Brown / Gold spots on negatives.

[fiddle]

Hello all,
Im hoping someone can shed some light on something Im seeing on some old negatives. Im assuming its some kind of under fixing, under washing. These negatives are probably 20 years old, when I started developing, so Im sure my process was not the best.
Im not sure if there may be a way to correct, or maybe prevent it from happening further?

Attached a loupe view of two of the negatives.

Thank you.

 

[Nitroplait]

Under washed.

 

[koraks]

Im not sure if there may be a way to correct, or maybe prevent it from happening further?

Re-wash and store properly in a dry environment in sleeves that are intended for archival purposes (acid-free etc).

Your problem is called "redox spots" and it's basically corrosion of the image silver itself:

FilmCare.org

filmcare.org

I've got an album with RC prints that also show this phenomenon. It's kind of neat.

 

[fiddle]

Thank you very much guys.
They are stored in sleeves, possibly causes by being stored in a humid environment. I'll move them to a better environment.
Thanks again.

 

[fiddle]

Will washing remove the spots? Will they stay but avoid it from continuing to spread?
Just curious about your experience.
Thanks

 

[koraks]

Will washing remove the spots?

I think they're chemically quite stable - more so than the silver image. I wouldn't be surprised if their presence will accelerate the process, but maybe not. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just wash, sleeve and store under favorable conditions.

 

[loccdor]

Can you tell us what kind of sleeves you were using? I would like to know what to avoid.

 

[fiddle]

I'm using the typical print file sleeves. Not sure they are caused because of the sleeves. These negatives have been stored in many places throughout the years. Basement, garage. My guess is humidity more than the sleeves themselves.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Underfixing, underwashing or both. You should refix and rewash the negatives to prevent further degradation. What has already turned to sulfide you can't do anything about.

It's not the print sleeves.

Best,

Doremus

 

[Todd Niccole]

Back in the days of astronomical photographic plates, there was a similar phenomenon dubbed "Gold Spot Disease" affecting some Kodak Spectroscopic plates, in particular IIIa-J. I haven't come across that they ever figured it out, but the conjecture was from contaminants from repetitive processing, fumes from drying paint and hydrogen peroxide in packing materials may have been responsible. Kodak recommended selenium toning the plates that would help protect the silver. Maybe that is useful here.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/9AB4D97C3DEBD5C1CE8AB8E7808596AB/S0252921100106451a.pdf/microspots-on-iiia-j-plates-gold-spot-disease.pdf

 

[koraks]

Kodak recommended selenium toning the plates that would help protect the silver. Maybe that is useful here.

It would definitely help prevent this issue, but in order to be effective, the toning would have to be carried through quite far and thus the negatives would end up much more dense.
As a means to "repair" affected negatives, I have my doubts, but it's easy enough to test.