Inexpensive prints from old 616 negatives?

Hello,

I recently inherited my Dad's collection of 616 negatives from the 40s, 50s and 60s. None were properly stored and I even found a few dozen on the dirt in the crawl space. I'd like to convert many of the negative to digital files, and was hoping for some tips on cleaning. I've read a lot about folks using rubbing alcohol and even kerosene. Some say regular drug store alcohol has too much water and that 98% alcohol is best. Some say never use water, others say use water and Dawn dish-washing soap. Some say don't try cleaning negative at all without being a pro. What would be a practical approach for me, with a few hundreg negatives that are probably no value to anyone else?

Next, I tried scanning on my cheap Epson scanner, but the results were dismal. I can't afford an expensive negative scanner, and read tips on making things to back-light the negatives during scanning on a regular cheap scanner. What I saw wasn't very impressive.

Maybe there's no cheap solution. I don't have to have museum quality files; just decent images. I'd appreciate your input, and thank you in advance for taking time to respond.

- If the negatives are in strips, rewashing, a dip in PhotoFlo, and careful drying should be sufficient. Forget kerosene, rubbing alcohol, and dishwashing liquid.
- PEC pads and film cleaner are handy for problem negatives
- Any Epson with a transparency unit capable of scanning film can provide acceptable results for you if: you learn how to use the scanning software effectively,
and you take care to ensure the negatives are clean and not curled in the film holder when scanned.
- You will still need to use editing software like Photoshop to clean up the scans, adjust contrast, and crop the images.

Hello Phillip,

Thank you very much for your helpful reply. I'll need to look up the PhotoFlo and PEC pads you mentioned. From what you say it sounds as if kerosene, rubbing alcohol and dish-washing liquid are all a bad idea.

I only have a cheap Epson xp-300 and it's not made for negative scanning and I'm learning that trying to rig something up to make a scanner such as mine work with negatives is an exercise in futility. I dabble in photo editing software, so I think I'm ok there...when I get the negatives digitized.

Thanks again!

pschwart said:

- If the negatives are in strips, rewashing, a dip in PhotoFlo, and careful drying should be sufficient. Forget kerosene, rubbing alcohol, and dishwashing liquid.
- PEC pads and film cleaner are handy for problem negatives
- Any Epson with a transparency unit capable of scanning film can provide acceptable results for you if: you learn how to use the scanning software effectively,
and you take care to ensure the negatives are clean and not curled in the film holder when scanned.
- You will still need to use editing software like Photoshop to clean up the scans, adjust contrast, and crop the images.

Click to expand...

like.

to keep dust down go to your washroom and turn on the shower full hot to steam up the room. clean as above and after the steam has condensated carrying dust with it to the floor hang the film to dry. weight the bottom with cloth pins to help prevent curling.

Thank you, Doyle; sounds like a gentle way to clean negs!