Old Ektachrome slides have the measles! Unusual dots!

[photo1000]

Has anybody ever seen dots all over their Ekatchrome slides? I am scanning slides from 1991-1992 and many of them are peppered with dots that appear as a light brown color on my scans. I am horrified. I am scanning with an Epson V700 using Epson Software. Dust removal does not work. Digital ICE removes dots but only only partially. They do not rub off with water, alcohol or brute force. My Kodachromes from the same vacation are beautiful.

I have found very little info for what caused them but more importantly what is the possible solution? Any info will be greatly appreciated! I have included a link to show you an example.

Thanks from a new member.

http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/bb346/photo1000_0/Ektachrome slide with dots/GlacierTalk006.jpg

 

[sepiareverb]

My first guess would be poor washing, but that's a stab in the dark.

Lots of color chemistry is that color, and developer turns that color, that's why I'm guessing chemistry contamination.

How have they been stored?


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[photo1000]

I stored them "safely" in Kodak Carousels in a mostly dry cool place for most of their life away from bathrooms and sinks etc. They are otherwise amazing free of mold and are not faded. I also agree that it is most likely caused by improper washing and/or a precipitation reaction.

I am very curious to see how common this problem is (I don't think very) and if there is a solution to this problem either as some cleaning procedure or some software fix. Oh yeah, I even tried freezing the dots off to no avail.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Keith]

I scanned some Ektachrome slides for a friend a while ago and found the same thing ... a lot of them were very spotty! The other stuff she had was fine.

 

[Mister E]

Looks like a fungus.

 

[photo1000]

I've looked at these dots/spots under a microscope at high magnification and have ruled out fungus for several reasons. They look more like crystals that perhaps have precipitated out of one of the layers.

 

[photo1000]

I scanned some Ektachrome slides for a friend a while ago and found the same thing ... a lot of them were very spotty! The Kodak stuff she had was fine.

Were you able to eliminate these spots from the scanned photo and if you did could you please describe how?

 

[Keith]

Were you able to eliminate these spots from the scanned photo and if you did could you please describe how?

For the slides that were really important (not too many luckily) I manually cloned them out. My head hurts just thinking about it now! Luckily only a percentage of them were affected.

In hind sight I wouldn't do it again but she was a friend.

 

[pagpow]

Kodak used to have a response for this. My father contacted them when he discovered spots on some of his slides years ago. At that time they offered to do the cleaning. Don't know with all the shifts away from film, whether Kodak has maintained any facility in this area. You might give them a call.

Giorgio

 

[DNG]

I have scanning a ton of Kodachrome's and Ektachrome's, from the 1960's on, and I have not seen this at all. I have found some spots -- spider like-- (mold I think), but not that much density. My Dad stored them in Carousels also, in air conditioned areas most of their life.

Can it be cleaned, as suggested by pagpow?

 

[photo1000]

Kodak used to have a response for this. My father contacted them when he discovered spots on some of his slides years ago. At that time they offered to do the cleaning. Don't know with all the shifts away from film, whether Kodak has maintained any facility in this area. You might give them a call.

Giorgio

I didn't think anybody would respond to me but Kodak has asked me to send their lab a few slides with the dots/spots for analysis. Anyway, thanks, I never thought to contact Kodak! At least it's a start and maybe they'll have a solution.

 

[Zorkiiglaza]

I have seen this on some Kodak sides I took back in the early 80's in Alaska. I scanned a few but there are so so many tiny dots it would be impossible to clone them out- thousands on each slide. I thought it was from poor storage in a carousel here in central Virginia. I never thought it could be chemical. Luckily, I don't have this promblem on any others. i will go back and look at the processing batch number and see if they are all from the same batch. Pity great slides of Eskimos butchering walruses.

 

[Keith]

Interestingly the slides I scanned, which were generally in very poor condition, had also been stored all their life in a carousel.

 

[Zorkiiglaza]

Keith
I wondered about that also.
I inherited slides taken in the Canadian Rockies and in Mexico in the 1940's all in perfect condition. All in their original boxes from Kodak. Obviously projected once or twice and the back into storage. But what would you expect of a Kodak engineer who took these slides.

 

[pagpow]

I didn't think anybody would respond to me but Kodak has asked me to send their lab a few slides with the dots/spots for analysis. Anyway, thanks, I never thought to contact Kodak! At least it's a start and maybe they'll have a solution.

Let us know the results.

Giorgio