Cleaning film

[Jacob Watkinson]

Hi everyone, I need to know the best film cleaner I should buy? I'm using a Retroscan Universal Mark II and it requires a liquid spray silicone to clean the unit but am I am not too familiar with cleaning and restoration of film so would really appreciate some guidance? I've looked at things like FilmGuard, do people have experience of this or are there other great options on the market?

Also are there any PDF or online resources I can follow to help with the cleaning of film/equipment?

Thanks for your time!

[Osi Osgood]

Filmguard I can highly recommend and a " little dab will do ya" with that stuff. Mind you, I am talking about cleaning film and not film equipment. Best idea with film equipment, in my opinion, is to use a paint brush, for oils or water colors, that is. Sometimes, you might end up with some "goop" or just some form of residue within the film gate and the film path, and definitely use a non abrasive cleanser. For the gears and such, use your standard "lube" that you can buy at nearly any hardware store.

[Jacob Watkinson]

Thank you very much Osi for your reply, much appreciated!

[Ed Gordon]

To clean film paths on equipment use isopropyl alcohol applied with cotton tipped applicators ("Q-Tips").

[Osi Osgood]

I mentioned cleaning the film gate because, once when I bought a few optical sound features that were still cored, when I seperated the features onto reels, the really strong tape they used for coring them, was on the edges of the film, and that tape residue, really stickied up my film path, so that kind of thing can happen!