under a stack of books for a while to see if that helps. Not sure how easy it is to find the pockets nowadays though - it's 10 years since I last needed to get some!

[k9-70]

Poor Old Bruce wrote;

Presumably these are 35mm negs but you don't say how long the strips are. Are they in sixes in negative filing sheets or whole rolls? Most of the time the neg holder of a enlarger should hold the neg flat enough

 

to print. An alternative could be to buy a scanner (I got one from Aldi for thirty quid in March - the month, not the place - so keep your eyes open for the next batch which could be three to six months), that

 

can take up to six 35mm negs in a strip and holds them all round to keep them flat while scanning.I have some negs from the 60s which have been kept flat without probs (so far).

 

Yes, 35mm negs, the strips are four images long.

Negatives are stored in neg filing sheets, both paper and plastic type. The plastic type seem to be the worst offenders.

 

Spamcan61 wrote;

This is normal with negatives, as POB says the film holder in most scanners will keep 'em flat when they're scanned. What sort of scanner are you currently using?

The scanner model i'm using is my 11 year old Epson Perfection 1240U with the slide/neg attachment.

 

ForestPines wrote;

How do you store the negs? I'd suggest putting them in negative filing pocket sheets - the sort used for filing them in a ring binder - and leaving them under a stack of books for a while to see if that helps. Not

 

sure how easy it is to find the pockets nowadays though - it's 10 years since I last needed to get some!

The negatives are stored in neg filing sheets, both paper and plastic type. I have tried the above method to some degree of success.

 

I have got some Gepe glass slide mounts to try out and have mounted the negs in them. The negs now sit nice and flat, and the scan much better now.

 

Two examples of the same photo;

A: Scanned directly from the negative, with colour correction plus sharpening.

B: Negative mounted in the Gepe glass slide mount, but scanned as a colour negative, with colour correction plus sharpening.

 

K9-70