Gary Critcher bought some 1960s’ B&W 35mm negs but they all needed a bit of a clean before a proper scan, and he asked what would be the best way to do that?
There were, of course, many suggestions. But what may be of interest to Tech Ops history are the following suggestions!
Nick Ware
Those marks that look like micro hairs should wipe off easily. The way I do that is to run the neg strips gently through two clean fingers before placing in the scanner: clean dry hands. Low static and no fabric fibres left behind. That should wipe away the worst.
But I guess some people’s hands are greasier and sweatier than others!
And bear in mind, once scanned the neg is probably going to be scrapped.
Keith Wicks
Actually, grease and bare hands are not always the enemies of old film. Long ago, in pre-digital days, some photographers used grease to stop scratches on negatives appearing on prints. They would rub a finger down the side of their nose to pick up a little natural grease. Then they would gently smear this over the scratch on the negative. The grease had the same refractive index as the film emulsion, so it made an effective temporary repair and the scratch would not appear on the enlarger’s projected image. I tried this once myself and it worked perfectly. I don’t remember much about it now, but I imagine it works only on very light areas of the negative.
I think Don Smith told me of this when I visited his darkroom in the late 1960s. In those days, I was using 2¼" square negatives. I wouldn’t like to try it on smaller sizes.
Tony Briselden
And if in the past a scratched print of an old cinema film was copied because there was no negative, you asked for a wet gate copy which did the same thing as mentioned about nose grease.
Roger Long
Spezal Fat – nose grease. This was marketed by Arriflex, very useful for movie camera mechs, all the assistants had them in their Billinghams in Film Department.
Goodness knows where it was harvested from, but it’s very effective in many bizarre situations, much like Balistoil, a miracle gun cleaner and antiseptic, made to WW1 German spec for a gun oil that also could be used on wounds.
It’s made from Anthracite.
Spezal Fat is great for seating tiny screws.
Barry Bonner
Actual nose grease was great for cleaning the studs on BBC rotary faders!
Geoff Fletcher
I find that old monochrome negs frequently exhibit an apparent increase in grain size as the emulsion has decayed with age, while with colour transparencies and negs the colours change -a blue cast for example – or else fade away altogether. However, I am constantly surprised at how much can be recovered, given time and a bit of patience. I have frames dating from the 1950s which I have successfully restored.
I am not sure about running the strips through your bare fingers – this could deposit a layer of grease n the negs.
I would avoid the use of fluids personally but there must be something usable I guess. What do they use when cleaning and restoring old film stock – something alcohol based?
Graeme Wall
I’ve been give a bottle of film cleaner but I haven’t yet used it. Might try it out on some redundant slides to see what happens.
Dave Plowman
Inhibisol? Had a habit of melting some plastics. The later AF spray is safer. But I’d not use it on film.
I’m no expert on film, but isn’t it rinsed with water during processing? So it should be safe to rinse with distilled water?
Pat Heigham
I used to use a proprietary film cleaner on my cine films – not carbon tet as that dries out the emulsion and can make the film brittle. One needed a fluid that provided a bit of lubrication for the film transported through a projector.
