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Posted by James Paterson (Member # 4669) on 02-17-2008, 07:56 AM:
 
Hi from Australia,

I managed to purchase a bottle of Film Guard here (at just on $100 per bottle) with the aim of using for cleaning up old 16mm kinescope prints. Before a pass in a bosh fernseh flying spot telecine.

Now i havent the budget for a proper film cleaning machine, so i applied very sparingly (at $100 a bottle you have to!) to both sides of the film using a microfibre cloth as it was wound at around projection speed through a winder. When wound onto the reel, there was a very slight oozing of the filmguard when you pressed the film together. Upon a test projection it appeared to clean up minor scratches etc and other blemishes ok but slight streaks appeared on the first projection which then dissapeared. However i put the film away for a few weeks and then brought it out again, and the film has begun to dry slightly, but it has left oily "splotches" on the film and you can see these particularly when physically holding the film and reflecting the light off it. When projected it appears sometimes as a white flash in part of the frame ...

I just wondered if it should go splotchy like that and if the film should stay oily/greasy even after many weeks

As i mainly deal with archival film material and one of a kinds for transfer to television, filmguard was the only solution i could find in australia, and even then it was not easy and not to mention expensive (why so expensive here?) I know in times gone by trichlor was the cleaner of choice, and piclear was the master of scratch removal for transfers - but all these have long since gone due to health concerns. I have tried to get my hands on 99.7% pure isopropol alcohol, but even this is not allowed to be sold from chemists and heavy restrictions apply elsewhere. (only 77% alcohol is available which leaves water on the film)

Of course with film guard being a slow to evaporate liquid i am a little worried about health concerns when handling the film after treatment (the greasy stuff that wipes off and is hard to wash off your hands) Also the fumes that are noticable after application, even in a well ventilated room. I know you cant tell me exactly whats in it, but an idea of what class of chemicals i am dealing with would be helpful.

anyhow, i am keen to learn more about using filmguard to its best advantage, and methods of restoring early film material ready for telecine transfer

James
 

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Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 02-17-2008, 08:35 AM:
 
James I think bottom line is you are using way too much Film Guard.
It's a little difficult to apply without a proper applicator but can be done. I simply spray a very small amount of the cloth and wind the film through the cloth re-applying Film Guard when the cloth becomes dirty. I never use the same cloth position twice once it becomes dirty. A little Film Guard goes a long way. If the product is dripping out of the film roll it's TOO WET!!
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-17-2008, 12:31 PM:
 
I just did some 16mm a short time ago.

I put a rubber glove on my left hand then put a clean cloth film glove on over top of that. I sprayed two squirts of FG right onto the glove, just enough to wet the first and second fingers of my left hand.

I held my left hand palm up and weaved the film back and forth between my fingers as I slowly wound it from the left to the right. The two wet fingers contacted the film first then two dry fingers. The film would get wet with FG then the liquid would be evened out and the rest of the dirt would come off on the dry fingers.

You can gently wiggle your fingers and change the position of your hand to vary the path the film takes to ensure that the film is always going over a clean part of the glove.

After making one pass, take the glove off and turn it inside out then repeat the process. This time you only need to put a very small amount of FG on the glove if you have to put ANY at all.

I did this about a month ago and the film looks almost perfect, now!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-17-2008, 12:52 PM:
 
Yup, way too much. That quart bottle will outclean far more film than a gallon of any other type of film cleaner. Best to run the film through a dry cloth with light pressure to help wipe some of that overapplication off.
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 02-17-2008, 07:41 PM:
 
AUD$100?! You should be able to get a single bottle for USD$33 (AUD$36), even accounting for taxes and international shipping and soforth, that's out of this world.

--jhawk
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-17-2008, 10:09 PM:
 
$100 is crazy. Did you bring it in yourself? Email me and I'll get you a (much) better price locally.

Edit: Spoke to James and he bought it from Sydney which had about $20 postage on it. The bottles sell for around $80. Don't forget the sale price must include freight from US which is considerable.

[ 02-20-2008, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: John Wilson ]
 

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Posted by John Koutsoumis (Member # 1855) on 02-17-2008, 11:10 PM:
 
I recently bought a bottle for $85 from our supplier here in Melbourne
 

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Posted by James Paterson (Member # 4669) on 02-17-2008, 11:27 PM:
 
I bought it from the Sydney supplier, cost about $85 and with shipping ended up around $100

I cant work out either why its so expensive here when it sells for much much less overseas and on US ebay it is going for around $25 a bottle.

RE: filmguard use, i will try using much less and test the results, i didnt think i was using a lot - it certainly wasnt dripping from the reel, but there was enough applied to get a glisten come out of the roll if you pressed it together which showed you the section you had filmguarded.

If using it very little will it still give the scratch concealment qualities? or for that do you really have to apply it thickly and then wipe it off later?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-17-2008, 11:37 PM:
 

quote: James Paterson

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there was enough applied to get a glisten come out of the roll if you pressed it together

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quote: James Paterson

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bought it from the Sydney supplier, cost about $85 and with shipping ended up around $100

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quote: Monte L Fullmer

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Boy, major markup...like almost a 200% markup to say the least...is that supplier running that place like a cinema snakbar?

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