Dust!!!!!

ChrisR

ChrisR

I'm a well known grump...
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Chris
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Apparently there's a fancy new trilogy about dust about to be published, but I don't plan to read it; I have enough problems with dust of my own! This last film I devved, as mentioned elsewhere, was a nightmare for dust and little hairs. None of these are visible on the negatives, which were also rocket-blown before scanning. Here's an example (hope it shows up)...

1702B dusty.jpg

So, what's your workflow for minimising the bad effects of dust on your scanning?
 
For me Chris,before I do anything I give the negs once in the holder a good go over with the rocket blower and if still there after the first scan I do it again.
 
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Well Chris don't forget to clean the glass of the scanner as well as dust can drop on the neg, and assuming now that wiping the neg before scanning, with say a hankie, could produce static on the neg to attract dust ...h'mm all you can do really is use a rocket blower just before scanning.
 
I damp dust the outside of the scanner and the surrounding area (including the areas where I'm going to be loading the negs into the holder) before scanning. I then use my blower on the negs once they're in the holder (both sides), and then carefully wipe the glass on the scanner with a micro-fibre cloth before placing the holder and closing the lid.

I repeat the blower and micro-fibre stages for each set of negs in the roll. I also give the micro-fibre cloth a shake to remove loose dust every now and then (in a different room!).

Doing this means that dust is usually minimal and easily manageble with the spot removal tool in LR. There's always some dust though, no matter how much care I take.
 
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FishyFish said:
I damp dust the outside of the scanner and the surrounding area (including the areas where I'm going to be loading the negs into the holder) before scanning. I then use my blower on the negs once they're in the holder (both sides), and then carefully wipe the glass on the scanner with a micro-fibre cloth before placing the holder and closing the lid.

I repeat the blower and micro-fibre stages for each set of negs in the roll. I also give the micro-fibre cloth a shake to remove loose dust every now and then (in a different room!).

Doing this means that dust is usually minimal and easily manageble with the spot removal tool in LR. There's always some dust though, no matter how much care I take.
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I follow a similar process but I don't like wiping the glass or negs with a cloth in case it statically charges them and attracts more dust to them. I use a rocket blower on the negs in the holder and the top and bottom scanner glass each time I prepare a scan. If there's a stubborn bit of dust I get it moving by using a soft blower bush gently on it, then zap it with the rocket blower. Seems to work OK for me.
 
My scanner is a Plustek 7500i dedicated 35mm scanner, so the scanner glass is internal. There's no indication of dust repeated on successive images though, so I don't think it has picked up dust AFAICS. I also dust the scanner and general area, but it's a bedroom as well so presumably some dust floating around. What confused me this time was there was no visible indication on the negs of dust; sometimes you can easily see it but not this time. Everything gets a rocket blow top and bottom before the strip goes into the scanner, and I try to minimise the time the strip is visibly sticking out of the scanner by completing and filing each strip in a oner...

Any special precautions at the drying stage? As I said, this was hung in the shower cabinet in the shower room with the door closed.
 
Couldn't find my old blower so got a new one from amazon for £8 delivered, ordered last night when I gave up on the old one, arrived just before I wanted to get scanning. Almost glad I forgot to cancel that prime sub.


Edit: Doh, just found the old one beside the light box...

Edit2: Batteries are away and I can't find the charger. Off to amazon again. I hate moving.
 
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Sorry Chris did not know it was a plustek. The problem may be that the dust is being deposited as the neg strip is drawn into the scanner, have a good blow out with some compressed HFC air from the inside out if that is possible.
 
I give the scanner a once over, internal and external, usually with a microfiber cloth and rocket blower although occasionally I'll use one of the cats if I wish to add a nice winter snow scene to my image! :D:D
 
Asha said:
I give the scanner a once over, internal and external, usually with a microfiber cloth and rocket blower although occasionally I'll use one of the cats if I wish to add a nice winter snow scene to my image! :D:D
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Why, has it got dandruff? :D
 
.....'or Mange or scabie mites crawling over the negs for a snow effect. o_O :eek:
 
Guys this is serious for Chris,lets try to help him.:)
 
medwaygreen said:
Guys this is serious for Chris,lets try to help him.:)
Click to expand...

We have, and ran out of ideas for the scanner, so dust could be stuck to the neg at the drying stage OR specks in the fixer when old and some evaporation and the negs not washed properly.
 
U
medwaygreen said:
Guys this is serious for Chris,lets try to help him.:)
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Rocket blower
Micorfibre cloth
Damp dust surrounding area
Shoot XP2 and use software
Request scans from lab
Shoot digital
Get the wife to dust more efficiently
Scan in someone elses dust free home
Scan inside a bubble
or
Use a cat :D
 
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Asha said:
U

Rocket blower
Micorfibre cloth
Damp dust surrounding area
Shoot XP2 and use software
Request scans from lab
Shoot digital
Get the wife to dust more efficiently
Scan in someone elses dust free home
Scan inside a bubble
or
Use a cat :D
Click to expand...

Hey Asha don't you get dust on the digi sensor causing spots :D
 
Don't have a cat :D

Same as most rocket blower brush etc.

If there is still marks on the image after scanning then sitck some music on and go over the image using some sort of clone stamp or healer in Photoshop/Infinity or whatever software package you use.
 
Given some of these are for FPOTY and I had a C41 film as well, I've caved and sent a roll of Tri-X to Filmdev! I'll try again when less under pressure.

Part of my plan is to mist spray the bathroom before hanging up the next roll of wet negs. That's the area with the greatest risk of dust exposure, i reckon, given it hangs there for a few hours.
 
Could your problem be the bathroom?
Towels, dry skin, hair brushing, extractor going? Got to be a lot of dust/fluff involved there!
 
I've always followed the old advice of hanging up films after a bath or shower, where the steam brings down the duse particles. Although in practice, it means I run some hot water. Our bathroom has a bath mat but a lino floor, which reduces dust.
 
wontolla said:
Could your problem be the bathroom?
Towels, dry skin, hair brushing, extractor going? Got to be a lot of dust/fluff involved there!
Click to expand...

It's a shower room, not really used for anything else, too small to keep towels in there. But I do think it's the likely culprit. It's usually afternoon by the time I get round to devving (AND the OH is out of the house, a pre-requisite), so perhaps the atmosphere is a bit dry, hence my idea to use the mister. I just can't explain why this time was so much worse than others, including the run only a week or so ago.
 
Here's a tip to avoid dust ... after developing your first films for a year, hanging them up overnight to dry in a nice clean bathroom, ensuring that they're not touching each other or anything else, when taking the hanger off the shower curtain rail don't knock it and drop the bloody lot on the floor. :banghead:

Scanning now and they don't seem too bad, thanks to some cotton gloves and a rocket blower but I could have done without the hassle. :grumpy:
 
I use the shower room to dry the negs too. I run the shower for a while to take the dust out of the air.
 
Looks as though not only were my negatives dusty, they are covered in drying marks too. Didn't rinse them enough or give them a proper go with the PhotoFlo by the looks of it. It's not a complete disaster because they were really only test films but I was hoping at least one shot would be good enough to enter in FPOTY and while I got the shot I wanted, it'd take me past the deadline to retouch all the mess on it. :(
 
I might just be lucky, but I've never really had a problem with dust on my images. Can't say why though! I hang my negs to dry for a few hours on a piece of paracord hung across the bath, then cut and sleeve them as soon as they're dry. Then when scanning I wipe the scanner glass with a microfibre cloth, and blow each negative with a battery powered clean air blower. After scanning there are usually only maybe 4-5 little spots on the images that I need to zap.

Mind you, once I stopped zooming in to 100% to remove dust, life got much easier! Now I only dust bust with the image fitted to the screen, or maybe zoomed in a touch if it's a special photo.
 
I dry my negs in the contraption I've documented here before, that helps prevent dust sticking while drying.

I know you're a bit stuck for the Plustek, but when scanning medium format on the flatbed I use a Staticwisk to good effect. I also wet-scan the negs. It can all get a bit of a faff though, which is why I've still got negs from last Christmas (2015) to scan :(
 
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