Cleaning Negatives before Scanning

[madasi]

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Hi all,

 

I would like to hear about your practices and get some advice from you regarding the way I clean my negatives before scanning them.

Most of my negatives (both color and B&W) are returned to me from the lab with visible stains of water on the film. Probably they don't do the drying correctly and on top of that the water in my city is very hard (lots of calcium and magnesium). If I scan them as is I get quite large white circles.

Recently I have tried to use a glass cleaning cloth and I wash it with a bit of liquid soap. Then I use this wet cloth to clean the top surface of the film (the one that is glossy). This way I have noticed that I can remove the white deposits (water marks) on the film. I wait a few seconds for the film to dry and then scan it.

 

Question 1: How do you guys proceed with your stained negatives?

 

Question 2: Do you think that by proceeding the way I do I am potentially harming my negatives for the long term?

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

Jo

[Michael Hiles]

Happens only rarely, but when it does I proceed much like you do. Damp cloth, negatives emulsion down on a soft and dry surface, and gentle wiping.

 

no obvious reason to suspect any long term adverse effects on the negatives.

 

Sounds like your lab has a few things to learn. There is no excuse for water marks on negatives, in my experience. You can do your own negatives very simply, achieve more control, and save a bit of money. And have a bit of fun.

[earleygallery]

I'd complain to the lab, or find another one.

 

Failing that, ask them to return your negatives as a roll (i.e. uncut) and re-wash them yourself, using distilled water and a wetting agent.

[madasi]

Thanks Michael and James.

 

Labs here in China where I currently live are quite cheap (3 to 4$ per roll to develop) but the quality is not always that good (scracthes, water marks, etc.).

[topoxforddoc]

I use Pecpads with a mix of distilled water (4 parts) to 1 part Isopropyl alcohol with a couple of drops of wetting agent per litre of mix. I use this mix to clan my LPs, but also use it to clean my negs. It dries very quickly due to the alcohol and hence doesn’t swell the emulsion too much.

 

Charlie

[madasi]

Thanks Charlie.

[madasi]

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Thank you very much Charlie.

[tobey bilek]

Take care with C41 or E6 as it has a stabilizer as last step which you do not want to wash out. Spots normally form on base side only so a wash out there is of no consequence.

[rpopescu]

Thanks Michael and James.

Labs here in China where I currently live are quite cheap (3 to 4$ per roll to develop) but the quality is not always that good (scracthes, water marks, etc.).

 

4$ is 3 EUR; the Beijing area has an average monthly income of 570 EUR (the highest of the entire country).

 

In Netherlands for example you can get a roll developed at a convenience store like Hema for 2.95 EUR (not scratched and without stains); the country's average income is about 2000 EUR monthly.

 

Quite cheap you said?!

[philipus]

Here in the NL you can also go to photo/camera shops and pay much more than 2,95€ a roll. I was quoted 7,95€ by a Fuji shop once. The more regular prices are closer to 5€ for colour negative film, not counting any extra costs for push processing for instance. Chromes and B/W are often more (I've had rolls returned from Hema with spots and scratches, btw. Plus what annoys me with their development is that they always cut the film in 4-frame strips).

 

In any event, I don't think the OP was making the point that it was cheap on the basis of a wider economical scale. I suspect, but would be happy to be corrected by the OP, that he meant it wasn't expensive to him.