Have I Ruined My Film?

[Paul Adsett]

I cleaned a reel of film this morning using my usual method of rewinding through an ArmorAll cloth wipe and now the film is nice and clean but now shows differential focus upon projection. The problem is that the focus is different from the center to the top and bottom and the left to right edges of the frame. This is really weird because the only way this can happen is if the film is bowing left to right, but also top to bottom within each frame. Has anybody ever had this happen after cleaning film, and is there anything I can do to correct the problem? Will it dissipate with time? Or is the film always going to be this way?

[Graham Ritchie]

Hi Paul

I have been using your method ArmorAll for a few years now and so far no problem. I understand that in time, film itself does shrink so I wonder, if more so, if this is what is going on with a particular film stock. Is this just one print or is it happening to all of them?.

[Paul Adsett]

I projected this film before cleaning and the focus was razor sharp across the screen. I did my usual cleaning procedure of rewinding through an ArmorAll wipe and then immediately projected the film again to check it out, and the change in focus uniformity was immediately obvious. All my other films are fine after 25 years of using this cleaning method. I can only assume that the cloth was too wet and somehow it caused swelling of the film base. I just hope it is reversible.

[Graham Ritchie]

Not sure what you can do here, I use hand winders to apply it, about three to four feet apart lightly cleaning from left to right. Paul if the film is polyester I wonder if and I am not really sure what might happen, is to lightly remove the ArmorAll with some IPA. The fact that your other films are OK makes me think something else is going on here with that particular film stock, all I can think of is to clean it with some IPA and hope for the best or just wait and see what happens, another thought is to just to nothing more than run the film through a soft dry lint free cloth if you think you have applied to much ArmorAll I think with this product they do recommend a certain time for it to dry properly.

[Joseph Banfield]

I think if it were me I would tightly backwind it and let it sit for a week or so and check it again. And by tight, I mean tight like it's on a core. That should fix the problem.

[Paul Adsett]

Joseph, do you mean reverse wind it so the curl of the film is reversed ( emulsion out instead of in)?

[Osi Osgood]

Clean as much of that treatment off as possible. The stock doesn't like it. Question: Have you used this procedure, on this print previously?

[Alan Paterson]

Clean it off and let it sit for a week. I'd normally suggest using Filmguard to clean and lubricate a print, but in this case you need something that will relax the film. I'd use FilmRenew for this purpose. We can't get it here in the UK nowadays but you guys in the colonies still can. It doesn't fill in scratches like Filmguard, but I think it's your best bet to get the film back into shape.

[Paul Adsett]

24 HOURS LATER - Problem gone!

Must have been temporary swelling of the film base. So happy as it is one of my most prized prints.
Thanks to everyone who posted possible solutions- all very sensible.