printing negative from 1946-49 ?

[SteveinAlaska]

I have a negative of my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins that I think dates back to 1946-49. I would like to make a print of it except that it appears to be water damaged. But knowing that my parents had it stored in a box in their bedroom with others that don't display any damage I think it might be some sort of chemical (?) damage. It is 120 format probably from a family Brownie and it is a Kodak film.
I don't know how I should clean this....any ideas????:confused:
Thanks

 

[titrisol]

From my limited experience with this problems I have found out that making a straight print and then fix whatever damage digitally is a lot easier and keeps your original negaitve safe
How doe sthe negative look?????

I have a negative of my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins that I think dates back to 1946-49. I would like to make a print of it except that it appears to be water damaged. But knowing that my parents had it stored in a box in their bedroom with others that don't display any damage I think it might be some sort of chemical (?) damage. It is 120 format probably from a family Brownie and it is a Kodak film.
I don't know how I should clean this....any ideas????:confused:
Thanks

 

[MikeSeb]

If the "damage" appears to be surface gunk or water damage you might be able to soak it in distilled water with a drop of wetting agent without any harm, and redry. You could also clean gently with PEC pads or Q-tips and film cleaner.

Although this is APUG and we don't talk of such matters here, this is exactly the sort of negative you should scan at the best quality possible, so at least you have a record of what's left of the image, before you do anything more than gentle surface cleaning.

 

[trexx]

Have your tried printing the neg? I have seen some water marks that do not end up, to a distracting amount, in a finished print.
Do make archive in any way you can. If I remember right there is a negative cleaning solution from the Darkroom Cookbook.
I think it is this:
5ml 28% ammonia
95ml distilled water
isopropyl alcohol to make 1 liter.

I have used with success, but do test in the margins or out areas of interest.

TR

 

[ronlamarsh]

negative damage

Go ahead and print it and see how it comes out. I have quite a few family negs from the 40's and my dad's service in the Marine Corps some looking horrible and they have come out fine. It seems more of a challenge to print these because of the poor exposure(under/over) and processing than anything else. Good Luck

 

[viridari]

I have a number of MF negatives that my late grandfather took in WW2, mostly in the Solomon Islands when he was serving there in the Seabees. Their condition was much as you describe here. The negatives all look pretty "light", with some water spotting and other signs of exposure to moisture over the years. I believe at one point they were in a plastic bin that had filled with water during a basement flood, and they were left to dry up without further restoration or cleaning.

Still, some of them were scannable and I found some real family treasure in there.

My grandfather:

Locals:

I've not yet done anything to try to restore them because I know not what I'm doing. But I did scan the ones that were in better shape.

 

[jfish]

A simple soak for 10 to 15 minutes in distilled water, followed by a re-fix in fresh fixer and per the manufacturers instructions (I'd prefer a more traditional fixer than the universal, quicker working ones since the neg is old and you wouldn't want the newer ones to over fix the negative by being so strong), then the proper post fix processing, going by the instructions PermaWash suggests for archival film processing, and finally photo-flo and hanging to dry in a heat free enclosed box.

HTH

 

[ronlamarsh]

Absolutely beautiful and HISTORIC!