Phyllis, whenever I have any 35 mm film developed, it comes back with a warning saying not to cut strips into separate negatives. I've seen the same warning from several different photo labs so I think it is standard. I think it would be much harder to work with the individual negatives than with the strip. It can be difficult to identify a negative if it isn't stored with the photo or you have several photos that are very similar. After having several copies made of a photo that was very similar to the one I wanted to have duplicated, I bought a small inexpensive light table on sale at a craft store. I use it to compare the negative to the photo I want to have duplicated. I am also writing the number of the negative on the strip on the back of each photo now. Whenever possible, I have a "photo index" printed which has a tiny picture with the number of the negative printed below the picture. I keep these photo indexes with the pictures from that group of negatives so that is is easy to tell which photo I want to have duplicated. I'm thinking about scanning the index and printing a copy of it to keep with the negatives. The copy wouldn't need to be high quality; anything clear enough enough to identify the photo and number would ensure that I had the right group of negatives. I recently bought some archival safe Ultra Pro album pages designed to hold only negatives. Each page has 7 slots for negative strips. I plan to put a word processed note in one slot on each sheet to identify the location of the pages containing those pictures. I am beginning to redo my photo albums and am putting the frame number of the negative on the back of each photo. Jackie Phyllis Cloyd wrote: > > Hello all -- > > Peggy's recent advice about storing negs with photos brings to mind a > question that has plagued me for some time. > > I have had most of my old photos copied at a photo lab. They do > excellent work and I get good rates. They make 35 mm color negs. The > color negs insure reproduction of the subtle color nuances even for the > black and white and sepia tone pictures. Once I get the neg, I can have > as many copies made as I need or want. > > But the problem is that the negatives are in strips with several > pictures on each strip. I would love to cut apart the negatives so that > I can store each individual negative with a copy of the picture. But > the photo lab strongly advised against cutting the strips into > individual negatives. They said it is hard to work with the individual > negs when they are cut apart. > > Has anyone else had this problem or been given this advice by their > photo lab? > > Phyllis in NJ >