Cleaning Fingerprints off of Slides

I made the mistake of taking some slide to Walmart to have them

printed. I thought that I would be safe letting them handle my

processed film, but I was wrong. Not only did my prints look like

crap, but now my slides have fingerprints all over them, thankfully

just on the base side and not on the emulsion side.

 

I think that it would be in the best interest of archival preservation

to get rid of the fingerprints. How should I go about doing this?

 

By the way, this is the last time that I let them handle any of my

slides. They still do a great job on the negatives that I don't really

care that much about, but my experience just with four slides has

turned me off. From now on, I'll be scanning and either printing

myself or ordering prints over the internet.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

No offense intended to you here, but I would NEVER trust anything to WalMart. They treat their employees like dirt. What motivation would a minimum wage employee with no option to get benefits have to do a good job with my film? If you still have a local lab, and by that I mean a true photo lab, use them. I have the luxury of having two local shops, and have a great rapor with the place that I use. They always do a nice job and I know the guy who does my films (he's the son of the owner).

 

If you have to send out, choose some place that people you trust have used with good results. Most people who have film developed regularly have someplace that they trust, so search the forums and you should find some good recommendations. The same goes for getting prints by mail.

 

- Randy

PEC-12 with PEC pads will clean the fingerprints right off. Even from the emulsion side.

How to get rid of fingerprints? Use film cleaner.

 

Check out the variety of products here:

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=RootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&shs=film+cleaner&image.x=0&image.y=0

 

Unfortunately, most of these solutions can not be shipped directly to you. But you should be able to find something similar in a local camera store.

As suggested, go to a photo store and get film cleaner. If you don't have a photo store near you, then go to an art store or crafts store and buy some rubber cement thinner. It works as well as film cleaner.

 

If you can't find either film cleaner or rubber cement thinner, then wash the film using 2 drops of dishwashing liquid in 1 quart of distilled water at 65-70 F.

 

Remove the film from the slide mounts and put it in the water + detergent. Let the film sit for 20-30 minutes and agitate gently every 5 minutes or so.

 

Wash your hands very, very well and carefully remove the water from the film by using your index and middle fingers as a squeegee. Dip your fingers in the wash water to lubricate your skin and then pass the film gently between your fingers using them to simultaneously wipe the excess water from the front and back side of the film.

 

Use spring clip clothes pins at corner of each frame and hang the film to dry in a dust free place (a shower stall works fairly well).

PEC-12 is the ultimate solution (pun intended). Apply with PEC Pads and be happy.

The fingerprints are probably very light skin oil. The easiest and safest way to remove that is IMO with Tiger Cloth. One source: www.lightimpressionsdirect.com

 

Keep the Tiger Cloth in a ziploc bag so it doesn't accumulate dust from the air. It doesn't scratch film, even when used fairly aggressively.

 

PEC is messy overkill.

Thanks for the responses.

 

I really like the sound of PEC, as I've also been working with a number of poorly stored old family slides and negatives, many of which are encrusted with a heavy layer of mold and or dirt. I wasn't sure if it was even worth trying to clean them, but it sounds like PEC is the answer to all of the messy ones I have.

 

I'll also pick up a Tiger Cloth for the occasional fingerprint that I get on slides and negatives by mistake. I've recently purchased several pairs of darkroom cotton gloves to use when handling film, but it still does happen from time to time no matter how careful I am.

My experience with tiger cloth (and the Agfa equivalent) is that they can never remove skin oil 100%, and the residual oil can lead to secondary fungus infection. Moreover, dry scrubbing can lead to scratches from dust particles more easily.

 

Count on PEC-12 to remove all traces of oil if you really care about your slides.

i use kodak film cleaner.

Marko