cleaning film for scanning

[Wouter]

So I have stacks of negatives stored for over 10 years and I bought a scanner. How can I best prepare the film for scanning ? Should I wash it, if so, with what ? Thanks for your advice, in advance.

 

[furcafe]

No washing is necessary unless the negs are dirty. I would just use a blower or lots of compressed air to remove dust before feed the film into the scanner.

 

[filmtwit]

No washing is necessary unless the negs are dirty. I would just use a blower or lots of compressed air to remove dust before feed the film into the scanner.

If you can find it, Trichloromethane is a very good film cleaner.
Perchlorethyline is a OK and not as carcinogenic as Trich is.

 

[Beemermark]

Should I wash it, if so, with what ? Thanks for your advice, in advance.

NEVER re-wash dried film. spoken from experience.

Buy a film cleaner, put a slight amount on a cotton ball, and then just swipe each film strip while putting it in the film holder. Use gloves or you'll have finder prints all over the film.

 

[freeranger]

I asked the guys at my fuji developers what they used - a car cockpit cleaning cloth...just pull the negatives through the folded-over cloth.

I tried it and it works fine. Cheap too, and they last a long time.

 

[robbeiflex]

I have an Ilford "Antistaticum" cloth that works fine and can also be used to clean lenses. Some thing as the car cockpit cleaning cloth, I'm sure, but since it says Ilford on it I'm not as likely to mis-use it to clean my car. 😉

 

[robklurfield]

I dug up one of these that I bought in the early 1980's. It's still good.

I have an Ilford "Antistaticum" cloth that works fine and can also be used to clean lenses. Some thing as the car cockpit cleaning cloth, I'm sure, but since it says Ilford on it I'm not as likely to mis-use it to clean my car. 😉