Driven daft by dust.

srichards

srichards

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Suz
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I've got loads of old films to scan in. It wouldn't be so bad but every speck of dust in the entire house hurls itself at the negs the moment they come out of the protective sleeve! Scans need ages with the clone tool to get rid of the marks. I'm using vuescan with an old minolta 5400 II. I tried a vinyl record brushy thing but that didn't help :)

Is there a good way of getting rid of the dust before you scan to reduce the amount of time spent fiddling about with Gimp? Negs seem to have all kinds of marks so is it even worth trying?

I was looking forward to going out and taking more pictures with film but this has rather put me off....
 
nope

Digital ice

hermetically sealed room with filter fans

or do like the rest of us, brushes, blower, several bowls of hot water pumping moisture in to the atmosphere, brush or blow, then straight in the scanner no fannying about, then clone....
 
Darn. I was hoping there was a gizmo like an anti static zapper that would make all the dust jump off the negs :)
 
ere I was watching something on ebay the other day, god knows how you use it, or what its even for...but it looked interesting...


*goes off to find it knowing it takes 3 weeks to sign in to ebay these days :shrug:*

ahaaa

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130433980696&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


well 3 minutes isn't 3 weeks but its still ridiculous junk hole of a site to use with bladdy server time outs, firefox can't connect, half the page loading in italics, or is it just me and just ebay
 
Last edited:
srichards said:
I've got loads of old films to scan in. It wouldn't be so bad but every speck of dust in the entire house hurls itself at the negs the moment they come out of the protective sleeve! Scans need ages with the clone tool to get rid of the marks. I'm using vuescan with an old minolta 5400 II. I tried a vinyl record brushy thing but that didn't help :)

Is there a good way of getting rid of the dust before you scan to reduce the amount of time spent fiddling about with Gimp? Negs seem to have all kinds of marks so is it even worth trying?

I was looking forward to going out and taking more pictures with film but this has rather put me off....
Click to expand...

Sounds like the negs have to be rewashed as it's embedded cr*p and not dust whilst scanning....with a fresh neg from the lab all you need is a rocket blower and backup of something like Photoshop to touch up as it's difficult to get a perfect spot free scan in a normal room at home.
Also a torch can be handy to light up dust on the neg.
 
Hmm. I'll try the torch idea. Don't think anyone does a handy desktop neg washer and dryer do they?!
 
srichards said:
Hmm. I'll try the torch idea. Don't think anyone does a handy desktop neg washer and dryer do they?!
Click to expand...


Well cheapest way is:- soapy water and gentle hands, final rinse in cold kettle water (if limey water from tap) then hang up in the bathroom.......and tell no one to go in there till dry :)
Afterwards if on the shiny side there are drying stains, a huff and polish with a clean cotton handkerchief.
 
Hmm. Looks like making use of the clone tool might be the quickest and least painful option :)
 
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