Negative Cleaner ?

"?" ?@???.??? wrote in message
...
Out of habit I have been using the Edwall Negative Cleaner
for my 35mm negs.

Is there anything "better"?

--
Regards,
Dewey Clark http://www.historictimekeepers.com
Ebay Sales:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...ems&userid=dsc
Restorations, Parts for Hamilton M21s, Products for
Craftsmen
Makers of Historic Timekeepers Ultrasonic Clock Cleaning
Solution

Probably not. Edwal cleaner is 1,1,1 trichlorethane, once
widely available as a cleaning solvent but now hard to get
because its an environmental hazard. The Edwal cleaner
evidently also has something else in it for anti-static
purposes.
Kodak now recommends very dry Isopropyl alcohol for film
cleaning. It must be at least 99% pure. Not chemical purity
but lack of water. Any water in it will cause streaking.
Unfortunately, the best film cleaners have all turned out
to be either very toxic (Carbon tetrachloride) or an
environmental hazard (trichlor or the stuff used in motion
picture film cleaners). The fancy film cleaner sold by
Photographic Solutions is just pure alcohol.
You can get 99% Isopropyl alcohol in many drugstores, its
very cheap. This also works for cleaning lenses. The problem
is that it begins to absorb air from the atmosphere as soon
as its opened. After a time it becomes about 91%, not dry
enough for use as a cleaning solvent without leaving a water
residue behind.


--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Richard Knoppow wrote:

Edwal cleaner is 1,1,1 trichlorethane, once
widely available as a cleaning solvent but now hard to get
because its an environmental hazard.

I think Edwal has also made the shift away from chlorinated cleaners.
The bottle I have says: "Contains isopropyl alcohol". Unless the
original poster has an older bottle, he probably has the same thing.

Kodak now recommends very dry Isopropyl alcohol for film
cleaning.

Which seems to be what Edwal's current formulation contains.

As a minor point, in case the poster has very old negatives, Kodak also
warns against using isopropyl alcohol on old nitrate-based negatives,
since it reacts with the base. 190 proof ethyl alcohol is recommended
instead. You can get it in liquor stores in some states under the names
Everclear or Clear Spring.

On 1/23/2004 4:35 PM James Robinson spake thus:

As a minor point, in case the poster has very old negatives, Kodak also
warns against using isopropyl alcohol on old nitrate-based negatives,
since it reacts with the base. 190 proof ethyl alcohol is recommended
instead. You can get it in liquor stores in some states under the names
Everclear or Clear Spring.

Which of course has other uses as well; perhaps not a bad idea to keep a
bottle around the darkroom just for those emergency mood-altering needs.


--
Focus: A very overrated feature.

- From Marcy Merrill's lexicon at Junk Store Cameras
(http://merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm)

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
...
On 1/23/2004 4:35 PM James Robinson spake thus:

As a minor point, in case the poster has very old negatives, Kodak also
warns against using isopropyl alcohol on old nitrate-based negatives,
since it reacts with the base. 190 proof ethyl alcohol is recommended
instead. You can get it in liquor stores in some states under the names
Everclear or Clear Spring.

Which of course has other uses as well; perhaps not a bad idea to keep a
bottle around the darkroom just for those emergency mood-altering needs.


--
Focus: A very overrated feature.

- From Marcy Merrill's lexicon at Junk Store Cameras
(http://merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm)

I have use 3M aerosol film cleaner from Office supplies. (For handling negs
on to matts for dev.) I don't know the composition or any historic
degradation but works well and after 3 years has shown no adverse reaction.
May not be perfect all the same but it's convenient.

otzi

The bottle I got just this week from Adorama uses Trichloroethane.

--
Regards,
Dewey Clark http://www.historictimekeepers.com
Ebay Sales:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAP...ems&userid=dsc
Restorations, Parts for Hamilton M21s, Products for Craftsmen
Makers of Historic Timekeepers Ultrasonic Clock Cleaning Solution



"James Robinson" wrote in message
...
Richard Knoppow wrote:

Edwal cleaner is 1,1,1 trichlorethane, once
widely available as a cleaning solvent but now hard to get
because its an environmental hazard.

I think Edwal has also made the shift away from chlorinated cleaners.
The bottle I have says: "Contains isopropyl alcohol". Unless the
original poster has an older bottle, he probably has the same thing.

Kodak now recommends very dry Isopropyl alcohol for film
cleaning.

Which seems to be what Edwal's current formulation contains.

As a minor point, in case the poster has very old negatives, Kodak also
warns against using isopropyl alcohol on old nitrate-based negatives,
since it reacts with the base. 190 proof ethyl alcohol is recommended
instead. You can get it in liquor stores in some states under the names
Everclear or Clear Spring.

? wrote:

The bottle I got just this week from Adorama uses Trichloroethane.

Savor it.

The chemical manufacturers stopped making trichloroethane in 1996, as a
result of the Montreal Protocol. They were allowed to use up existing
supplies, and it can be recycled, so you can still sometimes find it,
but typically at a very high price. The only new supplies now available
are for research or laboratory purposes.

Adorama must have had that bottle on the shelf for a while.

On 1/24/2004 2:45 PM James Robinson spake thus:

? wrote:

The bottle I got just this week from Adorama uses Trichloroethane.

Savor it.

The chemical manufacturers stopped making trichloroethane in 1996, as a
result of the Montreal Protocol. They were allowed to use up existing
supplies, and it can be recycled, so you can still sometimes find it,
but typically at a very high price. The only new supplies now available
are for research or laboratory purposes.

As for phasing out TCE, all I can say is, denks Gott. It'll be nice when it
finally goes the way of those X-ray machines you used to be able to put a
nickel in to see the bones in your feet, and by that time, nobody'll mourn its
passing as there will be equally good ways to clean film.


--
Focus: A very overrated feature.

- From Marcy Merrill's lexicon at Junk Store Cameras
(http://merrillphoto.com/JunkStoreCameras.htm)

[snip]

The fancy film cleaner sold by
Photographic Solutions is just pure alcohol.
[snip]
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA




Richard,

Are you sure about this? Stuff smells like and reminds me of the thinner
I used when I was a kid building Guillow paper over balsa framed models (my
personal favorite was the P-38).

Regardless, I'm not thrilled with it's use as a film cleaner, but it does
wonders on Ilfochrome prints or other glossy surfaces. Kills fingerprints
like right now. I still have a bottle of the old Kodak film cleaner for my
negatives and I'm using it sparingly.

Jim



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"Jim Phelps" wrote in message
...

[snip]

The fancy film cleaner sold by
Photographic Solutions is just pure alcohol.
[snip]
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA




Richard,

Are you sure about this? Stuff smells like and reminds me of the
thinner
I used when I was a kid building Guillow paper over balsa framed models
(my
personal favorite was the P-38).

Regardless, I'm not thrilled with it's use as a film cleaner, but it
does
wonders on Ilfochrome prints or other glossy surfaces. Kills fingerprints
like right now. I still have a bottle of the old Kodak film cleaner for
my
negatives and I'm using it sparingly.

Smells like toluene or xylene maybe?