Negative troubles

[parasudda]

Hi I'm new to this forum... I have a major problem with hundreds of negatives I took in India about6 years ago. Some of them have funguses, quite bad, greenish slime (some white, with medusa-like tentacles), I think due to improper storage during (and after) my long trip in very hot and humid conditions. The others have patches of starch-like coatings on the emulsion side of colour negatives...I discovered that this occured only in negatives that were stored in a certain kind of plastic sleeve that came with the negatives from the processors in India. I tried washing one of the strips in warm water and most of it disappeared, but still very unsatisfactory (patches, white dots, scratch-like marks) but I'm not sure if washing in water is not a safe thing to do...... Please help with suggestions.....should I get some kind of chemical? How safe is water? Thanks.....much appreceated.

[skaarface]

Water is a typical ingredient in processing negatives so I wouldn't worry about water directly harming the negative. What I would be concerned about is the foreign material scratching the negative as you try to wash it off, especially since you mentioned that some has been found on the emulsion side. Simple water may still be your best option but I would recommend taking a few samples to your nearest photolab (not a drug store but an actual lab) and ask for their advice in cleaning and restoring your negatives. There may be some chemical solvents that can help remove residue left behind from the organic material. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.

[parasudda]

Thanks.......I will most probably go to a lab once I've done a bit of research on this. I've found Photo flo mentioned quite a lot in other discussion forums. Do you know how effective this is?