I'm in the process of scanning the thousands of negatives I've been storing for years (anyone remember negatives? LOL). I have a large group of them that are curled (35mm strips of 5 - 6 exposures, curled lengthwise) so badly, getting them into the film holder for my scanner is a mega pain in the backside. They are stored in those plastic negative pages that you can put in a 3-ring binder, so they are protected - at least somewhat.

Right now, I've got about 50 of those pages of negs pressed between two boards, and tightened with C-clamps to attempt to flatten them out. I'll probably leave them pressed for several months, hoping they'll flatten out.

So - to my question..... Anyone know of a better way to flatten old curled negs?

Thanks!

Rod

No, I don't know of any way to do it. I've been where you are, and was tempted to send them out to be scanned. The cost, especially if you want to keep the resolution of 35mm, would be truly amazing.

Have you thought of sandwiching them between glass? You might get pesky interference rings, though (Rainbows without unicorns).

I ended up soaking mine in oil and scanning them wet with a glass plate on top of them. It worked very well, didn't harm the negatives (might have helped their lifespan, in fact), but was M.E.S.S.Y!

I used something that an engineer friend gave me, he said that it was an instrument oil. I can't tell you anything more than that.

Good luck and much patience!