8mm Forum: film cleaning advice

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Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 20, 2008, 01:25 PM:

Help me out here guy's, I bought a copy of the Railway Children from Blackpool on Sunday and when cleaning it with filmguard noticed that the cleaning cloth was virtually black and no matter how many times I run it through it was the same. Now the film at a glance looks quite nice and not at all scratched, on the other hand is it possible that if I over clean this film it will start to remove emulsion ?
I did run the second reel through my GS for about 5 minutes and it did have a slight brown tint to it (could it be from a smoker ?) any advise would be appreciated, cheer's, Del.

Posted by Simon McConway (Member # 219) on November 20, 2008, 02:01 PM:

How wierd! I bought one too...did you notice your sound being ok-ish, but not the best? Re the cleaning; I've had this too...just make sure you're not removing the dyes!

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 20, 2008, 04:37 PM:

Simon, that's what I'm worried about, as to the sound, as I said I only watched about 5 minutes of the second reel and that seemed ok, will let you know when I get round to viewing it, Del.

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on November 20, 2008, 09:04 PM:

I'm curious-

Were these prints of Railway Children used, or brand new?

I've cleaned used film before and gotten alot of build up on the cloth, but not from a new print.

James.

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 21, 2008, 01:13 PM:

James, definately second hand, it seems to come from the underside of the film.

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 22, 2008, 03:01 AM:

Come on guy's, help me out here, you lot have forgot more than I know [Big Grin]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on November 22, 2008, 11:02 AM:

Del,

The FilmGuard isn't removing anything that wouldn't be coming off on any dry cleaning cloth or worse, in your projector gate.

Doug

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 22, 2008, 12:36 PM:

Cheer's Doug, what do you think it could be ? any thought's (don't want to do any more to it till I know), Del.

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on November 22, 2008, 01:02 PM:

Del,

Occasionally (and unluckily) I come across a print where the dyes have become unstable (normally magenta) and will show up on a cleaning cloth. I just clean it once, project it and make sure I clean the film path before the next film gets threaded up.

Doug

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 22, 2008, 01:08 PM:

Doug, many thanks for that, I'll make sure I give the film path a good clean after viewing and not clean the film any more, cheer's, Del.

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 26, 2008, 09:47 AM:

Doug, yesterday I decided to give "Flashdance" a bit of a clean and it looks as though that has some dye run in it (magenta) is it just an age thing ?

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on November 26, 2008, 12:49 PM:

Del,

Age and storage conditions are probably the main factors. I see it in my collection sporadically. The other day one of my Red Fox prints left some magenta residue. I didn't notice any color loss while screening. I once got the three part "Westworld" off eBay and my fingers were red after unspooling the first few feet! I never bothered to project that one.

Doug

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on November 27, 2008, 05:24 PM:

Doug, I have my Flashdance in one of those (they resemble old video library cases). They snap shut, wondered if that had anything to do with it, other than that, the conditions aren't damp and in the summer my films are kept in the coolest room in the house, Del.

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