Cutting Negatives

How many frames should one include when cutting negatives? This terribly important question has had me preoccupied for days. My workflow has always been to cut strips of 6 frames. This makes for the most efficient scanning and easy storage in the 6×6 negative sleeves. 

The problem with 6-frame strips is that it makes printing contact (proof) sheets fussy and difficult. The strips don’t fit well on an 8×10 sheet of paper when in the sleeves, and trying to arrange curled negatives individually is an exercise in frustration. I’ve decided to print a real contact sheet for every roll, meaning I’ll need to change my habits and cut 7 strips with 5 frames each. These will fit nicely in the 7×5 sleeves and print directly onto normal 8×10 paper. It will make scanning less convenient, since I’ll need to load and scan one extra time per roll on the V750, but having a nice contact sheet stored with every roll makes it worth a little extra effort.

Next I’ll learn how to print a proper contact sheet so that it can be used to accurately judge the negatives.