B!*@#!lng scratched negs

sparx

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It looks like I have fallen foul of those clear plastic neg holders. Two scratched negs, 1 not to bad but one through the emulsion. Luckily that one was not a great picture but i would like to use the other.
Is there any product or technique people use to repair scratches or mask them somehow? My C&G Tutor swears by nose grease! But that didn't work. I know I can scan it in and retouch but I would really like to print this pic by hand.

PLEASE HELP!
 

Aggie

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You can soak it in warm water and let the emulsion swell. There is also a product that you can apply to fix the scratch, I know David Goldfarb has the name of the product. A third method is to take a red spotting dye and spot the scratch carefuly on the neg, then do some spotting once the print is made. The last being the option if it is a deep scratch.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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Edwal No-Scratch--best used with a glassless neg carrier. Use film cleaner to clean the neg and carrier afterward.
 

Kate Mocak

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Are you sure that the scratches were caused by plastic neg holders? I had the same problem and found out that it was the development reel. I bought a new one (Jobo) and scratches are gone.
 

Aggie

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do you reuse the negative holders? Mine never scratch unless it is an old holder that has gotten crud on it.
 

Cheryl Jacobs

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I know some people who swear by Edwal no-scratch. Personally, I think it's great for transforming a neg into a dust bunny, and a greasy one at that.

(It's possible I may be a bit grumpy at the moment, though, given that it's nearly 3 AM and I'm still developing film. *sigh*)
 

David A. Goldfarb

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No-Scratch is great stuff, but you have to apply it right before enlarging and clean it up afterward, or it will indeed make a mess. Another alternative might be Kami mounting fluid normally used for drum scanning.
 

mark

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I've never understood how this no-scratch works. Can some one explain to me how an oil can hide a scratch.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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If it's just a surface scratch it fills it in (temporarily), and I suppose it refracts the light in that area in such a way as to make the scratch less visible. Obviously, if the scratch is very deep or a large area of emulsion is missing, then it doesn't work so well, but for the usual kind of light scratches on old negs that would show up with a condensor enlarger, it works.
 

wdemere

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Would the edwal stuff work for little flakes of emulsion missing from the negative? I had a single roll of HP5+ 120 that seems to have been bad, and all of the negs have 10-20 small flakes of emulsion missing which show up as black dots on the print (exactly the same as the problem reported with their C41 film awhile back). Would the edwal work, or is there a better way to fill in all those little dots?

Thanks,

William
 

David A. Goldfarb

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If they are really tiny--maybe. You could retouch them with dyes or another retoucher's trick for pinholes is to use a pointed tool perpendicular to the base side and lightly prick the surface to diffuse the light over the pinhole. Try it on some scrap negs first!
 

Aggie

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If it is a small flake that is missing, you can use of all things, paste type red food coloring. You will end up spotting a white spot on the paper, but it is better than trying to deal with a black spot.
 

wdemere

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I've only got three negs I'm interested in saving, so I'll try some of those suggestions on the other 12 and see what works best. Thanks!

William
 
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