more about scratches on LF negatives

[Herwig Prammer]

does anybody know about some chemicals or some other stuff (except grease) to sm ooth or fill in scratches on the base side of LF negatives?

rgds

[Bob bFrancis]

Tetenal do a product (available in the UK at least) called "Repolisan" which is intended to fill scratches in B&W and colour negs.

I have not tried it myself however so can not comment on its effectiveness - nose grease being free (and in plentiful supply at this location...).

Cheers,

[David E. Rose]

I use Edwal "No-scratch". It comes in a bottle with a brush.

[David Vickery]

You can use regular Spotone print retouching dyes with a good sharp brush. If you use too much on the negative then you can spot that out on the print since it'll be a light area now on the print.

[Richard Walker]

Repolisan has the effect of coating the entire negative with a kind of glue. There is a small but noticeable loss of definition and contrast over the whole negative, so it is really only indicated where the damage is widespread. I've used it on a valuable 35mm negative that had a large number of small scratches, and on balance the effect was positive. The scratches don't entirely disappear but they do become very much less obtrusive. You probably need to print a grade harder after using the product.

It's expensive though.

[Bill Marsh]

Nose grease!

Works great on base scratches, but do not under ANY circumstances use it on the emulsion side.

It really does work. Use sparingly.

Bill