How to clean old Black and White negatives?

[eric_m4]

<p>I recently found some old black and white medium format negatives that have been laying around in some old shoe box since around the 1960s. They were not stored in protective sleeves so they have a lot of caked on dirt and assorted gunk. Right now they are just sitting in plain water so maybe the dirt will loosen up. Other than that I don't know what to do. Any suggestions out there? </p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>Scanning fluid does the best for me. The kind derived from kerosene (lamp oil) not naphtha. If these are colour films (not chromes) a dip in c-41 stabilizer after cleaning would be advised.</p>

 

[lex_jenkins]

<p>If there are a bunch of negatives I'd want to speed up the process while minimizing physical contact. I'd fill a clean mop bucket with water and an appropriate amount of Photo Flo or photographic wetting agent. Hang a recirculating aquarium filter over one side and let the recirculating water do the job. I've done this for years to wash fiber prints (minus the wetting agent).</p>

<p>If the negatives sink to the bottom you could suspend them from clips supported at the top. With 35mm negatives I'd just string unfolded paper clips through the sprocket holes, suspended from a rack placed atop the bucket. With medium format negatives you'll need something else to clamp along the edges without damaging the exposed frames. I use surgical mosquito clamps but those would be expensive for many short strips of medium format negatives. Perhaps some bulldog clamps or something similar would do.</p>

<p>After 15-60 minutes in the recirculating water bath check the negatives again and see if any additional cleaning is needed. But I wouldn't use any sort of solvent or contact cleaning method until after first trying a no-contact bath in water and photographic wetting agent. Personally I wouldn't recommend plain dishwashing liquid such as Dawn, but if the negatives are dirty enough the Dawn and water probably wouldn't make the problem any worse. But be sure to rinse the stuff off completely in a second bath - dishwashing liquids contain oils, perfumes, dyes and other stuff that you won't need to worry about with Photo Flo or photographic surfactants.</p>

<p>If additional contact cleaning is needed - wiping with solvents, etc. - wait until the negatives are completely dry. The emulsion will be softened and vulnerable after the soaking bath I suggested.</p>

[stephen t]

<p>Lex, great idea re the aquarium filter. I was thinking about pitching my unused Emperor systems, but think I will hold on to them just for this purpose.</p>

<p>When you use the aquarium filter for washing fiber based prints, do you use an activated charcoal filter for the filter material, or what? You may have changed my whole outlook on washing fiber prints. The thought of using umpteen gallons of water to wash a print just bugs me a bit, so I have been using RC papers for years. I don't find RC prints to have the "character" that fiber paper has.</p>

 

[peterbcarter]

<p>Wouldn't the charcoal cause debris and lodge into the print? I'm not a fish person, but played one on T.V.....lol</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I don't use any filters with the aquarium pumps. Too much risk of grit becoming embedded in the emulsion. That happened to me once, when I used Brita pitcher filters for the well water in my former rural home. Our well water was very high in lime scale, and it got much worse after nearby fracking stirred up sediment in every well throughout the region. So I tried Brita pitcher filters - but once I forgot to adequately rinse a new filter, and the debris was permanently embedded in some negatives.</p>

<p>After that I just used bottled water for my film processing - any cheap water was fine, as long as it was free of debris. After moving to the city it was no longer necessary. It was only a problem in that rural home with our well water.</p>

<p>For prints I'd use tap water from the well, but filtered through a simple physical mesh filter that only strained out the lime scale debris - no charcoal, etc.</p>

<p>To conserve water I'd use a system of two or three 5-gallon rectangular shaped mop buckets. Each was large enough to accommodate several 8x10 prints simultaneously, or one 11x14 print slightly curved to fit inside. These went in the bathtub of our spare bath/laundry/utility room. Each had a recirculating aquarium pump on the side. As I printed and processed I'd move the prints along the path at intervals. I'd change water depending on how many prints I was running per session. I spot checked prints for residual fixer - the system seemed to work well enough. I used the same setup for selenium toning and HCA treatments as well. Those fiber prints are more than 10 years old now and so far, so good, no signs of staining or deterioration.</p>

<p>For my RC prints I'd shortcut the process and use two buckets. Those also look fine, and some of those RC prints have been displayed or stored in non-air conditioned environments for a decade.</p>

<p>I also followed Ilford's suggestions, which emphasized avoiding over-fixing. If rapid fixer is used only for the necessary time - no prolonged soaks for an hour or more - there's no need for extended washing and the risk of leaching out brighteners, emulsion damage, etc.</p>

<p>Folks who don't need to conserve water may wish to continue the continuous running water washes. But for folks who must conserve water the multiple container soak method may be more practical. I don't know whether Kodak's residual fixer test kit is still available, but Freestyle may carry comparable products.</p>