schafphoto
20-Apr-2020, 00:27
I thought this might be of interest to those people searching for markers to number negatives. I've used many pens doing Historic American Buildings Survey photography. The requirements for marking the rebate edge of the negatives for HABS is:
Label each negative with the photograph number. Use a Rapidograph pen, or other archival pen
designed for use on film that is permanent, smudgeproof, and waterproof. Print the number on
the blank margin of the upper right corner along the edge of the film, as this corner will be
closest to the negative sleeve opening. For negatives with no blank margin, write in the black
margin; the printing can be read when tilted towards the light. Print on the base (shiny) side of
the negative and not on the emulsion (dull) side so that the negative number reads correctly when
the negative is scanned or printed. If the ink does not take to the negative base, carefully erase a
portion of the border with a Staedtler Mars® plastic white vinyl eraser. This usually provides a
surface that will take the ink. --
This is from the latest (January 2020) HDP guidelines: https://www.nps.gov/hdp/standards/Transmittal.pdf (https://www.nps.gov/hdp/standards/Transmittal.pdf)
That said, I hate using Rapidographs! I know some of you like to use them. In my hands, they clog and blotch and I end up with black fingers and smeared negatives because it's not an especially quick-drying approach. I have tried a lot of pens, and I have never needed to "erase a section of the negative to make the ink stick." Here are the pens that work the best for me, I'm interested in your experience too.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49796400501_bbd7df5154_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iSkyZk)
Pens for HABS-HAER 4x5 film marking test (https://flic.kr/p/2iSkyZk) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
All of these pens (except the Sharpie) are considered archival "pigment" (and have similar ink to to the refillable Rapidograph engineering pens).These permanent pens qualify under the HABS guidelines because they are made with pigment-based not dye-based inks. I prefer the Faber-Castell ECCO 0.4mm tip and the Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen 'S' size. Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.4mm is also very good. The Staedtler Lumocolor F is not as dense but passable and bit fat for 4x5 negatives. The ZIG and Micron pens just don't have the density of black like the German pens, and they smear more for longer. I have rewashed negatives that were marked with the ECCO and PITT pens and they will wipe off while they are wet but are permanent after the film dries again; if you are careful not to smear the edge while washing. This can be handy if the negatives are incorrectly marked, the negs can be rewetted/rewashed, wiped clean, and remarked when dry... or you can be really careful and mark first and re-wash later.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49795858253_b269297f16_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iShMNe)
Sample HABS-HAER 4x5 film marking test (https://flic.kr/p/2iShMNe) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
Here's the samples on an almost clear part of an extra HAER tunnel negative. You can get a good sense of the density differences and why a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Black pen isn't acceptable. Bottom row is the ECCO pen "double hit" the first 4 words were overwritten after 30 seconds to increase the ink density.
As you can see, the trick is to get a pen tip that is fine enough to write in the tiny film-notch margin area but is not too thick. With thickness comes ink density... but pen-tips over 0.5mm were too thick for my needs, I prefer 0.4mm. Note: Buy two, because I have had identical pens work well, and not so well, depending on their ink flow.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49795855973_897de97802_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iShM7V)
Smear test for HABS-HAER pens (https://flic.kr/p/2iShM7V) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
Each pen was used to mark the shiny (non emulsion side) of the negative and then my finger was wiped lightly across the ink at 5, 10 and 30 seconds. It was a warm day and all the pen markings should be left untouched for at least 10 seconds to avoid transfer and smears, but some inks are worse than others. All these were smear-free at 30 seconds.
These archival guidelines matter to the Library of Congress since the negatives in the HABS/HAER/HALS collections are intended to have a life expectancy of 500 years, or until the sun explodes.
We won't be around either way.
-Schaf
Label each negative with the photograph number. Use a Rapidograph pen, or other archival pen
designed for use on film that is permanent, smudgeproof, and waterproof. Print the number on
the blank margin of the upper right corner along the edge of the film, as this corner will be
closest to the negative sleeve opening. For negatives with no blank margin, write in the black
margin; the printing can be read when tilted towards the light. Print on the base (shiny) side of
the negative and not on the emulsion (dull) side so that the negative number reads correctly when
the negative is scanned or printed. If the ink does not take to the negative base, carefully erase a
portion of the border with a Staedtler Mars® plastic white vinyl eraser. This usually provides a
surface that will take the ink. --
This is from the latest (January 2020) HDP guidelines: https://www.nps.gov/hdp/standards/Transmittal.pdf (https://www.nps.gov/hdp/standards/Transmittal.pdf)
That said, I hate using Rapidographs! I know some of you like to use them. In my hands, they clog and blotch and I end up with black fingers and smeared negatives because it's not an especially quick-drying approach. I have tried a lot of pens, and I have never needed to "erase a section of the negative to make the ink stick." Here are the pens that work the best for me, I'm interested in your experience too.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49796400501_bbd7df5154_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iSkyZk)
Pens for HABS-HAER 4x5 film marking test (https://flic.kr/p/2iSkyZk) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
All of these pens (except the Sharpie) are considered archival "pigment" (and have similar ink to to the refillable Rapidograph engineering pens).These permanent pens qualify under the HABS guidelines because they are made with pigment-based not dye-based inks. I prefer the Faber-Castell ECCO 0.4mm tip and the Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen 'S' size. Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.4mm is also very good. The Staedtler Lumocolor F is not as dense but passable and bit fat for 4x5 negatives. The ZIG and Micron pens just don't have the density of black like the German pens, and they smear more for longer. I have rewashed negatives that were marked with the ECCO and PITT pens and they will wipe off while they are wet but are permanent after the film dries again; if you are careful not to smear the edge while washing. This can be handy if the negatives are incorrectly marked, the negs can be rewetted/rewashed, wiped clean, and remarked when dry... or you can be really careful and mark first and re-wash later.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49795858253_b269297f16_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iShMNe)
Sample HABS-HAER 4x5 film marking test (https://flic.kr/p/2iShMNe) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
Here's the samples on an almost clear part of an extra HAER tunnel negative. You can get a good sense of the density differences and why a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Black pen isn't acceptable. Bottom row is the ECCO pen "double hit" the first 4 words were overwritten after 30 seconds to increase the ink density.
As you can see, the trick is to get a pen tip that is fine enough to write in the tiny film-notch margin area but is not too thick. With thickness comes ink density... but pen-tips over 0.5mm were too thick for my needs, I prefer 0.4mm. Note: Buy two, because I have had identical pens work well, and not so well, depending on their ink flow.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49795855973_897de97802_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2iShM7V)
Smear test for HABS-HAER pens (https://flic.kr/p/2iShM7V) by Stephen Schafer (https://www.flickr.com/photos/schafphoto/), on Flickr
Each pen was used to mark the shiny (non emulsion side) of the negative and then my finger was wiped lightly across the ink at 5, 10 and 30 seconds. It was a warm day and all the pen markings should be left untouched for at least 10 seconds to avoid transfer and smears, but some inks are worse than others. All these were smear-free at 30 seconds.
These archival guidelines matter to the Library of Congress since the negatives in the HABS/HAER/HALS collections are intended to have a life expectancy of 500 years, or until the sun explodes.
We won't be around either way.
-Schaf