Negatives.

Dave Colangelo · Mar 22, 2018

The odd things I have done for people here and there I have held on to the negatives (this is all recently) not because of contracts or anything but because its becoming harder and harder to do anything with a negative. I have a scanner and give them scans, they can take the scans and go get prints made if they like. None of the labs around me do any true enlarging any more so they would just end up paying for scans again to have them printed.

I know this was historically a big thing as the sale of prints was big business.

jcdeboever · Mar 22, 2018

I am the keeper of the negative and the raw

OldManJim · Mar 23, 2018

When I was shooting weddings, I had a contract that provided the RAW files to the happy couple. then they could print what they wanted in the sizes they wanted. Saved me a lot of hassle, saved them the worry of losing access to their images in 20 or 30 years. Of course, I charged for this but I found that after the initial wedding package, there was almost no demand for follow on prints. At the time, I was unique in my area and this additional "wrinkle" brought in a lot of business. Nowadays, I think more folks do this so it isn't so unique.

Christie Photo · Mar 23, 2018

I keep them. Well... at least I DID.

I think it depends on the level of service you want to provide. In many (if not all cases), you're not doing your clients any favors by delivering the film... especially in this day and age. What are they gonna do with 'em? And, if you using professional size film it will be quite a challenge for a laymen to have prints made.

As stated, keeping them on file is an additional task. Depending on the amount of work you do, you'll need physical space suited for storage and some sort of retrieval system. In my experience, after the first year or so, you won't get much (if any) in the way of re-orders.

The reason I say I "did" keep mine is I moved my office after 34 years. It was REALLY tough for me to decide, but I ended up destroying all the negative files rather than moving them.

Good luck!
-Pete