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Alternatives to PEC and isopropyl alcohol for cleaning negs

crumpet8

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Hi,

Im heading into town to get some supplies to clean finger prints off my negatives before making some prints. I am doubtful as to whether Ill be able to find the PEC products (wipes/liquid...) and am unsure as to whether I can find the over 98percent alcohol in the city either (have read that these two give good results).

Is there anything else that is common that can be used safely to removed finger prints?

Thanks everyone

Daniel
 
Naptha is a possibility, it is commonly available as lighter fluid and is sold in small yellow containers having a little flip nozzle, possibly Ronson brand. Check for compatibility with the film base and emulsion by making a test before using on a valuable neg!
 
PEC-12 is ethanol and N-Butyl Acetate, MSDS is coy about ratio of each since this is a proprietary formulation. 98 per cent isopropanol is often sold in electronics stores as a parts cleaner and a cheaper version is ISO-HEET at the auto parts store MSDS says 99% isopropanol (Gainer used ISO-HEET in several of his developer formulas so don't be too quick to discount it--disclaimer--haven't tried it myself). USA Everclear is 95% Ethanol by volume and might be another possibility, depending on where you live, some states have only a lower "proof" version which may be less suitable for cleaning negatives and in some states you need a prescription from your doctor since it's ofter used to sterilize thermometers.
 
I've had good luck using 25% isopropyl alcohol (99%) and 75% distilled water with a couple of drops of Photoflo as a final rinse.
 
johnnywalker said:
I've had good luck using 25% isopropyl alcohol (99%) and 75% distilled water with a couple of drops of Photoflo as a final rinse.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a wise mix, I'll give this a go when I find the alcohol I assume the rinse does all the work and there's no need for any wiping or rubbing?
 
Cholentpot said:
Huff Huff...glasses rag.

Please...don't kill me.
Click to expand...

+1 You don't always need a lot of volatile (and flammable) cleaners to do a good job. Get a large, new and clean micro-fiber cloth and keep it for negatives. Used carefully with a bit of moisture from your breath (huff-huff) and you can clean most fingerprints, etc. easily. Even better: improve your film-handling so you don't get fingerprints on the negs to start with .

I've also used naphtha (in the form of Ronsonol) with good success as well as alchohol, but these methods often leave residue (sometimes vodka works fine... at least I don't see anymore fingerprints).

Seriously, though, use the least aggressive cleaning methods first and work your way up. Soaking a neg in stop bath, then rewashing and giving a final rinse in distilled water with wetting agent often works wonders and leaves no residue.

Best,

Doremus
 
I have found that the alcohol from the local pharmacies here is 70% alcohol and 30% medical quality distilled water. I stole some of my wife's makeup removal pads, and use one moistened in this alcohol blend to wipe the negs and a second to quickly, but gently dry them. The results have been really good and no damage done. A small bottle, (250 ml), lasts for quite a while.
The idea of petroleum solvents scares me a little.
 
Professional window washers use ordinary rubbing (70% isopropyl) to remove finger prints on store windows. You should not have to go to a higher percentage.

BTW, keep your grubby fingers off the negatives. Seriously you can buy disposable cotton gloves for this purpose. Kodak sold them at one time. Try B&H or Freestyle they should carry them.
 
If Tetenal products are available in your country, I can recommend Tetenal Film cleaner spray which works very well for me.
 
When my wife worked in Biotech we had access to methyl alcohol that was over 99.99% pure, and it worked wonderfully; but anything like that would
be insanely expensive for an individual to buy in small quantities. It doesn't take much water to ruin the quality for this purpose, so ordinary drugstore or hardware alcohol is almost useless. Movie film cleaner was once 1:1:1 trichoro, which worked well, but has since been banned in the
US due to dioxin contamination and its anesthetic properties. Now I simply keep a few little bottles of PEC on hand, though it is available in larger
sizes too, around $200 per gallon here. But I use chemicals like this sparingly. The whole point is not to get guck on you film in the first place.
 
Bought some gloves and found the isopropanol at an electronic store today! Thanks for the help everyone and haha yep, I've been trying to keep my grubby hands off the negs... I think I'm going to try johnny walkers concoction on a microfibre cloth and see how that goes. Would like to avoid dunking the negs and drying them again if possible. My sleeves finally arrived in the mail today as well!
 

Ah yes the good old Kodak Film Cleaner, best stuff ever. The Edwal Anti-Stat is not bad but the Kodak was better.

HEET™ gas line antifreeze is 100% methanol according to MSDS, whether it's pure enough for film cleaning I don't know.
 
mnemosyne said:
If Tetenal products are available in your country, I can recommend Tetenal Film cleaner spray which works very well for me.
Click to expand...

Good tip! At 10€ a can it looks like a must-have in the darkroom.
 
I've used pretty much everything on the lists above and my go to method is a super clean micro-fiber (the lens cleaning type, not the fuzzy type, snapped right before use) and my breath. I put the neg on a hard super clean surface, breath on it and wipe once, firmly, in one direction. That almost always gets it done. If not, I use 91% Isopropyl alcohol from the pharmacy on the microfiber. I never found film cleaners to be better than alcohol.
 

Why stop bath? and how long?
 
My most frequent use for a cleaner is when I've had to use tape to register one negative to another for printing purposes, and have to deal with the
residue afterwards.
 
DREW WILEY said:
My most frequent use for a cleaner is when I've had to use tape to register one negative to another for printing purposes, and have to deal with the
residue afterwards.
Click to expand...
I'm more interested to know what printing process entails taping negatives together. Does simple tape hold registration?
 
Some people register by eye over a lightbox and then tape the negs together. That's the hard way. I use precise punch and registration gear; but afterwards, if it's just a simple masking operation, there is no need for a registration carrier in the enlarger, which is a lot more fuss overall. If both negs are themselves polyester, and the tape itself is, and it's all properly done, they can remain together for the duration of printing usage. After that, if you're done or want to try a different tweak, you separate them and remove any adhesive residue.
 
Cholentpot said:
Why stop bath? and how long?
Click to expand...

Stop bath is acidic and can remove hard-water stains as well as help remove grease and other residue. How long depends on what you have to remove and whether or not the acid is going to help in the first place. A longer soak in regular-strength stop isn't going to hurt your film any, though.

Best,

Doremus
 
I tend to pick up all the stuff that is dropped off at the local camera shop. I have a bottle of Kodak Film Cleaner (about 3 fl. oz) Lovely mixture of Heptane and CFC-113 (1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane.) Yikes I'm taking it to HAZMAT
Best Mike
 
I wouldn't worry much about that tiny bottle of Kodak Film Cleaner, Mike. Just use nitrile gloves and good ventilation like a fume hood. The big risk
of 1:1:1 was back when it was marketed as "Safety Solvent". Janitors would use it on vinyl floors, and it would get off all the chewing gum etc real
well without hazing the vinyl or adjacent paint. But it is heavier than air, and was originally developed as any anesthetic. So every now and then a
janitor would be found dead on the floor the next morning, asphyxiated. Then for awhile it was used as a substitute for naptha and other solvents
in siding stains because it doesn't contribute to smog. Then painters started getting woozy and fell off ladders, electricians got dopey and accidentally
burned down houses, etc. But what stopped manufacture altogether was the presence of dioxin contamination. Good ole Dow once again, just like
Agent Orange.
 


Great tip Doremus! I had success using the diluted isopropanol and water with some photoflo. Good to have a few different methods though
 
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