Curled 35mm film

Shrimp · Oct 23, 2023

Hi everyone. This is my first posting. I am a Bangkok based photographer. I have hundreds of 35mm slides that go back to the 1970's that over the years have curled up. They are cut in strips of 6 images and have curled on the width of the film... not the length... see attached. I am looking for the best way to flatten them without the emulsion cracking so they can be scanned. Thanks... any ideas and support would be very much appreciated.

koraks · Oct 23, 2023

Hi @Shrimp, welcome to Photrio!

Here's the image you posted in a more accessible format:

I would suggest hanging the film strips in a room with normal humidity (let's say 30% to 70%), then placing them on a flat surface and weigh them down with a stack of books. Let sit for a week or so.

Sirius Glass · Oct 23, 2023

Welcome to Photrio

Hanging the negatives in a humid shower stall should help. The problem usually comes from the negatives getting too dry.

Kino · Oct 23, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
Welcome to Photrio

Hanging the negatives in a humid shower stall should help. The problem usually comes from the negatives getting too dry.

Of course, not in the negative sleeves! Hang them with clothes pins on a line.

Emulsion has a nasty way of welding itself to plastic when humidity changes and it's hard to maintain exact moisture levels in a shower.

brbo · Oct 24, 2023

Kino said:
Of course, not in the negative sleeves!

Ask me how I know that!

Sirius Glass · Oct 24, 2023

Kino said:
Of course, not in the negative sleeves! Hang them with clothes pins on a line.

Emulsion has a nasty way of welding itself to plastic when humidity changes and it's hard to maintain exact moisture levels in a shower.

I would never do that, but if one takes the people who have this specific problem, there will always be some that would hang the negatives in the sleeves. I was remiss not specifying that. Thank you for pointing that out.

Romanko · Oct 30, 2023

Shrimp said:
I am looking for the best way to flatten them without the emulsion cracking

How are you going to store the slides after you have scanned them? If you use PrintFile negative pages you might just carefully transfer your film strips into them and weigh them down. In a week or two they will be flat enough for scanning.

If you have a slide that you can sacrifice test how much abuse it takes before the emulsion starts to crack.

I have two 6x9 cm negatives from the 1940s that were in a worse condition than yours. I keep them between two small sheets of acrylic compressed by rubber bands. They are slowly flattening.

Sirius Glass · Oct 30, 2023

Romanko said:
How are you going to store the slides after you have scanned them? If you use PrintFile negative pages you might just carefully transfer your film strips into them and weigh them down. In a week or two they will be flat enough for scanning.

If you have a slide that you can sacrifice test how much abuse it takes before the emulsion starts to crack.

I have two 6x9 cm negatives from the 1940s that were in a worse condition than yours. I keep them between two small sheets of acrylic compressed by rubber bands. They are slowly flattening.

If I find that the film in the PrintFile negative pagers are somewhat curled, not seriously curled the way the OP's are, it place them under a large heavy books for a week or two.

Curled 35mm film

Shrimp

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Curled 35mm film

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