8mm Forum: Film Fading Restoration ... part 3

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 26, 2008, 08:40 PM:

Hey John Whittle,

I was thinking about that film fading process we had been discussing before. I was remembering that it was the fumes coming from the warmed solution that permeates the film, (in theory, as we have not actually seen the process ... in process).

Being that the liquid solution's fumes are what permeates the film, would, (if the film is passed through quickly enough)
the film passing through the solution possibly work?

Posted by John Whittle (Member # 22) on May 27, 2008, 12:38 AM:

I think that the process needs the vapor treatment rather than a liquid treatment. If a solution, then you'd have to wash and dry the film again. Remember that the fumes are just the first part of the process. Then the film is rewound and exposed to a special light (and we don't know what kind of lamp it is--infrared, ultraviolet or sodium or ??) to stop the process.

The theory is that the physical elements of the film don't change, just the chemical characterists of the cyan dye molecule which turns clear.

This part has been documented in both Ferriania and Kodak research papers (I don't know if they're available on the web or not) but no "fix" was referenced in them. The problem is that there is really no commercial need for this. Commercial releases are made up in the hundreds or thousands of prints and after a short period of a few months or a year or so, most of the prints are destroyed. If it was still the norm in television distribution to distribute on film, then it would be another story, but that ended years ago. Remember Ray Courts and his film shows? He wound up with tons of old syndication 16mm prints and spent years selling them off.

John

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 27, 2008, 09:10 AM:

Your right John, I forgot about the "light" part of the process.

When those trade papers (kodak) say that there was no need for this (not exact wording) that's usually a business way of saying, "This is not economically viable" and your right, since TV stations no longer use film even at the local station levels, they just wrote off the process ...

... even though it sounds like the process may very well have worked!

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