Has anyone heard of or used these products?

[glennab]

Hi Volunteers

I was on Amazon.com today and one of the items recommended to me was a product called Photographic Emulsion Cleaner (PEC) by Photographic Solutions.  It apparently cleans many stains off the emulsion of photos and slides.  It doesn't work on water stains, according to the manufacturer, but several people who reviewed it said it removed Sharpie stains, ink and other gunk if used very carefully.  I know that when we were in Biloxi there was plenty more than just water stains on the photos, which is why I wonder if anyone's tried it on their own photos.  The same company also sells Lint-Free Wipes, which are supposed to be very gentle on emulsion when wiping a photo or slide for scanning - and cleaning.  I'm ordering some to use on my own and friends' scans, but I'd be interested to know if anyone else has tried it and/or if it would serve OPR on copy runs (it can be purchased in bulk).  The manufacturer also claims that the cleaner will remove soot and minor fire debris.  It's pricy, but I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens.  I don't have many marked photos, but I happened to see a tragic story about a family a county away from us who lost 20 dogs and just about everything they owned in a fire.  I'm wondering if we should (in this case I should) represent OPR and contact people who are involved in a single tragedy like that and try to help them recover any photos they can.  A single event wouldn't warrant a "copy run," but I know several good local photographers, I have a scanner, and among the bunch of us we could probably do a mini-run and help out.  It would be a matter of determining then whether the individual who collects the photos does the restorations or adds them to the galleries for anyone to work on (probably would depend on the number).  There's also the question of who we contact to offer our assistance (Margie you'd probably know that), and can we as individuals represent OPR for an incident like that.  I'd appreciate feedback from any of you on both the cleaning products and the "mini copy runs."

Cheers,

GK

[Tori803]

Hi Glenna!

I'm afraid I haven't heard of or tried those products. If you do try them, I'd be interested in knowing how they work out!

Tori

[glennab]

Tori, they should come in in the next few days, and when I have time I'll try them out and let you know what I think.  It'd be wonderful if we were able to get debris stains off the photos.  That garbage hides a lot of the image.  The water stains are a pain, but there's usually image that can still be recovered.  I figured it's worth a try!

Bless!

GK