[filmscanners] Cleaning slides

["" <david_bookbinder@sprynet.com>]

I have several sheets of 35mm Ektachrome slides I recently unearthed after
more than twenty years of storage in plastic sleeves (themselves stored in a
sealed cardboard box, along with a lot of prints and negatives). Almost all
of the slides are covered, on the emulsion side, with dozens of small
droplets of liquid. At first I thought this was water, perhaps from humidity
which managed to penetrate the box during a basement flood a couple of years
ago, but as these droplets don't seem to evaporate when the slides are
exposed to air I'm wondering if they are some kind of exudate from the
sleeves themselves.

I would like to save these slides. The liquid does wipe off with a
microfiber cloth, and the couple of slides I tried this with came more or
less clean. (There is also some snowflake-pattern pitting of the emulsion,
but this appears to be unrelated to the droplets.) I'm sure, however, that
this is likely not the best way to clean these slides, and I'm wondering if
any of you can suggest a better method.

TIA,

More anon,
- David
David J. Bookbinder [david_bookbinder@sprynet.com]

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