Old Negs

gilpen123

gilpen123

Gil
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Sep 8, 2008
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Recently we had a general cleaning of our ancestral house and I stumbled upon some of the negs I shot long time ago (20-30 years back) which have molds and most of them already stuck together. Is there a way to salvage them? I would imagine most of them are crappy pictures but I do remember there were some good ones but will have to clean them and try to see thru a lightbox those that are worth keeping.
 
I have cleaned and released stuck negs by soaking them in water with a wetting agent such as photo-flo.

I'd try one or two to see if it works for you..
 
Thanks I don't have photo flo here but will try to use the dish washing agent diluted with water which i use for film developing.
 
Al Kaplan said:
You should be able to soak them apart, but it might take time for the water to work its way all the way between the negatives. Lately I've been going through my files of negatives and contact sheets from the 1960's. There are a lot of memories there!

http://thepriceofsilver.blogspot.com
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Oh yes, my old negative are good: in those 'print files' and living in a semi-arid area. But it is great to see the memories. Besides the art that all of us aspire to, memories are a wonderful side bar.
 
I'll try and soak in water with some dish washing liquid. I hope I can salvage some good ones. Maybe for a day or two?
 
If you do have contact sheets it's amazing how good they can look if you scan the sheets, and then blow up selected frames to 4x6 or 5x7, certainly good enough for family pictures. I've been doing that on my blog.
 
gilpen123 said:
I'll try and soak in water with some dish washing liquid. I hope I can salvage some good ones. Maybe for a day or two?
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Gil, after two days, you may find the emulsion has already lifted from the film base. Our local climate is too warm to safely soak negatives for two days. Dishwashing liquid can accelerate that process.

Most molding and growth can not be satisfactorily removed without leaving marks. Those on the base side might be removed, but those which grew (note, past tense, since what you see now will usually be dead organisms or what's left of them, or what they left behind) will leave marks and scars.

An old negative which you are able to clean of whatever's stuck on them will be scarred- tiny lines and cracks which resulted from the organism eating through the emulsion- will be there.

Try not to wash or soak the negatives for no more than an hour. Anything you can't remove after that is probably part of the negative already or better left there because further cleaning will cause worse damage.

You're better off preserving the negatives as is, if what they contain is important, and live with the scars. The picture will be there, but slightly marred of course. Digital clean up can be a better solution.
 
I second what Zorkikat sez! Do not soak them for days. Wash them with mild agitation in distilled water for just as long as it takes to get them apart, and any foreign matter to come off. The mold that is growing in the gelatin is there to stay. Your best bet is to scan them and fix them in photoshop, after drying them.
 
Thanks Jay and Chris, I'll try that. Those are hundreds of negs in several boxes and I don't even know if I get lucky to salvage some of them. I'll take a look again when I visit our old house.
 
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