Negs smell of fixer

scinysnaps · Aug 15, 2010

Hi,
I have a box full of 20 year old negs.. They smell like an open bottle of fixer...
What can I do? Are they slowly deteriorating? Should I do anything?

georgegrosu · Aug 16, 2010

Probably started to decompose support of triacetate cellulose in diacetate and acetic acid.
Lack of good storage conditions can lead to this process (Vinegar syndrome).
Lack of aeration favors this process.
Films probably have entered a process of degradation and it is best to scan.
Before scan o you can wipe with isopropyl alcohol or perchlorethylene.
Braking degradation process can be done using an alkaline solution (Na2CO3 = 7-10 g / l), re-washing and finally formaldehyde solution 20-30 ml/l with photo flo 5 ml/l.
Formaldehyde is a very good antimicrobial (although toxic).
George

scinysnaps · Aug 16, 2010

thanks George, sounds complicated. What's the best way to store my new negs? I live in a tropical climate with 80% humidity year round...!

argentometry · Aug 16, 2010

I personally keep them in my dry cabinet, but I air the cabinet every now and then. Not sure if it's the right thing to do, but seems to be safer than leaving them in some random drawer in this environment. I live in a very humid
climate too, and my equipment recently got infected with fungi, so I'm rather catious with humidity now.

georgegrosu · Aug 17, 2010

An easy option is to keep the negatives and not pressed. Not kept the negatives in tightly sealed bags or boxes. At one time in order to handle negatives weather.
Decreased moisture you can control with silica gel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel
Dead Link Removed
http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/S1610.htm
George

Gerald C Koch · Aug 17, 2010

What you have noticed is called vinegarization, it is caused by the film base decomposing. It is caused by improper storage. If the negatives are important to you then you should consult a film conservator to determine how the process can be stopped.

georgegrosu · Aug 17, 2010

Jerry

If the negatives are important to you then you should consult a film conservator to determine how the process can be stopped.

Chemical degradation of cellulose triacetate (support) is a process that once started can not be stopped. At most, can reduce the rate of degradation of the support.
Attention, should be separated the infected films from the healthy films.
George

Hexavalent · Aug 17, 2010

scinysnaps said:
Hi,
I have a box full of 20 year old negs.. They smell like an open bottle of fixer...
What can I do? Are they slowly deteriorating? Should I do anything?

Do the negatives actually smell like Fixer, or more like vinegar?
Do you know what type of film is involved (brand, emulsion, format)?

There are a number of causes of 'smelly' film besides acetate degradation.

scinysnaps · Aug 17, 2010

Hexavalent said:
Do the negatives actually smell like Fixer, or more like vinegar?
Do you know what type of film is involved (brand, emulsion, format)?

There are a number of causes of 'smelly' film besides acetate degradation.

Thanks for all the advise guys..
My bad, yes they smell more like vinegar now that you guys have mentioned it..
I have various emulsions and sizes from 35mm to 8x10 from TMX to Agfapan

georgegrosu · Aug 18, 2010

I worked about five years in film preservation at the National Film Archive of Romania. A film degradation process started, it can not be stopped. It can only reduce the rate of destruction. Keeping infected films lowered temperature reduces the rate of their destruction.
For an amateur seems to be a bit complicated.
To save the information in the films is better to clean the films with perchlorethylene or Isopropyl Alcohol and then scan them or run copies of films.
George

Ronald Moravec · Aug 18, 2010

I thought people only worried about digital files going bad. At least you can make dups, perfect ones and as many as you want.

georgegrosu · Aug 18, 2010

Information from classical or digital photos can suffer changes in time.
Classic photography with a history over 100 years, the time began to speak.
Running duplicate after damage films is a possibility.
Perhaps the costs are quite high for an photo amateur.
Life for a infested film is limited without good conservation treatment.
Film degradation is exponential.
Infested film is a danger for films without problems.
Usually, after the execution of duplicate film destroys infected films.
George

Negs smell of fixer

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