Number markings on sheet film

[Uri A]

Hello all,

Sometimes when looking at books or exhibits of older LF prints (e.g. Avedon, Penn, etc), which have been printed full frame (i.e. with the rebate of the film visible in the print), I have seen white number markings on the edges.

It's obvious this is a way to number the negs as a sequence, but the thing I don't know is whether the markings are done before or after processing. Sometimes they are done very sloppily (as though the markings were made in the dark) and they almost look like they were partially washed out during the processing; other times they are sharp and accurate...

Also, if they are done after processing I'm not sure what the point is, as it would be just as easy to mark the neg sleeve, not the neg itself... Also no-one seems to do this anymore, so wondering if it is an old fashioned lab system.

Any old timers know the answer to this?

Thank you!

[Sevo]

White (in the print) marks are generally hand written on the margin with a water proof (grease or felt) pen. The point is to transfer the holder number to the sheet, so that the sheet can be identified and associated with a log book record after processing, even if there are multiple bracketed exposures of the same scene, and so that the lab does not lose the association between sheet and customer.

There even were paginating machines that could automatically expose a serial number into the sheet margin - these were sometimes used by labs with high sheet throughput, personally I've only ever seen one in action in the printing industry.

Black number markings are mostly created by a Grafmatic holder (or similar competing products) during exposure - these automatically expose a per-sheet number (from 1 to 6) into the film margin. Many sheet film holders also have a bit of the margin where a strip of exposed lith film with numbers, codes or copyright information can be attached - but in my experience, people meticulous enough to use that will print in their name along with the holder/sheet number. You'll often see a handwritten holder number along with the Grafmatic sheet number.

Sevo

[Laurent]

This is somethig I'm doing, and I think I'm not the only one. I got the idea from Bruce Barlow's Finely focused (which is a reading I'd strongly recommend). There are two points for me in doing this :
* marking the negative and not the sleeve means that I'm 100% sure to identify the negative
* the number shows on the contact, which makes identification of the contact and negative very easy.

I'm using a felt tip marker (permanent from Pilot) to do this.

[Sevo]

You can of course write on your negatives before or after processing - pro labs and photographers that process in in bigger batches tend do do so before, as they'd otherwise risk to lose track of their sheets.

Sevo

[Mark Woods]

I use a fine point red sharpie to put a number on the neg. My system is the first two numbers are the month, the second two the day, and the last two are the year. Then I use A, B, C, etc. I've also use the sheet film holder number so I can track if there is a light leak. Todays neg would be: 022710 ;-) The number is on all notes that travel with the neg and is included in my file cabinet of negs.

[Jack Dahlgren]

I use a fine point red sharpie to put a number on the neg. My system is the first two numbers are the month, the second two the day, and the last two are the year. Then I use A, B, C, etc. I've also use the sheet film holder number so I can track if there is a light leak. Todays neg would be: 022710 ;-) The number is on all notes that travel with the neg and is included in my file cabinet of negs.

Not to throw a wrench in your plan, but wouldn't it be easier to sort if you put the year first? I'd rather do 100227, but you may have some attraction to months that I don't have.

[Mark Woods]

That's a good suggestion. Unfortunately I have 1000's of negs and their legacy of the numbering system. :-)

[CG]

Didn't a few makes of sheet film holders have various mechanical numbering systems built in?

[Jim Noel]

Grafmatics came with wheels which indicated film numbers. Film packs had the numbers on the edge of the film similar to roll film.