I laughed at the guy who said a hairdryer fixes scratched negatives... until I tried it myself

Last month I was at a camera swap meet in Portland and some old timer swore that a few minutes with a hairdryer on low heat would fix light surface scratches on my negatives. I thought he was pulling my leg, but after ruining two rolls of Tri-X with a microfiber cloth, I figured I had nothing to lose. I set my hairdryer to the lowest setting, held it about 6 inches away, and moved it back and forth for maybe 3 minutes. The heat actually softened the emulsion just enough that the scratches seemed to fade into the background. I scanned the same negative before and after and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had luck with heat tricks like this, or am I just getting lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan_hayes2925d ago

Wait, you're telling me a hairdryer actually works? I gotta try that on my scratched up rolls.

johns1825d ago

Just tried this last week on some Catcher in the Rye I had since high school that was all scuffed up. Used a low heat setting about 6 inches away and moved it around slow for maybe 45 seconds per spot. Worked way better than I expected, the light scratches basically vanished. Did you have any issues with the heat damaging the paper at all?