Cleaning Negatives

[tgtaylor]

Posted below is a scan of a print that I made earlier this week. My thinking is that the crud visable at the top left is the dried residue from Photo-Flo. What is the best way to clean such a negative? Rewash and reapply Photo-Flo and dry? Use a negative cleaner like Pec?

Thanks,
Thomas

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5177/5436830557_8408f789ac.jpg

[Gem Singer]

Re-wash.

Only use a few drops of Photo Flo in a tray of distilled water. Soak for at least 2-3 minutes.

Hang to dry by the notched corner of the film, diagonally. Remove the water droplet from the bottom corner occasionally.

[tgtaylor]

Thanks Gem.

Rewashing the negative sounds a lot better than putting Pec on it. I'm glad that I sought advise before taking the quick route with Pec.

Thomas

[Doremus Scudder]

If you washed in hard water and did not use a distilled water rinse as the final step, then you may have hard water deposits. These can often be difficult to remove. I have had success soaking the negatives in a working solution of freshly-mixed stop bath (not used with carried-over developer residue in it!) for several minutes and then rinsing well and giving a final several minute soak in distilled water with a small amount of wetting agent.

If Gem's suggestion doesn't do the trick, try that.

Best,

Doremus Scudder