Digital BW, The Print

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Thanks a lot for the info!!






In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, HPA <tom@h...> wrote:
> Hello, I handle vintage negatives all day every day.  Before any 
treatment,
> you must know what they are made out of.  Never use the PEC film 
cleaner on
> old negatives, the majority of them it will melt the base.  Do not 
wash old
> negatives or get wet with out first trying a sample.  Edwall or 
Kodak Film
> cleaner can be used ON THE BASE SIDE ONLY on almost all old photo 
negatives.
> If you do, use a fresh tissue each time you swipe the film, because 
the
> contaminants that you remove on the first swipe will scratch the 
film if it
> is used a second time.  These miniscule scratches are hard to see 
with the
> naked eye but scan like hell.  If you have a choice of scanner and 
are
> talking about 35 or 120mm size, the diffuse light source of the 
polaroid
> give much less scratches than the condensed Nikon type of light.
> 
> First, assemble the negatives and to the best of your ability, sort 
them
> back into the original rolls (if sheets, use the notch code and 
emulsion
> quality control number).  You will want to keep the dud shots for
> experimentation.  
> 
> Test to see if they are nitrate or safety.  fast way is clipping a 
sliver
> and taking it outside to give it a burn test, if it really takes 
off it is
> Nitrate.  You can use film cleaner on both sides of Nitrate if the 
film has
> not deteriorated.  If the base appears yellow, or at all sticky, 
avoid any
> treatment.  Test the film cleaner on an edge first, and be sure it 
does not
> put pin holes in the emulsion, which is a very common problem in 
cleaning.
> 
> I would recommend turning off all automatic dust correction 
software.  It
> has a tendency to soften detail.  Generally, I spend at least an 
hour per
> image, sometimes much more, on spotting and healing.  If your 
images have
> commercial value, the effort is very worthwhile.  Many of the best 
selling
> images here are from old amateur negatives, which will blow up 
quite well to
> 13x19 Super D size if carefully processed.
> 
> Photo conservation has its own books, user groups on the internet, 
and is a
> standard course of study at a few universities.
> 
> My advise is to quit while you're ahead.  best of luck
> Tom Robinson