Neg Scanning - Dust etc

[pearce_jj]

Evening all

Have been trying to scan my 35mm negs. Scanner is Canon cheap-o 4400F, flat bed job with extra CFL in the lid for neg scanning.

Problem I'm having is that there is quite a bit of dust visible on the scans. The negs look absolutely spotless, and I'm giving the glass a wipe over with a micro-fibre cloth too, so it also looks OK - but obviously not.

Any ideas on best way to pick up the particles very much appreciated - not least because the scanner is super-slow so I'm wasting a tonne of time!

Cheers
James.

[sprog]

I use an antistatic foam cleaner on my scanner glass, it seems to help. The trouble with usinga dry cloth is that it can build up static and as soon as you wipe the glass the dust flies straight back on before you can close the lid.

Might be worth giving your negatives another wash in distilled water, and hang them in the bathroom to dry.

[dcash29]

Maybe looking for something like the Artic Butterfly that cleans camera sensors could be a good idea.

I'm affraid i dont have this problem as my Nikon coolscan 3 has digital ICE

Dave

[whitewash]

my Nikon coolscan 3 has digital ICE



big subs and neons????:shrug: if not please explain a bit about this 'digital ice' as im in the market for a scanner

cheers

[zeroeseight]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_ICE

Basically infrared is used to detect dust on the media. It doesn't work on black and white film as it contains silver halide which the infrared picks up. ICE works on C41/E6 due to the layers of dye being transparent to infrared, anything that is not transparent on the film is treated as dust.

[CT]

Digital ICE is a feature built into some scanners which deals with dust and other small defects. Some scanners also come with additional software which deals with dust etc.

[whitewash]

cheers for the heads up, sounds quite useful to save a bit of time if your scanning alot!

[john-oh]

A scanning 'Bible' :

http://www.scantips.com/

[Ally]

I normally give the neg a couple of brushs with a lens pen and then a quick blow and put it in the scanner. The rest is taken away with the clone stamp in photoshop. You always have to do a bit of cleaning up.

[sprog]

ICE doesn't work on B&W or Kodachrome, so I rarely use it.

I used it on some kodak colour negs once and it took an absolute age, and the results were not that impressive.

[dcash29]

well all i can say is that i had a velvia slide full of finger marks which resulted in a dirty scan, with ICE it cleaned the image and instantly, so i dont know what you are using

[sprog]

Still no substitute to having a clean neg to start with.

[pearce_jj]

Thank you for all the replies, very much appreciated :)