John,
I believe you are up against what many of us have experienced: the
archival life of color negative. It is about 20 years and not nearly as
long as films such as traditional B/W negative, Kodachrome or the newer
Ektachromes. Chromogenic C-41 B/W is considered the same as color negative
for archival. I don't think you are alone in this problem. Archival life
is based upon a 100r greater shift in contrast and/or color. I do not
have the exact measurement methods and mathematics details.
Unfortunately we also have prints and negatives from the 1970's which
have hit their archival life too. OTOH I have an archive of my dad's
Kodachromes going back nearly 50 years, the bulk of which look like the day
they came back from developing. They will outlast the mounts! It's also
why I do as much in "chrome" now as possible.
As for storage, I keep them in a cool, dry place and protected from direct
light. Another danger is fungus which did get to a handful of my dad's
slides. Heat and dampness can encourage fungus on film, just as it does in
lenses.
Sorry for the "gloom 'n doom." Perhaps someone on the list does have some
knowledge about how to inexpensively pull at least some of them back.
-- John
At 17:07 8/28/00 , John Hudson inquired:
>
>Almost all of my Kodak colour negatives from the mid 1980s and earlier
>[mainly 100 ISO] have suffered a severe loss of green pigment [or have
>accumulated an excessive amount of red!]. The strips have been stored in
>plastic sleeves, unfortunately not of archival quality, in a ring binder
>away from the light, in a basement room with a temperature with a fairly
>constant temperature about 65 / 70 F.
>
>When scanned the negatives are excessively red. This excess can be
>negated by adding green but the on screen images then appear to more
>grainy than should be the case.
>
>Is the loss of green pigment in the negatives a function of time and to
>be expected, or from not being stored in archival quality sleeves, or
>from being stored at too high a temperature?
>
>What is the best advice for storing colour negatives so as to minimize
>the chance of deterioration or at least to prolong their colour lives as
>long as possible?
>
>All and any helpful comments will be appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>
>John Hudson
>
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