Cleaning Negatives-Help needed

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

I have read somewhere and I am not sure if it was here or there Very Happy

That you can use soapy water to clean Negatives.
I have just had a whole batch of Negatives scanned onto disc and to my horror some have marks on them,looks like something liquid has stuck to them.
Has anyone had experience on cleaning negatives ....I am hoping it is removable Confused

Here's the result from the scan,as you can see for me they are worth trying to keep memories and history of what lake Taupo looked like.I will add some undamaged ones to my other NZ post when I find it,I had a light leak in the Yashica Minister D at the time but did not know it.The film is a flimsy looking kodak Gold(GA) 100.
Thanks for any advice.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

Mo, you can certainly rinse negatives again. I wouldn't know about using soap on them, but I should think a very weak detergent or better still the proper wetting agent would be fine. I wouldn't wipe them though, the wetting softens the emulsion a little and it's easily scratched. I could show you some samples if you want! Smile

I sometimes get rings of limescale where I've missed wiping off the tap water I used for rinsing, but a dip and shake in distilled water gets it off.

Are you sure those are marks on the pictures? When I first saw them I thought maybe they were reflections on the plane window. They reminded me of the pictures I took at the top of Sydney tower with reflections of my shirt on the glass:

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

They do look like they have had something spilt or stuck on them as you can see it when you look at the neg.....like a water mark.
So if I wet them how would the "stuff" marks come off the neg without wiping? I don't have access to a wetting agent.
They are the flimsiest of the negatives that I have, very fine and thin not like most of my negatives which are quite stiff.

Nice photo of darling harbor and the Anzac bridge in the background.

peterqd · Expire: 2014-01-04

I bet a million people at least have taken that shot! Smile

To tell the truth Mo, I've never tried wiping wet negatives so I'm not sure what to tell you. I've certainly damaged emulsion when I touched it too early before it hardened.

Instead of wetting agent you can use a drop of detergent. I do mean a single tiny drop in a litre of water.

Here's an idea - are there any negs on that film you don't mind risking? You could snip them off and try wetting and wiping them separately to find out whether the valuable shots would be damaged. I think I'd use a soft chamois leather.

unclemack · Joined: 21 Jun 2009 Posts: 51 Location: UK frozen north

I have somewhere an old book which recommends "de-natured alcohol" for cleaning negs because it doesn't soften emulsions.
A pharmacist acquaintance told me this was an old term for isopropyl alcohol.
I bought some but haven't needed to use it so try it at your own risk.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Well I've used liquid washing up soap and warm water and fingers to clean negs (gently of course) and then wetting agent in a final rinse before hanging up to dry......after drying any spots on the hard shiny side I huff and polish with a clean hanky.

indianadinos · Expire: 2011-12-05

Hi,

When i was shooting films, i was using some distilled water and my fingers to clean watermarks (the tap water was quite rich in limestone (?) where i lived) ...

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

I live in a hard water area so I get streaks all the time with tap water. Washing in distilled water combats this so buy a bottle and try it. I get mine from a dehumifier.

I find wetting agent leaves streaks.

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

When I used to develop B&W I had a special pair of tongs with rubber blades inside them which you just slid down the neg to get excess water off. It didn't scratch (but this was B&W).
A trained news photographer I used to work with gripped negs between his first and second finger and slid his fingers all the way down them to wipe them. I guess fingers don't have grit on them, either.
I've never tried it with colour or with re-wetted negs but I don't see why it wouldn't work. No point if those are reflections, though.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

womble · Joined: 28 Sep 2009 Posts: 987 Location: Hertfordshire

To clean negatives use PEC-12 Archival Photographic Emulsion Cleaner. It is expensive, but you only need a tiny squirt on a lint-free tissue so it lasts for ages.

One warning, if you are using it to clean slides where you have written things on the mount, it can take the writing off and you can end up smearing ink on your slide.

Best wishes, Kris.