negative life?

so many questions... ok today, how long will negatives last? should i print them or scan them to use on pc? cheers,
drec

I have no idea how long they last but if they were that important to me I would scan them and save them on the computer.

Negatives will last a very long time if properly cared for. They should be placed in an acid free sleeve. The sleeves should be stored somewhere dark and dry away from concrete in an acid free container. Shoe boxes won't do...cardboard has a good deal of acid in it. It is the acid that causes the yellowing and the brittleness of the negatives. Scanning them and saving them digitally would be a good choice if for no other reason than you can get to them easier than thumbing through lots and lots of sleeves of negatives.

thanks, they've been kept in a plastic box in darkness for 8 yrs or so. got some of ireland and texas i have to get copied, it never ends does it?

Black and white negatives will last almost indefinitely. Color negatives are a different matter altogether. Keep them in darkness and cool temperatures. Freeze any that are vital.

Gnarly, right! That's why I wondered (although I didn't write that) - I've got LOADS of (b/w) negatives still from my mother from before WWII - and they look OK.

Properly processed B&W film will last several hundred years, I believe. Kodachrome film is inherently the stablest of all color films when kept in the dark. E-6 slide films are somewhat less stable than Kodachrome, but improving. Color negatives are a different story altogether, and many color negatives from the 1960s can be already badly faded. Today's color negative films are superior, but if you need to keep them a long time, freeze them after properly preparing them. Look up the proper procedure for doing this; perhaps Kodak has some information on this subject.

Good information.. When copying always try to go as archival as you can.. Copy to DVD if you can.. Anything is bound to break down eventually and retaining the images for future generations is important in my opinion.

Here in New England we experience wide swings in humidity so I like to use desiccant when I store negatives. I doubt I will ever know if that was a good or bad idea.

I agree that black and white negatives will last.