Digital BW, The Print

I have some old B&W negatives that I have tried to clean with the 
usual method( de-linting cloth and air gun) , but they just don't 
want to come clean . Despite all efforts, the scans of these old 
negatives have too much junk on them to be useful.Is there anything 
else that can be done to clean these old negatives up? Any safe fluid 
they can be dipped in ???

If you still have any darkroom equipment, you could try washing them again.
You can take even a small strip of negs and place it into a developing reel
so that it can be washed again, and then use a wetting agent at the end.  If
the dust is really embedded, it may be the only way to get the negs clean
without scratching them.

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

--- 
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