Cleaning weird sticky gunk off negatives

srichards

srichards

Suspended / Banned
Messages
10,968
Name
Suz
Edit My Images
Yes
I've got a few negative strips which have great gobs of something on them. I have tried warm water but whatever it is has become sticky! I've tried warm water, warm water and soap and washing up liquid. Nothing shifts it.

Is there anything that might shift it? It feels sticky and rough and is visibly coating some of the neg. None of the others have similar issues.

I don't want to use anything too harsh as I don't want to ruin the negative altogether.
 
Fix might be worth a try, just as you would normally. Then wash for a good half hour & use a decent wetting agent or something.
 
Oh. I don't have anything like that hanging around. Never done any own home devving.

Next on my list was either vinegar and water or bio washing powder!

I can leave them to soak longer as I only agitated them for a minute or so. I don't know how robust negs are and don't want to wreck them totally.
 
I'd follow the advice that Joe has given....maybe leave to "soak" for a several hours / overnight...doubt it will hurt the negs. (not that I know for sure as never done it!)
Although film is pretty resiliant, I wouldn't rub too much/hard especially if it's the emulsion side.
 
Water & vinegar might do the trick, yes. You should be able to leave it in for a while, I used to use it for stop. Have you tried squeegeeing them? Might be a bit risky so try it on an unimportant frame first, going the short way, not down the full roll.
 
srichards said:
Oh. I don't have anything like that hanging around. Never done any own home devving.

Next on my list was either vinegar and water or bio washing powder!

I can leave them to soak longer as I only agitated them for a minute or so. I don't know how robust negs are and don't want to wreck them totally.
Click to expand...

I would be reluctant to try anything harse like washing powder...i still suggest a long water soak.....I'm sure you will get additional help from other members.
 
Joenail said:
Water & vinegar might do the trick, yes. You should be able to leave it in for a while, I used to use it for stop. Have you tried squeegeeing them? Might be a bit risky so try it on an unimportant frame first, going the short way, not down the full roll.
Click to expand...

Never thought of vinegar as a stop bath....i typically just use water but of course vinegar is an acid so it figures that it will work.
Perhaps the vinegar will help dissolve the sticky mess then...it has many other uses in the home!
 
It's on the top side not the emulsion side. I think I've got some of it off so I think I'll see how they scan.

I'll try them then try the vinegar and water. No squeegee unfortunately either!
 
Last edited:
I wouldnt soak if i were you, last time i did it the emulsion disintegrated and that was only a couple of hours soaking. I would recommend some isopropyl alcohol, it's the main component of commercial negative cleaners and is good at removing gunky crap without damaging the negs themselves. you can get small bottles off the internet for < £5
 
robhooley167 said:
I wouldnt soak if i were you, last time i did it the emulsion disintegrated and that was only a couple of hours soaking. I would recommend some isopropyl alcohol, it's the main component of commercial negative cleaners and is good at removing gunky crap without damaging the negs themselves. you can get small bottles off the internet for < £5
Click to expand...

Two interesting points for me there Rob.....as for the emulsion disintegrating...what film was it as I've accidently forgotton about HP5 on one occassion and left it in fixer for nearly 4 hous without any apparent probs. Not something I would advise mindst!
The alcohol idea definetly sounds a promising way to go.
 
IPA sounds sensible. Should have some of that somewhere :thumbs:
 
I've left film fixing overnight with no visible damage! The alcohol sounds like the best way to go though.

Anything acidic will work as stop, within reason of course, don't go doing anything mad now!
 
Asha said:
what film was it?
Click to expand...

It was Fomapan 100, Ilford stuff is pretty hard wearing, can abuse it development and have very little damage.
If the gunk is on the emulsion side then i would be very careful when cleaning. If it's on the cellulose side however then you can be a little more aggressive :)
 
I could make a home dev joke - I wouldn't say he was a snob but he uses Balsamic vinegar for his stop :)

ICE is doing a reasonable job of disguising what ever it is. Will try the IPA and rescan.
 
Joenail said:
Anything acidic will work as stop, within reason of course, don't go doing anything mad now!
Click to expand...

Orange juice, lemon juice will all work. Odourless stop is made from Citric Acid, if you were mental you could stop with out of date milk as it's full of Lactic acid :D
 
Haha, I'll have to try the milk one!

Ahem, I wouldn't think degrading my good balsamic vinegar by using it with something as common as HP5, it's only for my tofu and ciabatta ;)
 
Even the IPA couldn't shift some of it. But it did remove the hair and fluff that embedded itself into the sticky whatever it is. It's certainly giving ICE a good run for its money :) I'm amazed any kind of picture has emerged at all.
 
Can you post a photo of the negatives?
 
Lighter fluid is pretty good at getting sticky off things. Never tried it on a negative, but i've always used it on photographic paper for removing stickers or tape.
 
robhooley167 said:
It was Fomapan 100, Ilford stuff is pretty hard wearing, can abuse it development and have very little damage.
Click to expand...

I use fomapan myself.....I know about it's emulsion being a little delicate which is why I've never used an acid stop with it. Still interesting to learn how two hours of soaking it affected the emulsion though. Thanks for mentioning!
 
Marks look like water marks in some places. Scanned okish now. You can't really see the problem, more feel it on the surface. The ipa has removed the roughness from the top but you can still feel some bumps on the emulsion side.
 
robhooley167 said:
Orange juice, lemon juice will all work. Odourless stop is made from Citric Acid, if you were mental you could stop with out of date milk as it's full of Lactic acid :D
Click to expand...

omg not sure i could tolerate the stench of OOD milk :puke:
 
srichards said:
Marks look like water marks in some places. Scanned okish now. You can't really see the problem, more feel it on the surface. The ipa has removed the roughness from the top but you can still feel some bumps on the emulsion side.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it was some sort of soft drink..;cola or something....sticky with sugary lumps. That stuff can make a right mess of allsorts of surfaces!
 
After you saying that it makes me wonder if it actually is a good idea to stop with orange juice :lol:
 
Joenail said:
After you saying that it makes me wonder if it actually is a good idea to stop with orange juice :lol:
Click to expand...

I'm curious what results a 1:29 solution of LC29 and cola would give ....besides a fatal vapour leaving me KO on the bathroom floor :gag:

Edit...make it a 1:9 mix to make it more volatile!! :D
 
Last edited:
I think anything mixed with LC29 -- or coke for that matter -- would be fairly brutal! Someone I know mixed Tmax, ID-11, Rodinal & something else, maybe Xtol, & put a roll through it. It smelled absolutely horrible & made me go slightly dizzy, much like coke actually :lol:

I might actually try putting something strange like that in the next film I do, the most adventurous I've been is baking soda.
 
Joenail said:
I think anything mixed with LC29 -- or coke for that matter -- would be fairly brutal! Someone I know mixed Tmax, ID-11, Rodinal & something else, maybe Xtol, & put a roll through it. It smelled absolutely horrible & made me go slightly dizzy, much like coke actually :lol:

I might actually try putting something strange like that in the next film I do, the most adventurous I've been is baking soda.
Click to expand...

have to admit haven't tried anything adventurous like that yet ...i think my first will be with the classic one of coffee...need to do a bit more reading up on it yet though and ensure it's not an important shot ......something like a portrait of the mrs!:D
 
:lol: I've never tried caffenol, it's always appealed to me though, maybe I'll do it with an Irish coffee, hmm, yes.
 
Rodinal and Yorkshire tea anyone? :p :D
 
robhooley167 said:
Rodinal and Yorkshire tea anyone? :p :D
Click to expand...

Can't beat Yorkshire tea.......I get it sent to me by my mother as the tea down here is like p***

After all the effort my poor mum goes to ensure I'm regularly stocked up, I couldn't possible sacrifice a tea bag for developing even though I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

She recently came down to see me ladened up with the stuff in her suitcase....it's a wonder the customs didn't stop her believing she was trafficing weed! :D
 
It might have been cola or coffee. There was some brownish cola colour to the first washing off I did. Would explain why the surface went funny as it is nasty stuff. Cola's only fit for cleaning toilets with!
 
The current standard for this sort of stuff is PEC-12 fluid as it dissolves pretty much everything on the negative whilst leaving the negative itself alone:

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-pec-12-photographic-emulsion-cleaner-spray-118ml-/p1018636

As you can see from the link it is fairly expensive but its widely renowned for doing the job well and has been the replacement for the aforementioned 1,1,1-Trichloroethane which is sadly no longer available - pity as it was probably the best solvent around for this sort of thing, bloody environmentalists!
 
Trichloro wotsit is chloroform isn't it??? Don't think it is just environmental reasons that something like that isn't widely available!

I'll make a note of the PEC-12, ta.
 
Last edited:
It's a more stable form of chloroform, I still have access to the real stuff in the labs at uni, it does smell pretty unique but it is a very strong solvent and would probably eat negatives for breakfast ;)
 
robhooley167 said:
It's a more stable form of chloroform, I still have access to the real stuff in the labs at uni, it does smell pretty unique but it is a very strong solvent and would probably eat negatives for breakfast ;)
Click to expand...

Worse than cola then :D
 
Yeah, only you can't kidnap people with a bottle of coke ;)
 
robhooley167 said:
It's a more stable form of chloroform, I still have access to the real stuff in the labs at uni, it does smell pretty unique but it is a very strong solvent and would probably eat negatives for breakfast ;)
Click to expand...

doesn't touch film emulsion, seriously you won't find anything better for cleaning negs. I know a couple of guys who worked with film in the 70s/80s one in cinema and used to have an open bucket in the dark room for cleaning up the negs when cementing them together when editing and another guy who used to do stupid large format architecture stuff and they used to mop negatives down with it before doing contact prints from stitching a number of negs together. its a much better negative cleaner than that PEC-12 according to the cinema guy.
 
Isopropyl alcohol is what you need. I use it to restore my old negs. It shifts sticky residue, dried tape type residues and doesn't lift the emulsion because it's not water based.
Detergents won't do it and can damage the emulsion.


Pm me your address I'll send you a can. That way you can't pay less lol
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top