Removing Dust for Scanning

[John Hines]

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What should I use to keep dust off slides and negatives for scanning? Every time I scan I end up with dust somewhere.

 

Thanks

 

John

[rafael_macia]

John,

Dust is always a problem. What I do is;

Slides

(when scanning,) just prior to putting the slide in its holder, I hold the slide by it's mount with two fingers in my left hand. Then finger snap the other side of the mount with my right hand. I have a small halogen table lamp on my desk, after snapping the mount to dislodge dust,I move the holder with the slide in it under the lamp, looking across the surface of the slide. Dust is easy to see when side lit.

 

Depending on your scanner, you should have some kind of dust reduction program,("Digital Ice", is a popular one). It softens up the image a bit, (some scanners soften more than others because in the case of Digital Ice, there have been different generations of the program)

 

Let us know what kind of a scanner you are using.

 

Try working in a dedicated area.

 

I have not scanned negatives, as of yet, and I have wondered what I would do.

Should I scan the prints I have made in the darkroom, with all the hand dodging and burning in on a flatbed scanner, or scan the negatives on my film scanner and redo do in Photoshop, all the corrections?

anyway,

good luck!

rafael

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[Shootist]

I find it almost impossible to get all the dust off a negative and even when I think I've done it and the scan is finished I see dust.

[Kent10D]

It really is difficult to consistently make totally dust-free scans.

 

I use a large blower to "air shower" my negatives before scanning, whether I can see any dust or not. If there's some persistent dust that I can see I'll use a soft brush as well. That gets most of it.

 

Cheers,

[John Hines]

I have been using can air but something always shows up. I just wanted to see if there was something more I could do.

 

Rafael, I have a Microtek scanner that came with Silver Fast. I will try to use that program to help clean up the dust spots.

 

Thank everyone and have a good day

 

John

[tobey bilek]

More than a brush and canned air, There used to be antistatic brushes. Some were single hand held. Some had double brushes and the film was passed through them.

 

Prevention is the key really. Cover the scanner, Keep the holders in a dust free place,

 

Cut up the neg as soon as possible and put then into a file folder which is kept clean, If you are taking the the negs out of a long 36 exp sleeve, clean the sleeve first.

 

I have little trouble.

 

I might add I never use scanner dust removal