How to make prints from 40 year old 'Kodak Safety Film'?

Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these. Do you have any recommendations as to
how I can create prints from these negatives? I am in the NY area.
This website seems to think that the film is "Ektachrome MS 7256"
http://www.film-center.com/stock.html

Can anyone help me figure out what this is and where I can get them
printed?
Thanks for your help, in advance,
Aaron

Aaron wrote:

Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these.

Sounds like you probably went to a minilab. Try a custom lab.

Do you have any recommendations as to
how I can create prints from these negatives? I am in the NY area.
This website seems to think that the film is "Ektachrome MS 7256"
http://www.film-center.com/stock.html

Can anyone help me figure out what this is and where I can get them
printed?

Well you're not clear as to what type of film this is. Color or b&w,
negative or transparency. The web site you cite appears to be about
motion picture films. Ektachrome is a transparency film, not negative.

Any good custom lab should be able to make custom prints from any
negatives regardless of format. They can also scan the film and
output as prints.

Aaron wrote:

Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these.

Sounds like you probably went to a minilab. Try a custom lab.

Do you have any recommendations as to
how I can create prints from these negatives? I am in the NY area.
This website seems to think that the film is "Ektachrome MS 7256"
http://www.film-center.com/stock.html

Can anyone help me figure out what this is and where I can get them
printed?

Well you're not clear as to what type of film this is. Color or b&w,
negative or transparency. The web site you cite appears to be about
motion picture films. Ektachrome is a transparency film, not negative.

Any good custom lab should be able to make custom prints from any
negatives regardless of format. They can also scan the film and
output as prints.

Let me guess. They lack the orange coloration that most color negatives
have, and instead, the unexposed areas are clear?

This is slide film that has been cross-processed in color negative
chemistry. (Some people still do that.) It can be printed with heavy
orange filtration or by using a digital scanner.

Normally, 40-year-old color negatives are about like modern ones, and
printable with the same equipment.

"Tom Phillips" wrote in message
...


Aaron wrote:

Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these.


That sounds like instamatic film which was 35mm wide and perforated only on
one edge. The image size was different than traditional 35mm which is 24mm x
36mm. I believe that the instamatic was 26mm x 26mm so it could not be
printed with a regular 35mm negative holder and at best it would have 2mm
cut off if used in a regular 35mm negative holder. This was a problem even
at the height of this films popularity. Most people did not notice that
something had been cut off unless it was a head and they examined the
negative and saw the head was there. Even now lots of places do not print
the whole 35mm negative.
Michael Creem

In article , Aaron wrote:
Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these. Do you have any recommendations as to
how I can create prints from these negatives? I am in the NY area.
This website seems to think that the film is "Ektachrome MS 7256"
http://www.film-center.com/stock.html

There were two almost identical formats that sound like what you have. Since
you don't specify the size, I'm guessing. If they are about 1.5 inches (35mm)
high, then they probably are either 828 or 126 (Instamatic).

If the negatives are 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch (24mmx36mm) then they are 828,
if they are an inch (24mm) square they are 126.

If they are smaller than that they probably are 110, but I thought that
that format came later. If they are really small they may be from a
Minox camera.

Judging by the age of the film, if they are color they are Kodacolor II.
Ektachrome is a positive film, they would be slides.

The biggest problem with printing them is that the modern color printing
machines would have to be adjusted to produce the correct colors. This
beyond the capability of the operator of the average one hour lab.

Any professional lab that prints to order would be able to print them.

The most cost effective way of dealing with them would be to have them
scanned into a computer. Just about any film scanner can do them if the are
828 or 126.

If they are bigger or smaller, then you would need to find someone with
a scanner that can scan them. Look for a professional lab in your area,
they probably can do it for you.

You could also post a note on one of the digital groups with the dimensions
of the negatives and how many are in one strip of film. You probably can
find someone who would scan them for you.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, C.T.O. GW&T Ltd., Jerusalem Israel

IL Voice: 972-544-608-069 IL Fax: 972-2-648-1443 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838

In the message quoted below, I may be on a completely false trail. You
mentioned perforations along only one side of the film.

If you have:

- normal orange-colored color negatives
- square pictures on the film
- one perforation per picture (I think) along just one side

and the film is the same width as 35 mm film, then these are Instamatic
(126) negatives, which were extremely popular around 1970. As others have
mentioned, basically you're looking for a lab that has a film holder of the
right size and shape. If run through an ordinary 35mm film holder, the
pictures won't match the frame -- they'll be partly cut off, and on the ends
the frame will extend into the previous and next pictures.


"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message
...
Let me guess. They lack the orange coloration that most color negatives
have, and instead, the unexposed areas are clear?

This is slide film that has been cross-processed in color negative
chemistry. (Some people still do that.) It can be printed with heavy
orange filtration or by using a digital scanner.

Normally, 40-year-old color negatives are about like modern ones, and
printable with the same equipment.

I have some old negatives,
the holes are only along one side one photo shop and
they said that their machines could not print these.

It sounds like 126 Instamatic. The film is still made (?),
I think I saw some at the grocery store ...

In any case, here is a list of a few of the labs that
handle 126:

http://www.frugalphotographer.com/pr...structions.htm

Any reasonably good lab or any good photography store should be
able to print it. Don't bother with Ritz or any place in a shopping
mall.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
Remove spaces etc. to reply: n o lindan at net com dot com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

In article , Aaron wrote:

Hello,
I have some old negatives, from about 1970 that I have found in my
grandparents home. I would like to create prints from these negatives.
The film does not look like other negatives that I am familiar with,
the holes are only along one side and it says 'Kodak Safety Film' on
the edges. I brought these to one photo shop and they said that their
machines could not print these. Do you have any recommendations as to
how I can create prints from these negatives? I am in the NY area.
This website seems to think that the film is "Ektachrome MS 7256"
http://www.film-center.com/stock.html


There were two almost identical formats that sound like what you have. Since
you don't specify the size, I'm guessing. If they are about 1.5 inches (35mm)
high, then they probably are either 828 or 126 (Instamatic).

If the negatives are 1 inch by 1 1/2 inch (24mmx36mm) then they are 828,
if they are an inch (24mm) square they are 126.

I partly agree with this; if the film is the same width as 35 mm, it's
either 126 (square images, but they're 28x28 mm IIRC) or 828 Bantam (but
those were 28x40 mm, not 24x36). Both are decentered toward one side of
the strip by a few mm to accomodate the frame size, and have a single
perforation per frame, which was used in many/most cameras in those
formats by a film advance feeler -- and neither can be full frame
printed in conventional mini-lab equipment. If you find a pro lab,
however, or a photo supply shop that does their printing in house, you
should be able to get "custom" prints (at significantly higher price per
frame) that will be correctly framed from either format. There are also
a number of mail order firms that still process 126 (you can still buy
126 film, if you have one of those cameras), and should be able to
reprint square negatives without difficulty.

If they are smaller than that they probably are 110, but I thought that
that format came later. If they are really small they may be from a
Minox camera.

Clarification: Minox film (9.5 mm wide, frame size 8x11 mm) is
unperforated. The 110 format is 13x17 mm, decentered on a 16 mm strip,
with a single perforation per frame. There were also a number of other
16 mm formats predating 110 that mostly used single-perf 16 mm movie
film (Rollei 16, Minolta 16, Mamiya 16, etc.); these would have
continuous perforations (like one side of a 35 mm strip, but finer
pitch) and the frames of various sizes from 10x14 mm up to 13x17 or
12x18 possibly decentered to clear the sprocket holes. It's still
possible to find mail order service for Minox and 110, but most of the
other 16 mm formats would require custom handling and will be costly --
again, seek a pro lab if your film is single-perf 16 mm movie stock.
Minolta, at least, continued support of their format through the 1980s
with respooled 110 film, but the frame format was different from that of
110, and the frames won't match up with the perforations on the 110
respooled film; Minolta and Mamiya films were also often unperforated
(the cameras neither needed nor used the perforations), but that doesn't
apply to your description.

Judging by the age of the film, if they are color they are Kodacolor II.
Ektachrome is a positive film, they would be slides.

Assuming they're negatives, Kodacolor negatives of any age should print
fine in terms of color and filtration -- it's the film and frame format
that's causing your problem, and you just need to find a better lab and
be willing to pay for custom printing.

The most cost effective way of dealing with them would be to have them
scanned into a computer. Just about any film scanner can do them if the are
828 or 126.

Unfortunately, also incorrect -- many film scanners are preset, either
in software or due to the film carrier design, to handle only 24x36 mm
centered frames, the standard 35 mm format, and will be unable to fully
scan the frames for 126 or 828; mine, for example, can't scan into the
sprocket hole region of the 35 mm strip, which would mean cutting 2-3 mm
from one edge of 828 or 126. If all else fails, a flatbed scanner with
transparency lid should be able to scan those negatives on the glass,
though dust problems and Newton rings will almost certainly mar the
results (been there, done that).

--
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
-- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.

We should add that 126 (Instamatic) format was very, very popular in 1970,
whereas 828 was already quite rare by then.