I Need a Negative/Slide Cleaner

[raid]

I used to have a Kodak fluid for cleaning negatives and slides. It would easily remove even sticky material from slides and negatives. Where can I get such a cleaner these days? What do you use to clean negatives if dirty with sticky material?


Raid

 

[Patman]

For the past 30 years i've been using alcohol, works great and never had any problems with it.

 

[DCourter]

PEC-12 Photographic Emulsioin Cleaner works great and is available at any good photo supply store or on-line - B&H, Adorama etc.

 

[raid]

Patman and DCourter: Alcohol did not work for me. I tried today removing residue from a the glue of a transparent tape that somehow was stuck to a slide. Maybe the PEC-12 Photographic Emulsioin Cleaner will be better.
Thanks.

Raid

 

[Ronald M]

Goo-gone is an adhesive solvent. More active is tolulene.

Restabilize if you use on the emulsion

 

[Kat]

What if two negs or more are stuck together? What's the best way to unstick them without ruining their glossy coating?

And if I forced them apart, is there any way to salvage them, or are they ruined forever?

 

[dmr]

Patman and DCourter: Alcohol did not work for me. I tried today removing residue from a the glue of a transparent tape that somehow was stuck to a slide. Maybe the PEC-12 Photographic Emulsioin Cleaner will be better.
Thanks.

I've had good luck with the following methods, kind of in the order of severity here:

1. Filtered H2O on a Q-tip.

2. 91% isopropyl alcohol (not the weaker rubbing alcohol). This seems to work on fingerprints, even those that have been on the negative for a long time.

3. Delta C-100 Total Emulsion Cleaner. I got this off the shelf at a local photo shop. I'm sure other similarly-named products are more or less the same as this. Too much of it and you get a whitish residue which comes off with H2O on a Q-tip. My guess is that this will dissolve tape goo. It has a very typical solvent smell.

 

[raid]

dmr: H2O=water. You don't mean a different product, do you?

Raid

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

PEC-12 Photographic Emulsioin Cleaner works great and is available at any good photo supply store or on-line - B&H, Adorama etc.

I agree. I use it on some really bad cases, and it works well. You have to learn how to use it well; it's not a magic bullet all by itself.

 

[dmr]

dmr: H2O=water. You don't mean a different product, do you?

Yes, H2O=water, aqua, clear wet stuff, dihydrogen monoxide, wawa. 🙂

More specifically I mean reasonably pure and clean water, such as the filtered bottled water out of the machine at work or that generic purified gallon jug water from the supermarket. I would think that's about the safest solvent there is to use on film.