What is the best way to write a file number on my negatives?

[polyglot]

The whole India Ink think is mandated by a few historical archives too (eg HABS, the Historical American Building Survey) - it's the gold standard for archival marking. The ink will likely outlast the emulsion on the film, let alone chemical destruction of the silver image.

While I'm not an American nor probably ever good enough to shoot for HABS, as far as I'm concerned, following their recommendations and standards is probably a good approach.

[Robert Hall]

Once upon a time I saw a small machine that one would run their unexposed film through by the edge and it would print numbers on their film. This was on a rebate edge. It looked pretty cool but kind of expensive for me at the time. I'll be danged if I can remember where I saw it.

[Drew Wiley]

India ink instantly comes off with any kind of real film cleaner. Better to keep your negs in labeled archival sleeves than to write on the neg itself.

[AtlantaTerry]

Last night I went to one of the Office Depot stores and asked for any of the suggested technical pens. No luck. But the salesman suggested I try a nearby Michael's (craft store). Sure enough, they had a selection of Faber-Castell PITT artist pens loaded with black India ink. I selected a two-pack of 0.1mm tipped pens. About US $5. Plus I received a coupon for 40% off my next purchase.

[gleaf]

Time was we used India Ink, ink will, and a traditional replaceable nib pen. Find an old Navy Photographers Mate 2 & 3 manual and it will have the numbering system used.

[frotog]

http://www.misterart.com/drawing-ill...nt-marker.html
These used to be called "Pilot photo marker pen". Also available at minilabsupply.com. Xylene free. Best I've used for writing in the gutter though I never got as retrogrouchy as india ink in a quill or nib pen.

[polyglot]

retrogrouchy

Oooooh, lovely term! I think you've got APUG right there.

I'mma steal it

[ROL]

Funny, I think of APUG more as retrohypocritical.

[Drew Wiley]

Those traditional "crow quill" pen tips had the habit of snapping and splattering the ink from time to time. But you could write very small with them. There seem to
be quite a few myths out there. India ink is basically just a dispersion of carbon black in shellac, which won't fade, but the binder itself crosslinks and goes brittle
with time, so could hypothetically chip off a bit on a nonporous substrate like film, and go where you don't want it. I like it for spotting negs. But since negs typically
need to be cleaned before printing, your ink data would end up getting removed anyway, if you did a thorough job. There was an incident in the mid-80's where a
suspected master document forger was finally convicted, even though the exact chemical makeup of the ink was exact, and authentic antique paper was, because
under a microsope, the tell-tale aging cracks in the ink were missing.

[Bob Salomon]

Kaiser CD Marking Pens will write on anything (including glass), dry instantly and are archival. They are alcohol based and are largest dealer for them are the library supply companies like gaylord. They are fine tipped and available in a 4 pack with a red, green, blue and black pen or in bulk with all black pens.