Old Negative Care

[webestang64]

Or repair the scan in Photoshop. If you print these negs in the darkroom (I recommend fiber paper), using "nose grease" any left over spots/scratches can be taken care with Spot-All (and "burn-in" that sun flare). Which if skilled enough can also be used to spot touch the neg as well.

Marshall Retouching Spot-All Liquid B&W Retouching Dye (Neutral Black, 1/2 oz)

 

[sachapp464]

I have a large batch of 1920's large format negatives. They are abt 7 x 11mm. I took an insignificant one to experiment cleaning. I ran it under water and used some hand soap to clean it and rinsed it with water. After I was done I noticed that the surface of it was sticky and it seemed flimsier than before. It dried fine but has a tendency to curl. It came out just fine but the stickiness worries me. Has any one had experience with this and is it OK clean them this way? Is there a better way? Appreciate any and all comments and suggestions. Ray

Did you ever figure out the deal with the stickiness? I'm in the same boat. I have a number of medium and larger format negatives from the '00's to the 30's. They're still very pliable but they've been stored poorly and a lot of them were stuck together. So far I've been able to unstick most of them with minimal damage and thought I'd wash them to try to remove some caked on debris. I tried test-washing a negative that was way out of focus anyway, and the emulsion started to dissolve, but not only that, the base side was super sticky like there was a coating on it. I know now of course not to wash these negatives, but I'm wondering if even film cleaner would be a bad idea. What did you end up doing? Thanks!

 

[Rickbb]

Simply put, do not wash with water and soap. Use film cleaner, it's a solvent that will not "re-wet", (read that as soften), the emulsion and dries quickly.

Any handling of a water wet film will greatly increase the likely hood of damage.

If there is caked on debris and they are very stuck, they may be beyond saving. Soak in film cleaner and see what happens, but I'd totally avoid soap/water on them if at all possible.

If you have to try the soap and water, treat them like raw film being developed for the first time. Lots of rinsing, photo flo solution to reduce water spots, etc.

 

[sachapp464]

Simply put, do not wash with water and soap. Use film cleaner, it's a solvent that will not "re-wet", (read that as soften), the emulsion and dries quickly.

Any handling of a water wet film will greatly increase the likely hood of damage.

If there is caked on debris and they are very stuck, they may be beyond saving. Soak in film cleaner and see what happens, but I'd totally avoid soap/water on them if at all possible.

If you have to try the soap and water, treat them like raw film being developed for the first time. Lots of rinsing, photo flo solution to reduce water spots, etc.

Yeah, definitely not going to wash another one but I was wondering about the base side (not the emulsion) stickiness. I don't know if you're old enough to remember black and white polaroid prints, but people used to use some kind of waxy stick to treat polaroid prints. Gotta be honest I was too young to know why. I'm guessing for more permanence and gloss. But anyway, the stickiness reminded me of that. In fact one of the negatives looks like it has some very thin base-side waxy steaks. Very odd. I've never heard of or seen anything like that before. And it being the base side, not sure it makes sense, unless that's why the negatives are still very pliable and not brittle? I'm wondering if, since film cleaners are solvents, those might be a bad idea too... Wondering if anyone knows about whatever waxy/oily treatment or base-side coating these negatives may have had (they are over 100 years old) and if so, how to deal with it?

 

[Rickbb]

100 years ago they didn’t have polyester based film, it was cellulose or such. An organic base that will get sticky when wet. Another reason to avoid getting them wet.