Vinegar syndrome 16mm transfer

[milesandjules]

Hi guys I'm transferring a friends pile of 16mm film and one of the reels is totally gone crusty- I've never seen one this bad -it looks like the film has secreted sugar crystals - and the fumes are of strong vinegar -the film is kind of slimey rather than brittle - so it's going to be interesting to see if the universal can transfer it at all - will post a link if it works -the machine is going to need a good clean after this one

[slackercruster]

How did it turn out?

[milesandjules]

Well I had to coil the film into a huge pile and let it dry out-the vinegar is sort of slimey - so let that dry for a few days outside because of the fumes-then put it through the universal - the beginning was watchable for 5mins after that it was completly abstract- but amazingly the optical sound on it worked as well- way better than I thought- so it was an interesting project - It did coat the transfer machine in a smelly vinegar dust though

[supa8]

Did it leave some sticky residue on the rollers?
I wonder how film that gets sticky with the vinegar syndrom would affect PTR rollers.
Anyone?

[milesandjules]

Yeah ya have to let it dry out first before putting it through the machine- it still leaves a layer of dust over everything

[Nate Williams]

I have yet to run across a slimey one! I really dislike working with vinegar syndrome film. I digitized a film last year that was more warped than brittle. The final product is pretty rough. Unfortunately I wasn't able to transfer the audio, but for a warped as heck, clear edged 16mm film I thought it transferred surprisingly well! Here's a low res version:

https://gallery.memoriesrenewed.com/watch?v=1Ey5

[milesandjules]

Wow transfer looks good even with the warping - the film we transfer was way filthier