Name Film Rescans Without Losing the Negative Identity

A rescan is a new digital capture of an existing negative. Giving it a new file identity should not make the physical negative harder to find.

Use two identities

Assign a stable negative ID such as R014-F18, then a separate scan label such as A or B. Keep the actual edge label in its own field, especially when half frames, blank frames or a lab's omitted images make a simple numeric sequence unreliable.

A manifest might connect lab_018.jpg to R014-F18, scan A, and rescan_018.jpg to the same negative, scan B. A print-ready derivative can then name scan B as its parent. You do not have to rename existing files to establish those relationships.

Review before copying names

Check the first and last image on each strip against the physical sleeve. If a frame is missing from the scan set, leave a gap in the mapping. Never shift every following frame just to make the file count match. Give uncertain mappings an explicit review status.

A 2026 discussion about digitization filenames asks how two scans of the same negative can retain both shared identity and a distinct version. That is the problem this worksheet addresses.

Keep the ledger portable

Use columns for negative ID, physical label, source filename, scan date, version, parent version and review status. Export a CSV alongside your existing backups. The ledger is not a backup of the image files.

FrameLedger is a planned local browser version of this workflow at $29 one-time. Existing tools such as Pellica already offer scan matching and exports; test them before adding another system.