Image Enhancement

traditional restoration / -cleaning

Certainly the digital film restoration tools existing are very powerful and sometimes efficient too. We are offering a wide range of digital restoration methods at ALPHA-OMEGA to make your product the best.
In addition to that and prior to the scanning we also offer traditional ways of preparation for the sometimes very decomposed film elements. Preparing the film in traditional methods can lift the quality and performance of the film restoration result to a complete new level, for many ageing defects cannot be eliminated digitally at all..

Prior to digitization we take care of…

weak or defect splices
torn material
emulsion wear
the signs of vinegar syndrome
blotches & spots
mould

the cleaning process

Cleaning the film material prior to scanning is performed to take away bloches and spots, mould and vinegar crystals from both of the films sides. Even when stored in considerably 'good' conditions it is not sure that old film wouldn't have ageing defects, mould or crystal structures from the vinegar syndrome. Quite often image defects like fingerprints and oily spots have to be removed so they won't be scanned into the digital file. After these procedures the chances to gain a near-to-perfect scanning result are just much better. For removing crystal signatures of the vinegar syndrome as well as mould stains ALPHA-OMEGA has actually invented a chemically well-balanced emulsion with a simply stunning cleaning effect..

cleaning film from the mould | © ALPHA-OMEGA, 2005

The condition of aged film material is very individual, and generally speaking they all need special attention. In many cases the films are dry and fragile, likely to break even under careful process conditions. In addition to that the ageing often causes the films to deform, curve, arch or even warp.
To achieve proper scanning conditions and for the safety of the film material we perform a so-called 'conditioning' prior to the scan of such weak elements. Humidity and flexibility of the film would be detected and enhanced, as well as the scanning mode and speed are individually adjusted for each restoration film element.

The deformed 1896 original negatives of the Bros. Skladanowsky have been scanned at ALPHA-OMEGA in 2001.
The digital result shows the purity and richness in detail and density of the original.