8mm Forum: The joys of film cleaning

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Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on February 13, 2007, 03:23 PM:

I recently bought a job lot on Ebay that consisted of about 10 films, a projector and a screen. It seemed like a good idea at the time, though I must admit it was an impulse buy and one that I regretted after I had picked the lot up and brought it home.

The Projector is a Chinon 8000, it really isn't a very nice machine and hasn't been well cared for, the screen I don't need and the films; when I viewed them I found they were all in terrible shape. To the last one as they ran through my projector they chattered, drifted in and out of focus, constantly required the loop to be reformed and were covered in scratches and dirt.

I was feeling very dispondant about it all, but one of the films; The Call of the Wild, with Carlton Heston, impressed me, whilst it suffered all the maladies described above, it has beautiful colour and the content and edit was surprisingly good. I had thought I'd look out for a better copy, but then I felt inspired to clean and lube it and see if I could get any improvement out of it.

The results were phenomenal, having run it between the rewind arms and cleaned it with Film Renew, it now runs through the projector smoothly, there is no chatter from the gate, it stays in focus and doesn't loose its loop, but the most incredible improvement is on the screen; every scratch and line and every bit of dust has gone and the film now looks absolutely top rate, not at all like the same film!

I did the same treatment to Waltons 200 fter Callan; Counter Chase, and again the difference was staggering. These were both films I was going to dump, probably along with the rest of the lot.

I guess in the past I have only really cleaned and lubed films that were relatively ok to start with, seeing what can be done with films that have suffered such neglect and bad treatment has really surprised me. I'm probably now going to go through the whole of my latest Ebay lot and see what can be done with them.

The whole process has been really rewarding, I've really enjoyed cleaning these films, seeing the dirt build up in the cleaning cloth, watching the film start off looking matt and then become sleek and glossy and ultimately run through the projector like new.

Wonderful! [Big Grin]

Mike

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on February 13, 2007, 04:39 PM:

Mike, what a great story! I have done the same thing as of late with several films I have been holding onto until I could clean them. One particular film was 400' digest of The Incredible Melting Man. It would not run without skating through the projector unviewable. I treated it with Film Guard and now it purrs throught he film path and the color is better too.

Try some Film Guard on one of your films. You will notice a distint difference in depth of picture on black and white prints and the same on color prints. [Smile]

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on February 13, 2007, 04:46 PM:

How are you guys cleaning them? Meaning If I dont have a pair of rewinds, (and I dont) is there another way? I use to clean films for a professional film lab but we had rewinds.

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on February 13, 2007, 06:11 PM:

Alan, I use rewinds, latex gloves, paper towels and good vintilation.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 13, 2007, 06:27 PM:

Hey, I was kind of suprised that you would use papaer towels Dan. I've found that paper towels tend to leave paper residue on the films, I tend to use a good non scratchy cloth, but to each his own.

Yes, it's true, cleaning can make a vast improvement on old prints. I like to do that with old silent film black and whites prints in horrible shape.

I'm even more sold on film guard!

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 14, 2007, 03:00 AM:

I think for best results you need a lint free cloth (the kind you get with a new pair of glasses), and a pair of rewind arms, that way you can guage exactly how much cleaning agent you are putting onto the film. I've had some amazing results in the past myself, I bought a copy of "Way Out West" 3x400' off Derann, it was on colour stock and had a blue tint, let's say I got it for a nice discount, but you know what after about 6 passes using Thermofilm I have nearly got it to an acceptable B/W image, I looked at my cloth and the amount of blue pigment on my cloth was amazing. So I would reccomend a decent pair of rewind arms (Elmo if you can find them) and lint free cloth, it does the buisness.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on February 14, 2007, 08:31 AM:

Barry, What are you using to clean your films? I'm surprised the dye is coming off to the extent that you can change the colour balance of the final image when projected. I'm not convinced I would want that happening to my films as it could be making the film dyes unstable.

Kev.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on February 14, 2007, 08:59 AM:

He says Thermofilm...

Mike: all the films I get are first checked on the Goko and then given the FR treatment, and put aside to rest for a week, before being threaded into one of my projectors.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on February 14, 2007, 12:35 PM:

I bought FilmRenew and a pair of manual CRAIG rewinds and a roll of cloth. What's the difference between RENEW AND GUARD? Where do you get GUARD and how much is it?

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on February 14, 2007, 10:34 PM:

Guys sorry for my lay question.

In film cleaning, why we have to use a pair of manual Craig rewinds? Cannot we use the Movie Editor by not placing the film to the gate, of course. What is the diffent? I see a similar function here.

thanks,

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on February 14, 2007, 10:42 PM:

Osi, the directions that come with Filmguard say you can use a multi-folded paper towel sprayed with Fimguard. So far I have had no problems.

Link to Filmguard;

http://www.film-tech.com/products/filmguard.html

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on February 15, 2007, 01:12 AM:

Winbert

I don't think there's any hard and fast rule that says you have to use rewind arms for film cleaning, but I suppose the advantages are that you can set them at a distance apart that allows you room to work and an opportunity for the film to breath a bit before it is wound back on to the spool, also, it is useful that they are attached to the bench, I can imagine it might be tricky using an editor, mine at least would be inclined to slide across the bench!

For a cleaning cloth I use a yellow polishing duster of the variety to be found under most kitchen sinks in the UK on top of the can of pledge.

JMT, I should add that I am in the habit of routinely cleaning and lubing my films, but these I initially thought weren't worth the effort, I have also never cleaned a film that has started off looking so bad!

Thanks for the comments guys [Smile]

.

Mike

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on February 15, 2007, 02:25 AM:

Thanks Mike, it's clear now.

But then using two identical editors (and the two are nailed) would be having s similar effect, wouldn't they ? [Wink]

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on February 15, 2007, 02:46 AM:

Kevin,

It has only ever happened with that particular Derann print, I was astonished myself at the blue dye that was accumulating on my cloth, and this was time after time. It was actually good old Uncle "Derek" who suggested cleaning the film a number of times, perhaps he knew something I didn't, but the difference from when I first checked the film (very blue background), to the finished results (just a hint of blue, quite acceptable for price paid), I am more than happy. Perhaps because it came off Walton's B/W negative and going onto colour stock has anything to do with it, as I have even seen prints with a yellow hue to them too, that Derann used to sell off as white box specials, anyway after Derek's tip, it seemed to work for me.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on February 15, 2007, 10:07 AM:

Mike,

I couldn't agree with you more. I won't screen any film until I've cleaned it with FilmGuard. Aside from the obvious, there's another good reason. When buying a film from eBay, you never know what's hiding in the middle of the reel. Scotch tape splices are the least of it. I remember D'Arcy telling me that he found two sections of film attached by a staple! [Eek!]

Unfortunately he only discovered this after it had ruined the gate on his projector.

Rik,

I use two 16mm Craig rewinds, each screwed on to the end of a 2' piece of shelf board. The two boards are joined by hinges, so that basically I have a 4' rewind "table" that can fold up for storage. When cleaning Super 8mm films, I put on the 16mm to Super 8mm adaptors that the Reel Image carries.

Winbert,

Aside from the fact that the editor's rewinds are close together, (and it would be easier to clean the film if the gate wasn't in the way) there's no reason why you can't use that setup for cleaning.

Brad,

Here's a thread about that very subject.

Doug

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on February 15, 2007, 10:16 AM:

A Staple? A freakin staple. Savages!!

Hey, I have had to use scotch tape splices quite often. They work pretty darn good, if you use the right tape, not all scotch tape is of the same grade.

Thanks for the film-guard link Dan!

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