Re: filmscanners: Dust removal, ICE

["Peter Marquis-Kyle" <petermk@optushome.com.au>]

Hi Mark

Thanks for the recommendation for 'Amazing Wipes'. I dashed out to the
local Coles supermarket in Brisbane, but couldn't find anything by
that name. Where do you get 'em?

Peter Marquis-Kyle


> I have a slightly contrary view about the 'essentiality' of ICE..
>
> Note that my only bias is that I can't afford a scanner with IR
(have you
> seen Australia's lousy exchange rate?).  I don't work for the ICE
people
> like Jack.. ;-)
>
> I have spent a fair bit of time experimenting on various ways to
clean film
> safely (both negatives and slides).  My cleaning method is very
simple - I
> have discovered that some of these new acrylic antistatic cloths
sold for
> household dusting ('Amazing Wipes' - sigh..) are great.  The ones I
am
> using have no impregnated oils (some do!), are incredibly soft and
really
> do pull the dust off (unlike some photo-cloths I have tried).
Naturally I
> use the cloth very lightly, and used this way they do not result in
any
> damage to my film.  However, do this ENTIRELY at your own risk - I
strongly
> recommend testing on junk film to get the hang of it, and remember
> negatives tend to be  more delicate than transparencies.
>
>
> Now I rarely spend more than a few minutes de-specking..  Compared
to the
> rest of the time I will spend playing with an image, that isn't
much...
>
>
> I agree that ICE (or similar) might be very useful if you have
limited
> time-per-image, or lots of really dusty, scratched, or mould-damaged
film -
> but I haven't, and I don't find myself wishing for ICE..
>
> Regards, Mark T.