21/4 x31/4 Negative Sleeves

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I do some shooting with a baby Speed Graphic - nice light(er) camera for a backpack.

So far as I can determine, no one offers negative sleeves in this size. I prefer to use transparent sleeves store in a lose leaf binder. One solution is to use 21/4 strip sleeves but this is somewhat awkward.

I've found that the similar clear sheets used for storage of baseball card collections have individual pockets just the right size for holding 21/4 x 31/4 negatives. The variety which I bought were labelled "PVC-free" (tens cents a sheet new, not a bad price). Does anyone have experience with these, paticularly in view of the suitability of these for archival storage?

-- Ed Balko (veggie@monmouth.com), February 23, 2002

Answers

hi ed: you might check out gaylord brothers or talas. they supply libraries and archives with storage, conservation and other sorts of products. they might have the exact thing you are looking for..

best of luck!

oh, i almost forgot their addresses: http://www.gaylord.com http://talas-nyc.com/

-- jnanian (jak@gis.net), February 23, 2002.


Vue-All maxe all types of archival sleeves and pages.

-- Bob Salomon (bob@hpmarketingcorp.com), February 23, 2002.

You want the pages for baseball cards. They have 9 2½X3½ slots in each page. Light Impressions has them NO. 7726

http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/servlet/OnlineShopping?DSP=50000 &PCR=30000:110000:112000&IID=CARDKEEPER&R=2631

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), February 23, 2002.


If you use a plastic sleeve that was made for something other than a neg...or even for a neg or slide, for that matter....just make sure there were no slip agents added to the plastic (even if it's a "safe" one) during production of the enclosure....in manufacturing, they can add these chemicals to the plastics, to keep them from binding up on the extruding machines...what can happen with some plastic sleeves & notebook type pages over time--is that the slip agents can leach out & will stick or put this goo all over your negs or slides. They call this "blocking" or some refer to it as "ferrotyping" as well....it won't chemically harm your neg like a stain or whatever...BUT you can't get it off either...I've seen them print through like an amoeba shape almost...

So, the best plastic enclosure is the one that has NO slip agents added to it...as far as notebook style pages go, there is maybe only one on the market that I can think of right now, and it is not a transparent grade. The other types will most likely be those locking-type sleeves, in either UNCOATED polypropylene, or UNCOATED polyester--grade Mylar D. Mylar D will cost about 2-3x as much as polypropylene. I use the 4x5 sized locking sleeves in both those materials for negs/CTs all 4x5 and smaller....for roll films, I either use the individual 6 frame sleeves, with the locking top flap, or I buy it in bulk 1000 ft rolls, and cut it down to what size I need...it's alot cheaper this way....

"Archival" storage means the material passes the Photographic Activivty test--PAT, an ANSI/ISO test for the reactivity of a material to a photo product. Different types of materials (negs, slides, color, b&w etc.) all test differently as well....the PAT doesn't test for blocking though....so a material can pass, but still might cause physical harm under certain conditions....regardless of how safe the sleeve is, if you can't keep the humidty & temps within a reasonable range--think 70 degreesF, 50% rh or less--plastic might not be the best thing to use....problems happen when the humidity & temp & any pressure in a storage system get too high....like what you might see in a notebook, or a jam-packed drawer...

so, in the end, buyer beware....the best general reference for neg sleeves, is Henry Wilhelm's text, "Permanence and Care of Color Photographs". And in case there are any manufacturer's reading this: These are MY OPINIONS ONLY. repeat:Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency.

hope this helps.

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), February 25, 2002.


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