DISASTER PLEASE HELP

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

Well I had a can of coke explode all over two of my binders of negs, soaking everything. I filled up the kitchen sink, and took out all the pages of negatives and soaked them in the cold water. They have been sitting out for weeks now, they are still in their negative sleeves, and they are not really drying. When they do dry, the plastic seems to shrink and it is destroying the emulsion... HELP!

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 1, 2009

You must remove them from the sleeves before washing them. You can re-sleeve in new sleeves when the negs are dry.

Ian Grant · Jun 1, 2009

No choice do as David says.

Now Red wine you can get away with as it's not sugar laden that's experience 3 days ago

Ian

Kvistgaard · Jun 1, 2009

just keep in mind to rinse them in demineralised water, to avoid lime marks. Add some photoflo or Tetenal's equivalent.

Sorry to hear that you've been struck by such a disaster. Hope your negs (and you) will recover.

Don Wallace · Jun 1, 2009

Make sure you put the negative sleeves in the water before pulling out the negatives. Everything must be nice and wet so you don't pull any emulsion off. Be gentle. You can dry out the sleeves, but I would avoid any residual dampness by simply using new sleeves once the negatives are dry.

It is amazing how much crap a b&w negative can take and still survive.

Roger Thoms · Jun 1, 2009

Quick thought on the mater, seem that soaking in water is right. Rather than trying to pull the negatives out of the sleeves maybe it would be better to cut the sleeve so you cut carefully lift the plastic off the negative.
Hope this helps,
Roger

Don Wallace · Jun 1, 2009

rtbadman said:
Quick thought on the mater, seem that soaking in water is right. Rather than trying to pull the negatives out of the sleeves maybe it would be better to cut the sleeve so you cut carefully lift the plastic of the negative.
Hope this helps,
Roger

This is a good idea but be EXTRA careful because negatives are more vulnerable when wet.

milosz · Jun 1, 2009

I wouldn't even think about pulling a negative out of a sleeve while these are wet. Do rather as the doctors do with the outfits when dealing with a broken limb...cut the sleeves to retrive...

removed account4 · Jun 1, 2009

be careful removing the negatives from the sleeves.
the emulsion is sticky and will catch / stick to the plastic.
throw away the sleeves and put the film in new ones ...
after they wash and dry.
i had water trap inside negative sleeves and
the emulsion lifted and removed itself from the film base.
it can be an interesting effect, but i don' t think that is what you are going for ...

Don Wallace · Jun 1, 2009

jnanian said:
i had water trap inside negative sleeves and
the emulsion lifted and removed itself from the film base.
it can be an interesting effect, but i don' t think that is what you are going for ...

Nicely put.

synj00 · Jun 1, 2009

Yes soak these and cut the sleeves to get the negs out after a good soak. Do not pull the negatives out of the sleeves. Actually cut the sleeves to facilitate the water getting into them so they will separate. Sorry to hear about this!! (note to self, don't drink coke around negatives)

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

Ahh this is going to be such a chore... This happened to hundreds of 35mm frames, about 75 4x5s and 14 8x10s... 2 years of work...

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

I just tried on a strip of negatives that was already partially ruined... I've been waiting several weeks for them to dry now, and the emulsions are so saturated that any movement of the plastic at all, lifting, will remove the emulsion.

Andrew Moxom · Jun 1, 2009

Ouch!! Sorry to hear about this... I know it will be a chore, but now you are in damage control. Save what you can and cut the negs out of the sleeves. I had to do that some weeks back after my laundry room dumped water from the floor above into my darkroom! Granted, not as many negs as you, but enough to be a PITA!!! CUtting the negs out is theonly way to go without risking damaging your negs. Clothes pins and photoflo are now your best friends. I would string out some string across a room somehow and create a large drying line, or 2, or 3!! What you need is SPACE, lots of it if you can manage it so you can just start washing and photo-flo-ing and hanging to dry. It's tedious, but can be done. Good luck. I fear that some negs may already be too long in the water and the emulsion is breaking down. Let us know how it all goes.

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

I had some chromes, and now they are totally fucked. So is all my c-41 work... Most of my sheets have started breaking down around the edges.

FYI, the 4x5 TXP320 is holding up WAY better than the 4x5 TMX-100 and 135 Foma 400

Unfortunately I had just started a new box of the TXP so most is TMX...

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

Looking closer at the color, I much of the Gold 200 I shot is still usable, The Velvia seems to have held up ok, both E6 and Xproed, and The Ektachrome... The Ektachrome has turned red and raped itself...

The Caffenol Negs have been completly brewed.

Tri-x 400 is reasonable, many seem to be fine... Knock on wood.

EASmithV · Jun 1, 2009

In short, it's not a total loss, but there is a lot that has been destroyed.

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 1, 2009

I lost a lot of negs to a basement flood once. I was away at school and my parents had moved to a new house and hadn't yet discovered that they had a flooding problem in the basement. I culled out the most important negs and washed them carefully and managed to save a good deal of what was important to me at the time.

walter23 · Jun 1, 2009

Ian Grant said:
No choice do as David says.

Now Red wine you can get away with as it's not sugar laden that's experience 3 days ago

Ian

Cut the sleeves if necessary to get them off. They're worthless compared to your negatives. And do it under water so the emulsion doesn't stick to the sleeves (if they're wet / sticky and not obviously removable dry).

bsdunek · Jun 2, 2009

Ian Grant said:
No choice do as David says.

Now Red wine you can get away with as it's not sugar laden that's experience 3 days ago

Ian

Another good reason to drink wine, not pop, in the darkroom!
As someone above said, carefully cut the sleeves - don't drag the negatives out. Wet film is delicate!

Don Wallace · Jun 2, 2009

bsdunek said:
Another good reason to drink wine, not pop, in the darkroom!

I second that. Still, after reading this thread, I get a little nervous. I often have a glass of wine in the darkroom and, of course, I try to be careful, but maybe in the future I will put the glass on a little table in the corner, on the other side from my negs. I don't want to spill it and have to go through this kind of torture, even if wine is less nasty than sugary pop. I will also keep it well away from any chemistry. I don't want to tone in French red (which might have an interesting effect) while drinking selenium (which won't have a desirable effect).

nawagi · Jun 2, 2009

A) Fill tray with warm (80 F) distilled water.
B) Lay sleeve and negatives in tray. Allow to soak an hour.
C) Place tray in sink
D) Attach rinse hose to sink spigot and turn on. You want a mild stream flowing from the hose.
E) Aim hose end at each "row" of sleeve, water flow will open sleeve and flush across negative.
F) Use hand to gently extract negative
G) Place negative in tray of distilled water at room temp. Rinse 5 mins.
H) Treat with photoflo and hang to dry.

Coke has Phosphoric Acid in it, which may attack the emulsion surface. This removal technique doesn't address that problem.

NWG

SuzanneR · Jan 2, 2013

Bumping and old thread... I've just had valve in a pipe in the ceiling of my basement break, sending a cascade of water into the darkroom! Arrgh... There were several sheets of negatives on the counter that got partially wet, so now I'm going to try to and extract them (at least the ones worth saving), and I'm just so pleased to have found some good information here!! This is going to be a bit tedious, I'd say, but other then being a little soggy, the darkroom seems to have fared ok, with the exception of some ceiling tiles and wet fiberglass insulation. Ugh!!

I have nothing substantive to add... just wanted a little company for my misery!

mjs · Jan 2, 2013

Just remember not to let the negatives sit wet for too long or the emulsion will lift off of the backing! Get them out of their sleeves and drying as soon as possible.

Mike

SuzanneR · Jan 2, 2013

Thanks, Mike, will do, though I've had to order new sleeves, but they should arrive tomorrow.

DISASTER PLEASE HELP

EASmithV

David A. Goldfarb

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Ian Grant

Kvistgaard

Don Wallace

Roger Thoms

Don Wallace

milosz

removed account4

Don Wallace

synj00

EASmithV

EASmithV

Andrew Moxom

EASmithV

EASmithV

EASmithV

David A. Goldfarb

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walter23

bsdunek

Don Wallace

nawagi

SuzanneR

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mjs

SuzanneR

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DISASTER PLEASE HELP

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