AboutLarry Maupin Expertise I am a published professional photographer specializing in landscape, garden and horticultural photography. My skills range from intimate floral macrophotography to grand landscapes. I have a complete "digital darkroom" for creating, enhancing and manipulating digital photos, and I would enjoy sharing what I know with anyone who wants to learn.
Experience
Past/Present clients I have several local and regional commercial clients, numerous portrait clients, newsletters, and several regional and national magazines among my clients.
I recently took my predeveloped film to Walgreens to have them digitalize the pictures. I got my film back in a pretty bad condition. There were greasy fingerprints all over the film. Because this film is extremely valuable to me I am sad and worried. What, do you think, I should do?
QUESTION 1: Should I immediately try to get rid of those fingerprints because the longer they stay on the film, the more damage they will do to it and/or the harder it is to remove them later. Or it does not matter because once the fingerprints are there, a certain amount of damage has been done and removing them quicker or slower won't make a difference.
QUESTION 2: How to remove fingerprints (and other dirt) from film. Should I take my film to the expert (if yes, where?) or can I remove fingerprints at home? If yes, what chemicals and cloth would you use, or is there a kit for this purpose I could purchase?
QUESTION 3: How much influence does a greasy fingerprint on the film have on the picture quality (will it be obvious?)?
Sorry that I asked se many qustions but I really appreciate your help. Thank you very much in advance,
Tom
Answer Hello Tom –
Thanks for the interesting question. I'm sorry you have this problem with your negatives, but I'm glad you discovered the fingerprints before you filed them away. I have several suggestions for you.
First, I would take them back to the Eckerd's location that did the work and speak to the photo dept. manager. Ask for a correction to your problem and/or a refund due to the damage done to your negs. He or she may offer to clean them properly for you. If he or she will clean them using a professional film cleaning solution – OK. If not, do not leave them. Some Eckerd's locations are very bad about handling negatives, and some do not have good, separate facilities for doing good, clean work. In general, I think they just do not care.
Secondly, as you might imagine, I do not recommend using Eckerd's for anything. The photo discounters, Eckerd's, Walgreens, Costco, Sams, WalMart, etc, do quick, cheap, poor work using minimum wage workers on high speed equipment. I used to use them but got tired of asking for redo work, and even then the quality was not very good. Essentially, you get what you pay for, if that. Quality is not in their equation.
I recommend using Wolf Camera / Ritz Camera or someone similar. A camera store with a good in-house lab will be more expensive but the quality will be evident. They use white cotton gloves to handle negs and slides, and they are relatively dust-free.
The top of the line is the professional processing labs. Check the photography magazines for photo processors in various parts of the country. They are specialists and will do a very good job. Not quick and not cheap, but quality will be there.
Now, for cleaning your negatives. Yes, the fingerprints will harden on the negs with time. If you have only a few fingerprints, it may be possible to carefully wipe them with the microweave cloths that are sold for cleaning eyeglasses - - available in eyeglass stores and vision centers. That is a little risky. One bit of sand or grit will scratch the neg.
A better solution (pun intended, sorry) is a film cleaning solution. Ask at camera stores for a suitable product or shop online. There are commercial products available, but I'm not sure what you will find on the consumer market. If you find nothing, buy PhotoFlo, which is a darkroom product for washing developed negatives. Read and follow label directions exactly. It has a soapy feel and with light rubbing on the wet negs you should be able to remove the fingerprints. Be careful, because the emulsion will get soft and is very easily damaged when wet. Try your hand at this method on some worthless negatives before doing your important ones. Dry them hanging in a dust-free location, the closest you will have to that is the shower stall in your bathroom. Dust in the air will settle on the wet negs and become imbedded into the wet emulsion, which is worse than fingerprints.
As for image quality, unless the fingerprints are very bad, you probably will not see much reduction in quality, unless you are making fine quality enlargements. I assume that these negatives are important photos, or you would not be concerned. You may also wish to have the negs scanned with a high quality scanner using Digital ICE which digitally removes surface impurities such as fingerprints and scratches. It is amazing software that runs with the scanning software. I am familiar with this technology, because my son has a scanning businees and I have used his scanning service. Most likely the scans you got back from Eckerd's will be moderate to poor quality at best.
If all else fails, look for a photo restoration specialist. Every larger town and city has them and they are listed in photography magazines.
I hope this helps, Tom, and good luck restoring your negatives.
