Water-damaged 35mm color negs: how to save?
Perry White
My filing cabinet of film jobs was drenched. Stored in plastic file
envelopes, most films remained dry. But a few rolls of 35mm color
negs did get wet.
The wetted negs are all recently processed & sleeved by one-hour labs,
so they're in typical 4-frame accordioned plastic sleeving. Each
strip got a teaspoon of water unevenly across its emulsion.
I pulled all the films carefully from their sleeves and laid them
emulsion up on lintfree toweling to dry the night. The emulsions
still show demarcation where each was wet yesterday, and I assume this
will affect printing or scanning.
Can they be saved? Perhaps rewetted with distilled h2o & Photo-FLo
then hung to dry as I would hang newly developed film?
These are negs from still-active jobs, so it is worth time & money to
me to save them.
TIA!
Perry White
What in thundering tarnation?!?!?
(and don't call me "Chief")
fros...@my-deja.com
Like you, I dried them first. The water damage was obvious. Then I
totally immersed strips in water overnight and squeegeed dry in the
morning. The water marks persisted but were better than before. A
second batch discovered later were never dried but immersed overnight
while still wet from the accident. Having never examined them before
the accident I can't speak for any actual degradation but theses did
have the appearance of never having been damaged at all.
I would assume there would have been some actual degradation, but
the "keep them wet" version of the process certainly did work better
than drying first.
Good luck.
In article <3960a67...@news.earthlink.net>,
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Before you buy.
fros...@my-deja.com
drying were NOT taken out of the plastic sleeves until the next
morning. I was thinking the wet/dry "interface" of film against
plastic within the sleeves maybe should not be disturbed. In the
morning I sort of "floated" the film stips out of the sleeves while
still immersed.
In article <8jqc1m$m55$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>,
JW
Joseph Meehan
If you have hard water, get some distilled water. If possible get some
photo wetting agent (like Photoflow) else use just the water. Soak the
negatives in that (room temp) for say 5-10 minutes. Squeegee the negatives
between your fingers and hang the negatives by one of the holes so it is not
touching anything. You may need to do only one or two at a time. Make sure
you hang them in a clean (dust free) area.
If they are really valuable, take them to someone who does their own
processing (someone at the camera store should know who) and ask them for
their help. The one hour place will not have any facilities to help you
out, their equipment is not going to work with long strips.
Depending on the condition of the film, you might get by with something
like wiping them down with a good clean chamois.
--
Dia's Muire duit
Joe M
Ukifah Heef
I've done this for a few water damaged negs, and while it can be tedious,
it's worth it to save some shots. Plus, digital ICE can work wonders.
"Perry White" <perry...@thedailyplanet.com> wrote in message
news:3960a67...@news.earthlink.net...
Rob H
The final bath of colour neg process is a stabilizer bath.
The wetting agent (eg Photoflo) component is to reduce the surface tension
of the water and thereby minimize formation of drying marks on the film's
emulsion side, but too much concentration will cause scummy marks on the
film's base side.
Unless the films have been SOAKED, you won't need any formalin as the
magenta dye had already been stabilized. (If soaked a couple of drops will
stop any fading).
What we do in our lab in these cases is completely re-process the film(s).
All the silver has already been removed, there's only the dyes left, so you
can't "hurt" it. It's safer for handling & less messy. The dev is very
alkaline and helps swell the emulsion, then it runs thru the other
chemicals, the stabilizer and dryer. Maybe your local lab may help you? The
film won't activate automatic replenishment systems (no silver).
regards,
Rob Hutchinson
Manager
Digital Products & QC
EXTRAFILM
53-57 Ferry Rd
Southport
QLD 4215
Australia
visit our web-site
www.extrafilm.com.au
Bryan Bowley
drying. It can be fixed if you have the resources nearby. The film
should be run through a complete C41 process. The reason is that the
emulsion needs to be softened to allow even drying. only the developer
will do this. You can rewash the film but the drying marks will remain.
The sooner you do this the better chance you have of fixing the problem.
Bryan Bowley
www.phxcolor.com
Bryan Bowley
Bryan Bowley
www.phxcolor.com
JW wrote:
> Wouldn't you use water + a few percent formaldehyde?
>
Robert L. Vervoordt
bath that does the work The others have some contribution as well, so
don't skip them.
It has worked for me.
On Wed, 19 Jul 2000 04:04:32 GMT, Bryan Bowley <bbo...@goodnet.com>
wrote:
>You might have a problem with your film. What you have is differential
>drying. It can be fixed if you have the resources nearby. The film
>should be run through a complete C41 process. The reason is that the
>emulsion needs to be softened to allow even drying. only the developer
>will do this. You can rewash the film but the drying marks will remain.
>The sooner you do this the better chance you have of fixing the problem.
>Bryan Bowley
>www.phxcolor.com
>
>Perry White wrote:
>
>> Last night during heavy rains, the roof leaked & the ceiling erupted.
>> My filing cabinet of film jobs was drenched. Stored in plastic file
>> envelopes, most films remained dry. But a few rolls of 35mm color
>> negs did get wet.
>>
>> The wetted negs are all recently processed & sleeved by one-hour labs,
>> so they're in typical 4-frame accordioned plastic sleeving. Each
>> strip got a teaspoon of water unevenly across its emulsion.
>>
>> I pulled all the films carefully from their sleeves and laid them
>> emulsion up on lintfree toweling to dry the night. The emulsions
>> still show demarcation where each was wet yesterday, and I assume this
>> will affect printing or scanning.
>>
>> Can they be saved? Perhaps rewetted with distilled h2o & Photo-FLo
>> then hung to dry as I would hang newly developed film?
>>
>> These are negs from still-active jobs, so it is worth time & money to
>> me to save them.
>>
>> TIA!
>>
>> Perry White
>>
>> What in thundering tarnation?!?!?
>>
>> (and don't call me "Chief")
>
Robert L. Vervoordt
<rl...@mindspring.com>
Tony Spadaro
Perry White wrote:
> Last night during heavy rains, the roof leaked & the ceiling erupted.
> My filing cabinet of film jobs was drenched. Stored in plastic file
> envelopes, most films remained dry. But a few rolls of 35mm color
> negs did get wet.
>
> The wetted negs are all recently processed & sleeved by one-hour labs,
> so they're in typical 4-frame accordioned plastic sleeving. Each
> strip got a teaspoon of water unevenly across its emulsion.
>
> I pulled all the films carefully from their sleeves and laid them
> emulsion up on lintfree toweling to dry the night. The emulsions
> still show demarcation where each was wet yesterday, and I assume this
> will affect printing or scanning.
>
> Can they be saved? Perhaps rewetted with distilled h2o & Photo-FLo
> then hung to dry as I would hang newly developed film?
>
> These are negs from still-active jobs, so it is worth time & money to
> me to save them.
>
> TIA!
>
> Perry White
>
> What in thundering tarnation?!?!?
>
> (and don't call me "Chief")
>
>
things go wrong.
Try soaking one piece of film with less important negatives in
distilled water with some LFN (or other wetting agent) in it. Go with
the recommended dosage - about 2 drops per pint. Let it sit for 10
minutes or more and then hang to dry with weight at the bottom. I use a
wire through the sproket holes.
If this does not work. You may have to buy a C41 kit, and (I'm stuck
for a phrase here) re-process the film - The developer will soften the
emulsion. You need some of the other steps but I'm not sure which ones.
I'm almost certain the process is on the kodak website.
I've never done it personally but was in contact with a man who was
doing it for people who got flooded last year. I have probably long
since lost his email address, but if I can find it I will email it to
you directly.
Good luck. I've lost negatives to floods a couple times. I truly
sympathise.
--
Photo restoration in peaceful Chapel Hill NC
http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/magor/tony
New: Selecting Your First SLR & The Grey Card Walk
The Teleconverter Page & The Night Gallery
Richard Knight
crud from the machine rollers being deposited on the negatives. We rewash
and dry with a hair dryer (with no additional chemicals) and have found no
problems whatsoever (as long as the emulsion isn't harmed by the
crystallization). If your water supply has problems you may want to use
distilled water.
Richard
--
Email at the above address or theblind...@hotmail.com .
It has taken me a lifetime to recognize when I should NOT feel obligated to
make a photograph (Ansel Adams).
Tony Spadaro <t__sp...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
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