Formats

Every format, from tintypes to disposables

12 formats, each with the years it was in use, how it fails and the pass that suits it. Scan or photograph the original flat, then start.

Polaroid

1948 onward, integral film from 1972

A Polaroid is an instant print developed inside its own pod of chemistry, with the familiar white frame on SX-70, 600 and Spectra film. Peel-apart pack film came first, in 1963, and the integral print with nothing to peel arrived in 1972.

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Tintype

1856 to about 1900, with fairground use into the 1930s

A tintype is a direct positive on a thin sheet of lacquered iron, cheap, quick and tough enough to mail home. Most Civil War soldier portraits and a great many fairground pictures were made this way.

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Daguerreotype

1839 to about 1860

A daguerreotype is the first practical photograph: a mirror-polished silvered copper plate sealed under glass in a hinged case. Each one is unique, with no negative behind it.

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Ambrotype

1854 to about 1865

An ambrotype is a collodion negative on glass backed with black varnish, paper or cloth so that it reads as a positive. It was cased like a daguerreotype but without the mirror shine, and it was cheaper.

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Cabinet Card

1866 to about 1914

A cabinet card is an albumen print mounted on a stiff card with the studio name printed under the image, made to stand in the parlour cabinet. It replaced the smaller carte de visite as the standard studio portrait.

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Carte de Visite

1854 to about 1880

A carte de visite is a small albumen print on a calling-card mount, traded and collected in albums by the dozen. It is the most common Victorian portrait and often the only picture of a person born before 1850.

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35mm Slide

1936 to about 2005

A 35mm slide is a positive transparency in a 2 x 2 in cardboard or plastic mount, projected on the living-room wall and stored in carousels and shoeboxes. It has to be backlit to be seen at all.

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Color Negative

1942 onward

A color negative is the orange-masked strip that came back from the lab with the prints, and it is the master copy of every drugstore photo since the 1950s. Because it is inverted and masked, the restoration tools need it scanned as a positive first.

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Yearbook

1880s onward

A yearbook photo is a halftone-printed page: the studio portrait was screened into a grid of dots for the press. For many school photos the printed page is the only copy that survives.

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Newspaper Clipping

1880s onward

A newspaper clipping is a wedding announcement, an obituary or a team photo cut from the local paper and kept in a Bible or a drawer. The picture on it is a coarse halftone on the cheapest paper ever made.

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Photo Booth Strip

1925 onward

A photo booth strip is four small frames on a single strip from a coin-operated booth, printed on direct-positive paper in a few minutes. There is no negative; the strip is the whole record.

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110 and Disposable Camera Prints

1972 to about 2005

110 and disposable camera prints are the small drugstore prints from pocket cartridge cameras and single-use cameras: a plastic lens, a tiny negative and one-hour lab paper. They are the most numerous prints in most families and the least sharp.

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The formats at a glance
Format	In use	How it fails
Polaroid	1948 onward, integral film from 1972	The dyes shift toward yellow, orange or green, the image goes soft, and the chemistry pod at the bottom edge leaves cracks and blotches; peel-apart prints fade fastest of all.
Tintype	1856 to about 1900, with fairground use into the 1930s	The lacquer crazes, the plate rusts inward from the edges, the varnish yellows and any bend leaves a permanent crease in the metal.
Daguerreotype	1839 to about 1860	Tarnish creeps in from the edges as a blue-brown halo, the cover glass weeps and etches, and the image appears or vanishes depending on the angle you hold it at.
Ambrotype	1854 to about 1865	The black backing flakes and lets light through as bright patches, the collodion peels away from the glass, and the glass itself cracks.
Cabinet Card	1866 to about 1914	The albumen yellows and cracks in a fine web, the image fades to pale brown, the card corners soften and the mount goes brittle enough to snap.
Carte de Visite	1854 to about 1880	The prints fade to a pale yellow-brown, the corners are rubbed away by album slots and the thin card curls and delaminates.
35mm Slide	1936 to about 2005	Ektachrome and other E-6 films drift red or magenta, Kodachrome holds its color but scratches and grows fungus, and the mounts warp and pinch the film.
Color Negative	1942 onward	The dyes fade unevenly so the orange mask no longer inverts cleanly, the strips scratch and curl, and the paper sleeves stick to the emulsion.
Yearbook	1880s onward	The dot screen turns to moire when scanned, the paper yellows and foxes, ink bleeds into the page and the spine crushes the inner margin.
Newspaper Clipping	1880s onward	Newsprint is acidic and turns brown and brittle within decades, the halftone dots dominate at close range and the ink transfers to whatever touches it.
Photo Booth Strip	1925 onward	The strips were carried in wallets and purses, so they crease across the frames, the silver surface yellows and mirrors, and the edges fray.
110 and Disposable Camera Prints	1972 to about 2005	The prints are soft and grainy from the start, the lab paper shifts toward magenta or cyan, flash red-eye is routine and the date stamp burns into the corner.