HELP! marking or otherwise identifying negatives

[Curtis Nelson]

I'm slated to teach the photography merit badge to a group of boy scouts. The scoutmaster thought it would be a great experience for the boys to also get some hands-on experience using LF gear, and that's where my question arises. There are 16 boys, and they will be split into two groups. The first night, half the boys will shoot one sheet each of film, while the other group learns about digital cameras. I will later take those 8 sheets of film and develop them. The following week the boys will switch places.

My question is, I only have 4 film holders. I need a way to identify which boy shot which negative. I'm guessing we can't rely on the boys to remember which shot they took, since there will be a 2 week gap between when they shot the images and when they will actually see their negative. So, what can I do?

[Peter Mounier]

You could put some notches in your film holders and assign a notch code to each boy. Then the onus is on you to remember which boy got which notch coded holder. Put the notch on the film holder's flap. When you expose the film the notches will record the specific holder as part of the exposure.

Peter

[sully75]

I sometimes snip the corner of a negative, without touching the actual image. 4 corners equals a number of combinations. Might not be helpful in your circumstances, but it's a thought.

[Jim Jones]

I second Peter's suggestion. By using binary math, five wide and narrow notches give 32 possible combinations. It's also a good help for the rest of us in cataloging negatives.

[jp]

I've added notches to negatives to keep film in a certain sequence. Say 8 images, the four film holders hold numbers 1-8, and each sheet of film gets a new notch in a slightly more-right position. (If the negatives were stacked, it'd be like those bibles with the notches to get you to the right book) A paper punch can notch film just fine.

I've done this sort of thing when testing lenses or other such equipment and need to know which negatives came from which changes and which was the control, etc... Normally I don't keep track and organize my negatives per-outing.

[Tim k]

Self portraits?

[Bill Burk]

ok
dude

Well that's one way of putting it. That IS a good idea.

[Oren Grad]

Find some old Riteway holders with the number wheels.

[Lon Overacker]

I used a numbering system by cutting notches in the flap of the film holder. JB Harlin documents the technique here. Should work great for negatives. The only issue I have in using color transparencies that if the side of the film that the notches get exposed is dark, then because it's a positive, then the notches are not visible because everything is black. But for the most part, you have enough information to determine which image is which, assuming also you took some notes.

Sounds like a fun project. good luck with all those kids and the camera!

Lon

[Ash]

Thanks for the link Lon, I'm glad Curtis posted this thread now.