Washing slides

"" wrote in
news::

I’ve got some Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides that are really old and dusty due to improper storage. I’ve used canned air and the PEC-12 cleaning fluid method and still end up spending hours cloning out crap in Photoshop which is a huge amount of time for one slide.
Has anyone ever removed a slide from the mount and washed it in water taking care not to scratch it? You can then dry it with a soft cotton cloth and maybe blow dry it to prevent water marks. After that remount it in a new mount. Maybe this topic has been discussed before but I’ve never seen it and would like to know if someone else has done it before.

PEC-12 doesn’t work on water-based gunk. It’s great for removing skin oils, but doesn’t handle cat saliva very well (don’t ask).

Soaking for a short while in distilled water, room temp, with a bit of Photo-Flo or any other ‘wetting agent’ (this is a common darkroom chemical available at any well-stocked photo shop), will do wonders unless the emulsion is damaged. If the emulsion has been damaged by degradation from the gunk, or fungus, there isn’t a whole lot you can do.

The longer the soak, the softer the emulsion may get, so don’t go any longer than an hour and handle gently. Stubborn gunk can be shifted with gentle pressure from a cotton ball or *soft* cotton swab (make sure they’re clean!) while the film is submerged. Swish it around afterwards to dislodge any fibers that might remain. Once the film dries, it will stick dust fast to the surface.

One guide I had, long time back, suggested doing the same with developer. The image has already been ‘fixed’ and the silver removed, so this will not continue to develop the film anymore. But it softens the emulsion much faster than wetting agent, and from what I’ve seen doesn’t do a better job. Faster isn’t much use in cases like this. Plus it’s recommended that you re-fix (hardener and stabilizer) and re-rinse afterwards, which just adds more chemical steps.

With just the water and wetting agent, rinsing is okay but unnecessary – Photo-Flo is designed for the final rinse and causes a nice sheeting action that prevents spots. Do not dry with any cloth. Most times drying is unnecessary, but if you really want to get rid of excess droplets, wipe very gently with a super-clean sponge. Hang to dry in a dust-free area. Trust a hairdryer only if you know it can’t possibly be blowing dust directly onto your soft sticky film (this generally means "not at all").

Now the dirty trick. If you have degraded emulsion or scratches, you can occasionally correct it for printing or scanning by applying a little nose oil with a soft brush or cotton swab (long after the film is well- dried). It fills the gaps and almost perfectly disguises small imperfections. This is a very old darkroom techs’ trick that still works surprisingly well, though nowadays there are compounds that do the same thing. I’ve never found the nose oil trick to be insufficient, however. After printing or scanning, clean the oil off with PEC-12.

By the way, skin oils are great for starting fungus growth, as is the open air. Clean and sleeve film conscientiously.

Good luck!

– Al.

—
To reply, insert dash in address to separate G and I in the domain

"Frogiswrong" wrote in message

"Warren Sarle" wrote in message

wrote in message

snip

Washing off the stabilizer will cause the slide to deteriorate rapidly if you don’t restabilize it. Don’t try this yourself.

I think this is wrong. If the film is stabilized properly the first time

its fine.

Stabilizer isnt somthing that has to stay on the film to KEEP it stable.

Its used to fix the film, if its done right thats it.

you cant wash it off .

You are right, it won’t "come off"
On the other hand I think you were wrong recommending a hair drier earlier in this thread.
Film dries best left alone without any heat or air motion.

Stephan

wrote in message

I’ve got some Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides that are really old and dusty due to improper storage. I’ve used canned air and the PEC-12 cleaning fluid method and still end up spending hours cloning out crap in Photoshop which is a huge amount of time for one slide.
Has anyone ever removed a slide from the mount and washed it in water taking care not to scratch it? You can then dry it with a soft cotton cloth and maybe blow dry it to prevent water marks. After that remount it in a new mount. Maybe this topic has been discussed before but I’ve never seen it and would like to know if someone else has done it before.
DB

I have been cleaning slides and negatives for over 40 yrs. What I use now is a product named ETHOL from Ritz
Camera.
After washing(with a Q-tip) I dry (with Photowipes) then a short-haired brush to get in the corners and use a bulb srynge to blow off the lint. Then I store in archival slide
files.
Hope this helps.

Okay gents, thanks for your input. I’m going to try it on some slides I don’t care about and see what happens.

DB

Frogiswrong wrote:

I am not confussed at all. If you get a slide film, E-6 or CR-6 (not sure about kodachrome) that has been developed professionally and wash it in water with some wetting agent you will not wash off any fixer/stabilizer/final rinse that will cause the film to keep developing. ie when you wash a slide file you DONT need to re-fix it.

"Warren Sarle" wrote in message

"Frogiswrong" wrote in message

"Warren Sarle" wrote in message

wrote in message

snip

Washing off the stabilizer will cause the slide to deteriorate rapidly if you don’t restabilize it. Don’t try this yourself.

I think this is wrong. If the film is stabilized properly the first time

its fine.

Stabilizer isnt somthing that has to stay on the film to KEEP it stable.

Its used to fix the film, if its

done right thats it. you cant wash it off .

You are confusing B&W processing with color processing. They are very different.
Have you ever developed Ektachrome yourself?

Thanks very much Al – good info and I’ll get some Photo-Flo, maybe some nose oil and let it dry naturally.

DB

Al Denelsbeck wrote:

"" wrote in
news::

I’ve got some Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides that are really old and dusty due to improper storage. I’ve used canned air and the PEC-12 cleaning fluid method and still end up spending hours cloning out crap in Photoshop which is a huge amount of time for one slide.
Has anyone ever removed a slide from the mount and washed it in water taking care not to scratch it? You can then dry it with a soft cotton cloth and maybe blow dry it to prevent water marks. After that remount it in a new mount. Maybe this topic has been discussed before but I’ve never seen it and would like to know if someone else has done it before.

PEC-12 doesn’t work on water-based gunk. It’s great for removing skin oils, but doesn’t handle cat saliva very well (don’t ask).
Soaking for a short while in distilled water, room temp, with a bit of Photo-Flo or any other ‘wetting agent’ (this is a common darkroom chemical available at any well-stocked photo shop), will do wonders unless the emulsion is damaged. If the emulsion has been damaged by degradation from the gunk, or fungus, there isn’t a whole lot you can do.
The longer the soak, the softer the emulsion may get, so don’t go any longer than an hour and handle gently. Stubborn gunk can be shifted with gentle pressure from a cotton ball or *soft* cotton swab (make sure they’re clean!) while the film is submerged. Swish it around afterwards to dislodge any fibers that might remain. Once the film dries, it will stick dust fast to the surface.

One guide I had, long time back, suggested doing the same with developer. The image has already been ‘fixed’ and the silver removed, so this will not continue to develop the film anymore. But it softens the emulsion much faster than wetting agent, and from what I’ve seen doesn’t do a better job. Faster isn’t much use in cases like this. Plus it’s recommended that you re-fix (hardener and stabilizer) and re-rinse afterwards, which just adds more chemical steps.

With just the water and wetting agent, rinsing is okay but unnecessary – Photo-Flo is designed for the final rinse and causes a nice sheeting action that prevents spots. Do not dry with any cloth. Most times drying is unnecessary, but if you really want to get rid of excess droplets, wipe very gently with a super-clean sponge. Hang to dry in a dust-free area. Trust a hairdryer only if you know it can’t possibly be blowing dust directly onto your soft sticky film (this generally means "not at all").

Now the dirty trick. If you have degraded emulsion or scratches, you can occasionally correct it for printing or scanning by applying a little nose oil with a soft brush or cotton swab (long after the film is well- dried). It fills the gaps and almost perfectly disguises small imperfections. This is a very old darkroom techs’ trick that still works surprisingly well, though nowadays there are compounds that do the same thing. I’ve never found the nose oil trick to be insufficient, however. After printing or scanning, clean the oil off with PEC-12.
By the way, skin oils are great for starting fungus growth, as is the open air. Clean and sleeve film conscientiously.

Good luck!

– Al.

"" wrote in
news::

Thanks very much Al – good info and I’ll get some Photo-Flo, maybe some nose oil and let it dry naturally.

By the way, a small clarification, just in case – when I refer to ‘nose oil’, I mean actual oil off your nose, and not something you can buy from a photo store.

May be obvious, but I’d hate to see the sales assistants’ faces if you asked for this… ;-).

– Al.

—
To reply, insert dash in address to separate G and I in the domain