Do I keep my negatives?

[ebonymelba]

I'm sorting out my photographs and putting the prints into albums. I've got hundreds of negatives from pre digital days. Do I keep the negatives in case I MIGHT need them? I think I don't need them because if I wanted a copy in the future, I can take a print into a shop and get it copied. But I'm nervous about chucking them. What does anyone else do?

[Buenchico]

I suggest keeping the negatives, but in a separate place to the prints. Then, if a print gets lost or damaged (e.g. if a burst pipe means that some of your treasured prints get soaked, as happened to me) you've still got the negatives as a backup.

PC experts are always telling us to keep backups of everything. If we're doing it for digital data it would seem wisest to do the same for 'old technology'. (After all, a shoe box full of negatives doesn't take up much space, does it?).

Chris

[ebonymelba]

Thanks for this suggestion but if only the problem was shoe-box-sized ! My negatives would fill about ten shoe boxes - that is the trouble. I suppose I have them back to the 1950s up to about three years ago when I got a digital camera.

[jno]

yes, I have shelves full of negatives, and that's after I've weeded out the ones I never wanted to see again (about 90% of them!). I've scanned a lot of them onto my PC but the resulting prints aren't as good as Boots did originally. So I'd say yes, keep them, even if you need to build an extension to keep them.

[carlton23]

Without indexing each and every one, if you needed a particular photo, how would you find the negative? If I lose or damage a old photo it`s tough luck as I don`t keep the negatives.

[jno]

I index mine. If it's your hobby, that's normal behaviour.

[woofgang]

I haven't kept my negatives, I have however scanned the photos in and find that the print ut results are as good as the orginal photo and sometimes better

[k8bailey]

How about one of these:
http://www.firebox.com/product/2290/Film-2-SD- Negative-Scanner

not cheap - but you could bin the negatives and have as may re-prints as you like!

[k8bailey]

or a slightly cheaper one:
http://www.firebox.com/product/2234/USB-Negati ve-Scanner