Ektachrome fungus advice

I have some historic Ektachrome slides from 20 years ago that have gotten what looks like fungus on them. I

understand that this is a common occurance for slides this old. I remember that pro photo shops used to sell some

kind of solvent that was called "Slide Cleaner" or some such thing. I recently discovered (on a search here) that if

you freeze slides the funguses get sucked up to the surface of the slide in what lookes like a layer of frost and then

can be easily wiped off. Anybody try cleaning funguses off of Ektachrome? Anybody have any success? Please give

your opinions/advice. Thanks.Alex.

Anxiously awaiting a method I haven't tried yet, as I've never had success. Hope someone can give you feed back on this so I can peek in on it as well! Thanks for posting it!

I had luck with my local Pro-Lab, now out of business. They would just rewash the E-6, C-41 or B&W Negs. that would have excess dust

or a bit of fungus forming on the surface.

 

So, I'd suggest that you call some local Pro-Labs and see if they offer a film cleaning service.

Or just get some of the Kodak E-6 Final Rinse and do it yourself. It has an anti-fungal agent.

You can't reverse what the damage where the gelatin has been eaten by fungus. Getting the negatives wet won't remove the fungus, and will give it a fresh feeding of water. May be counter-productive.

 

There's no fungicide that will kill the fungus without fading the dyes. For instance, chlorine bleach kills fungus like nobody's business, but it's surely going to do a job on the fragile Ektachrome dyes as well.

 

Kodak used to give a formula for using a fungicide on B&W negatives, but the active ingredient is incredibly toxic, makes the negatives toxic, so it's definitely a "bad idea".

 

ASF's Digital ICE3 does a great job obliterating fungus when scanning. I've scanned some very nasty Ektachromes and made them quite nice with my Coolscan IV. (I did NOT dust those slides with my slide dusting brush, didn't want to contaminate it!)

Hmmm. The plot thickens.

There may be a possibility that it is not fungus. There used to be a rare problem where one of the layers in the film develops voids which happen to look like snowflakes (or fungus) on the surface. To diagnose if this is the problem, try breathing on the emulsion side, as if you are trying to fog up a glass mirror with your breath. If it is the "void" problem, the crystalline appearance should disappear temporarily because the gel in the emulsion will swell and close the voids. However, it will come back when the moisture leaves the film. I don't know a permanent cure for this condition, but you might be able to make it go away long enough to scan the image.

And don't use chlorine bleach on any photographic emulsion, film or paper: It will melt the gelatin off the base

and you'll have no image left at all! Chlorine bleach dissolves gelatin!

Try freezing the film. Take it out of the mount first, freeze it for at least an hour, then quickly wife the

surface with a cotton swab.