Digital BW, The Print

Hi Seth,
My first suggestion would be to take the film to a preservationist.. (Check with a good museum in your area)..  Initially you need to know a few things.... if the mold has gotten into the emulsion or if your lucky and it's on the surface.. First step is to make the best scans you can of the film ...dry ..no wet scans.. Their are special tack rollers that are used that can lift small amounts of the mold surface if the roller pressure is adequate..and the mold cooperates. If you do this yourself the only solution that you should use with the intent of removing the mold is isopropyl alcohol 98% or better... not rubbing alcohol or similar as it has too much water in it.. (Mold will absorb water but not the alcohol) .. Their may me some new special cleaner fluids out their today for this.. if so I don't know what they are... I worked with a preservationist some years ago on a collection and I remember the "lecture" from the preservationist and the info from Kodak..  Ok if you take it on .. we used Kodak Photo Chamois.. and wore gloves  not rubber gloves.. As we worked the mold and could see that we made some headway.. we would rescan the neg.. to hopefully improve the quality of the information.. I remember a particular 4x5 that I must have scanned 10 times.. If your emulsion is actually damaged then you will never get back to a good neg.. the trick is to just go slow and improve the scan quality on the way to the end result what ever that is.
Again if they are truly special .. take them to some one that does it.. This is a not  the right place to learn how to clean or save a piece of film..  

jimbo
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: sethrus 
  To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2012 6:31 PM
  Subject: [Digital BW] Damaged Tri-X neg


    
  I JUST ran across a VERY important 2-neg strip of 6x6 Tri-X taken in 1972.

  Although it is in a sleeve (and not stuck to it, thank you!) I notice a patch of mold about the size of a dime near one edge of one frame. The other has wrinkles, but I can deal with that.

  What is the best way to remove--or at least minimize-- the mold so I can get a fairly decent scan.

  It is something I shot of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash backstage, that is why it is important.

  I want to try the least destructive first.

  Thanks to anyone with experience in this.

  Seth



  
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