Slide problem: I showed a reel of my uncle's slides yesterday, all Kodachromes taken in the 1960s that have been stored in a Kodak carousel (in its cardboard container) for a couple of...

kenJN

I showed a reel of my uncle's slides yesterday, all Kodachromes taken in the 1960s that have been stored in a Kodak carousel (in its cardboard container) for a couple of years, and there is what appears to be dirt on some of the images, but it's not dirt. There are dark spider-like figures here and there in various sizes and locations. Pec-12 and wipes get a bit of it off (emulsion side), but not nearly all. Since the condition wasn't there the last time I viewed them, it occurs to me that humidity in my basement--after installing a new humidifier--might be the cause and the "spiders" are actually mold. Could that be? If so, what can I do to rescue the images? If not, same question. Note: The green horizontal blemishes on the right-hand girl's sweater were there on a previous scan made in 2016, so they are likely not part of the problem. Please help!!

10MPlayer Loc: California

Given the spidery filaments I'd say you have some mold. Others with more slide experience will have to tell you how to clean them. I do know that mold needs two things, moisture and warmth. Remove one or the other and the mold can't grow.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

You bring up old memories of my father's carousel of Kodachrome slides from the early 1970s. Mold, fungus from humidity is destructive. Mold, took over a house so badly in a nearby community, that inspectors ordered the inhabitants to move out. I don't know how you could restore those slides without spending a lot of money. Clean them up the best you can, and relish the memories, despite the blemishes.

rmcgarry331

To clean mold, use a solution of 98% Isopropyl Alcohol, on a photo chamois. Store the slides in a cool dry place, and digitize as soon as possible. In this case it's probably a good idea to remove the slide from the mount, as the cardboard of the mount may contain the mold after cleaning. If you wish you may remount in new mounts.

adm

Storage is critical for color slides. I am in the process of putting my slides in archival sleeves. I think the wierdest thing that ever happened to me with slides is that some bugs got into the carousel box and started feeding off of the gelatin. Some but not all of the slides were ruined. I recommend getting some archival sleeves for your slides after you clean or restore them.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

adm wrote:

Storage is critical for color slides. I am in the process of putting my slides in archival sleeves. I think the wierdest thing that ever happened to me with slides is that some bugs got into the carousel box and started feeding off of the gelatin. Some but not all of the slides were ruined. I recommend getting some archival sleeves for your slides after you clean or restore them.

Better yet get them all scanned and put on disc.

Tom Lee

I am in the process of scanning slides on my Epson scanner.My slides start from back in 1950 and the Kodachromes look like the day I shot them.The film is in near perfect condition. They were stored at room temp in a fairly normal humidity--not the basement.I shot a few Ektachrome rolls in those days and they have all turned magenta in color but with Photoshop I can usually change them back to normal color. I am thankful that I stuck with Kodachrome in those days even though it was a very slow film.I started with it when it was ASA 10 and then went to ASA 25 and then to Kodachrome 64. Scanning them is a slow,tedious process but I now have the time for that so why not? Of course I have now switched to digital and only wish it had come out 60 years ago!! Kodachrome color is still beautiful and a pleasure to look at. The story I have heard is that some "clown" at Kodak said digital would never go over so they would stick to film .

gchapell

Mold. Usually, unfortunately it eats into the emulsion which is where the colors/picture actually resides. Try cleaning to reduce the physical structure of the mold but cleaning will not replace back the color dyes "eaten"/destroyed by the mold. Try your cleaning on less important slides as too much aggressive pressure can further your damage. If you caught it early enough it may be mostly on the surface and clean off. It it's had a while to dig in and embed itself then stopping and preventing further damage is all you can do. Good luck.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

First, You should probably try to physically remove the stain to cut down on retouching time later.
Second, try to re-post this shot as a larger image so we can examine the details better. You do that by using the Download checkbox on the site.

Tom Lee

To date,in my scanning,I have not had any serious problems with emulsion damage to my Kodachrome collection--probably a thousand slides. I have found that I can usually "Photoshop" out minor problems after scanning but that doesn't work if the problem is too big. I saved a couple bottles of Kodak movie film cleaner and once in awhile I try that on blemishes on the slide.

sabfish

I am getting on in age and had thousands of slides in Kodak Carousels. I started to scan them myself and it was clear it would be a forever project. I then took all my old slides, threw out ones not worth keeping (a lot!) and sent them off to ScanCafe. They will ship your slides to India for scanning or, if you prefer, have it done in the U.S., they will do so at higher cost. They will send you a link to a website where your scans are posted. You only pay for the ones you want to keep. They also provide photo restoration for photos damaged by mold. I did not have any damaged slides. I was very pleased with the results of the scans done in India.

Tom Lee

I don't have the guts to send my slides to India or any place else. If they disappear at some point--lots of luck.You might as well kiss them goodbye. Granted that it is only a very remote chance but it still can happen. Besides it's kind of fun to go thru slides of many years ago and find out that Photoshop can usually make some improvements even if they are only minor.As I select slides for scanning I usually ask myself "will anyone else find this one interesting?" If the answer is "no" then the slide usually goes into the waste basket.

woodyH

The alcohol will carry the mold away but not necessarily kill it, and for some emulsion and dye combinations, carry the dye away, smearing the image. I have simply had better luck digitizing the image as quickly as possible and doing a whole lot of cloning or smart-fixing. A friend is now reprinting his corrected, heirloom images onto some large clear film medium Epson and possibly other printers can handle. Makes one image on 8x10 film and saves it, prints another with an orientation so that it can be transferred to a smooth archival paper stock.

transponder

I was at a Kodak development lab where they processed thousands of rolls per day and they realized the problem. They solved the problem and reprocessed the slides free. Now the building has been bulldozed and a school is on the site. Kodak removed the slide put on a spinner with some cleaning solution after cleaning coated and remounted. It only took about a minute per slide. Too bad we don't have Kodak to kick around anymore. They had been there and done that.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

kenJN wrote:

I showed a reel of my uncle's slides yesterday, a... (show quote)

Visit the site, www.retouchpro.com and you will get some great ideas from the photographers who post their before and after and procedure(s) used.

I did this restoration years ago:

(Download)