Photographic Solutions PEC-12 Photographic Emulsion Cleaner

It does what it says it should, and it does it well.

It does exactly what it says it does. Without the PEC-12, the PEC-PADs are great at picking up looser dirt and dust (especially useful on non-emulsion surfaces where you can't use PEC-12). On the emulsion, it also just cuts through grime without scratching, staining, or messing with the emulsion. When I'm dealing with photos I can replace, I don't want to be fiddling around with DIY solutions, so this is perfect for that. The bottle also makes dispensing the proper amount really easy. I will be buying it again.

Absolutely amazing

I collect vintage signed sports memorabilia and used PEC-12 and the pads on cleaning and restoring this very rare and valuable vintage signed Graham Hill photo. As you can tell PEC-12 reversed the damage caused by the bad framing job of the original owner. It saved this piece! I’m beyond happy. If I could give 10 stars I would.

Good for cleaning View-Master reel pictures.

This is a one of a kind product. I use it to clean pictures on View-Master reels. A drop or two of this on a q-tip does the trick for most sticky or dirty areas on the pictures. A soft brush works most of the time for cleaning, but every now and then you need something liquid to clean one of the pictures. This is the best product for that. *Not recommended for children.

WARNING - DO NOT USE!!!!

Ugh. Scanning all of our old family negatives.

I first scanned the negatives with just using a Cleaning Duster to blow off any particles and scanned.

I then used the solution as indicated. Shook the bottle, applied to microfiber cloth, blew with air, and scanned.

Attached is the results before and after. The solution seems to have darkened and ruined this negative! I am not happy and will just continue to use without using the solution. Not sure what happened and just assume the solution had something to do with it. Thank God only one negative now is basically destroyed but I scanned ahead of time and didn't batch clean. This was a negative from the mid-70's, soo more modern that the 40's and 50's I have, fyi.

Did Not Work on the Emulsion Side of our Slides!

This did not clean our 50-year old slides which had 20+ years of dust accumulated on them along with some mold. Fortunately I practiced on a throw-away slide first. It left a clear spot where once there was an image! Now mold is another matter as it should not be cleaned with this product. Only distilled water should be used on mold. It should be cleaned with cotton swabs or the lint-free wipes. Lastly I am not experienced in this aspect of preserving slides. I tend to be overly cautious. Will I be a return customer? Only time and more experience will tell.

Good cleaner for photographs

Read the online tutorials for how to effectively use it - very critical. The solution is really good at removing ink and basic dirt from the surface of a photograph, and a little goes a long way. I am scanning my family pics from 1880s onward, and as long as the photo has a sealed surface, it works well. My process on pre-1960s photos is to scan the raw photo, then test a cleaning spot on the edge, clean if possible & rescan. It takes longer, but it reduces the risk. But it also doesn't take long to figure out which photos will dissolve under the solution and which ones benefit from the cleaning.