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What are these spots on my negatives?
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Apr 28, 2019 13:08:45   #
wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
 
therwol wrote:
I'm copying and scanning 60 years of negatives. This picture is about 20 years old, and I photographed the negative with my Nikon D810 and 55mm f/2.8 Micro lens. Other than reversing to positive and removing a few obvious dust spots, there has been no post processing such as color correction, etc. The issue is mainly the blue spots that you will see better if you download this. They show up occasionally on this batch of 6 rolls of film that were developed at the same time. There is also a brown smudge on the top left. Can I assume that the person in the supermarket who developed these things wasn't careful with their fingers. I've never touched this negative.
I'm copying and scanning 60 years of negatives. T... (show quote)


The oils and acids from someone's hands has ruined some of the dyes in the film layers. Once scaned, with a lot of work in PS, it can be touched up. Not very likely washing the negatives would bring back the dyes, but it might help prevent any further damage.

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Apr 28, 2019 13:34:12   #
therwol Loc: USA
 
hightor wrote:
Never mind all that!
There's a dog gonna steal your van!!!


Got caught in Oregon, but the locals liked him and gave him a wife, and now there are 12 dogs living in that van. The perpetrator is thinking of running for Mayor of Grants Pass next year. Needless to say, I sure don't want that thing back now.

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Apr 28, 2019 14:39:22   #
burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC
 
therwol wrote:
I've got all of them except the Ilfort Antistaticum cloth. I won't use canned air on anything except keyboards and the insides of computers to get rid of accumulated dust. It isn't air. It's a fluorocarbon that leaves a residue if you accidentally hold the can in any position except vertical and liquid comes out.

In spite of all of the above, I find that there is contamination on some negatives that is apparently glued on. With black and white negatives, the best solution I've found is to rewash them and finish with Photoflo, but that's very tedious and time consuming and risks damaging the negatives. I won't rewash color negatives. The last step would be to soak them in a stabilizer solution typically containing formaldehyde. (From memory when I used to do color processing myself.)
I've got all of them except the Ilfort Antistaticu... (show quote)




I tape my canned air to the table and hold the item to be cleaned about two inches from the stream. I've never had a problem with it leaving residues. If you hold the can at an angle or shake it, liquid refrigerant comes out. Many a novice has ruined a camera mirror or sensor that way.

Color negatives should never be re-washed. PEC 12 is all I'd use on them. Ektachrome could be washed and re-stabilized, but good luck finding formaldehyde based stabilizers now. Photo Flo is a decent substitute.

Using a scanner with Digital ICE is a helpful solution, but it is slow. If you have a high resolution camera and a macro lens, you can probably get sharper images if you go that route. Unfortunately, the down side to "re-photography" of film images is post-processing. It can be very tedious, especially when working with color negatives or faded Ektachrome slides.

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Apr 28, 2019 14:49:49   #
Architect1776 Loc: In my mind
 
rmalarz wrote:
These could be anything from improperly washed film to fungus.
--Bob



Or just plain uneven deterioration.

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