Advise me how to clean up some old prints

Would negative cleaning solution be too harsh?
 
RaglanSurf said:
Would negative cleaning solution be too harsh?
Click to expand...

Never used it Nick.......is that more readily available / cheaper than this PEC12 product?

For grimey negs, I've simply washed them in a milld soap solution then rinsed as if I'd just developed them
however,dunking a load of prints in the kitchen sink aint gunna be a good idea:confused:
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Can we see one ?

It just gives a little more idea of what we're dealing with, one mans bit of gunk is another mans completely ruined..:)
 
Asha said:
Never used it Nick.......is that more readily available / cheaper than this PEC12 product?

For grimey negs, I've simply washed them in a milld soap solution then rinsed as if I'd just developed them
however,dunking a load of prints in the kitchen sink aint gunna be a good idea:confused:
.
Click to expand...
It was PEC12 I was thinking of, I've never used it on prints though it might be really destructive.
 
Scanning would be my FIRST course of action.

Cleaning the original conventionally, risk is you ruin your only copy. So, I would scan first, JUST to make sure I has 'something' if it all goes wrong.

Now... trouble with negs and prints is that the picture is an 'emulsion'.. it's strategically porous so that the liquid developing chemicals can soak into it and develop the image in the halide. not only is it porous, it's also incredibly soft, and more so when wet. Any 'mechanical' cleaning method is likely to scratch the emulsion; any chemical method is likely to dissolve or bleach the image in it.
High quality 'archive' or display prints were often 'laquered' after fixing, to put a high gloss finish and protective barrier over the picture, but most 'glossy' prints, simply had a thick top layer of porous gelatin emulsion.

Digging old prints out of my Grandparents attic, I have had very very little success restoring the original; some dry mold might be removed with a rocket blower, or a very soft paint brush, but after that, any liquid has tended to do more harm than good, and I have worked from scans, where with pretty judicious use of the spot-heal tool can remove an awful lot of blemishes, and the clone tool can often salvage areas of heavier damage. It's torturous and time consuming, but ultimately works 'better'.
 
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