Old negs?

nealjpage · Oct 10, 2005

I've decided that I have a penchant for volunteering to do things before I understand all the steps involved. Long story short, I've got a bunch of old family negatives from what look like 120 film. They've been stored in not such a caring matter and some are very dirty. is there a safe way to clean them before I attempt to enlarge them? I know that if I ruin one it won't be a big deal since there's a whole mess of 'em. But if I ruin them all I'll have a rather large Minnesotan clan lookin' to put my head on a pike. And nobody wants that to happen. What's a guy to do?:scratch:

terri · Oct 10, 2005

Use a cleaner specifically designed for film, like FilmKleen. And use with a soft cloth and a gentle touch! There are probably other products out there, just make sure it's specified for use on film.

Once cleaned, they may still be spotted or damaged from poor storage. That's outside of your control, so I wouldn't sweat it. Just print 'em up and see how they look. I think there are actions in photoshop that try to give digital prints the aged look you might end up with. :lol:

ksmattfish · Oct 10, 2005

I would start with just using a soft brush and blowing them with air. Then try to print or scan them to see how bad it really is. Sometimes it looks worse on the neg, than what shows up in the print.

nealjpage · Oct 10, 2005

Hmm. Will do. Waiting for Arista.edu paper to be back in stock.

nealjpage · Oct 12, 2005

So, digging through a box of stuff, I came across a roll of 35mm negs that were processed (not sure when) but never cut into strips. Because of this, they're wound around themselves. I cut them apart and put them into a neg holder, but it's not helping. Should I just sandwich the film and holder between a stack of heavy books for a while? Or will that not help? Film says Kodak "Panatomic" on it, if that gives any indication of age. Thanks again.

nealjpage · Oct 13, 2005

Well, the neg carriers remind me of the nylon things I had when I was a kid to hold my baseball cards--they don't have any structural integrity on their own. I haven't tried to put them in the enlarger yet, so I'll give that a shot tomorrow when I'm at work.