What is the cause of this crazing on 35mm slides? And what to call it...

[67mustang]

I have some old 1950s slides and I have noticed some of them have this "crazing" as seen in the photo. Not sure if that is the right terminology? It is some cracking on the surface of the film. It is only on one side of the slides. The emulsion slide I think. It can't be seen when the image is scanned or projected so I'm not sure if it is a major issue or not. Is this caused by mold or fungus? Heat? What is it called? Thanks!

 

[John 2]

From memory, film can suffer from what is known as reticulation caused by being subject to extreme temperature changes. More often than not it happened in processing the film if for instance the post development wash prior to fixing uses water that is significantly colder than the developer. I'm not sure if the same thing could happen to stored film post processing but it sounds similar.

 

[Silversnapper]

The picture isn't very clear but it looks remarkably like a fungal growth. I have had this problem with old and badly stored slides. It can be removed with isopropyl alcohol if it is not too bad but it's possible it will have eaten deep into the emulsion. If the slides are important get them scanned before they are irrecoverable.

 

[480sparky]

I vote for fungus as well.

 

[67mustang]

I am thinking it is some kind of fungus also. I have attached a photo I found on the net that is a good example of what it would look like with a close up picture. Someone had the same issue and the discussion there also concluded it is likely fungus. Bummer, but I am glad to know what it is. Thank you for the replies!

 

[webestang64]

Looks moldy oldie to me. See this at work all the time.

 

[Spirit Vision Photography]

Fungus.

 

[limr]

Fungus.

Please check the dates on threads before responding. This OP hasn't been seen since June 2022, and reviving old threads is not useful to someone who is not going to see it.

Thread is closed.