Bob writes: : Thanks for all the ideas. : : We have one real and one almost real pro shop in the area. I'll take a : test slide and a the thoughts and ideas from the group and see what they : have to help me. be wary of shop staff.. they try to sell you things : I like the idea of scanning them but I have a Canon FS2710 and don't use : it enough so buying the NIkon is a remote possibility. I'll check : around and see if I can borrow one. : : Thanks again and as the old saw goes, "Film at eleven" The Canon still uses IR cleaning technology (FARE as opposed to Nikon's ICE) so although it's a low resolution scanner, it will still do the job DO try Vuescan though, it'll do a far better job of scanning than the Canon software. apparently it's faster too, and you can scan to RAW. Gelatin is likely to become brittle with age - wetting it with water will do little/no harm to the gelatin and is unlikely to affect the dyes. Wetting agent is a good cleaner for removing gook, but acetone may be needed for removing adhesives first - this will be fine if it's then transferred to a wetting agent water solution (2-4%), letting it dry after an acetone soak isn't good, it'll likely cause tide marks. - alcohols, particularly propanol (iso or n) may remove additional things that the acetone won't (like certain adhesives) my suggestion, grab an unimportant slide, scan, woak in water, rinse in wetting agent solution, wipe and air dry and scan again and see how that goes. If gook persists, try acetone for 5 minutes, then alcohol 5-10min , then water wash as above, dry as above and scan. karl
