Response to Old Film Image

I'm just guessing here, without actually seeing these, but yeah I have seen something similar to that with old nitrate negs that have partially silvered out, giving this tarnished type look like a mirror coming in from the edges first usually. The film base can also turn an amber/yellow color...gets brittle & sometimes sticky. The age of your negs puts them in the range for nitrate roll film--which is 1890-1950, more or less. If they're valuable to you, might want to check with an archive if you can find one with a conservator on staff or an archivist at the least...I'm not one, but work in such a place as a photographer....btw, nitrate negs need to be stored cool & dry away from other photo materials--don't store them in plastic sleeves or anything that seals them up. They need to breathe... They gas off nitric acid as they age, and will eventually decay to a brownish sludge/powder so take care if you have a bunch of 'em... don't get them wet either if they've started to deteriorate--the emulsion can become water soluable...I wouldn't worry a whole lot if you just have a few, but they can be a problem in large quantities....if they look like you can still print off them, you might want to get a decent print & copy it now, if you want these for the future...there are only a couple of options for storing these negs, and the easiest is to get a good copy while you can. hope this helps and:Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency

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