[filmscanners] SS4000 dust streaks

["Pat Cullinan, jr." <pcullinan@mindspring.com>]

Dear folks,

My scans have recently been having linear streaks in the direction of
the scan. The
problem is more or less intermittent, with the preponderance of the
behavior being
in favor of the streaks.

There is no evidence of streaking on the original materials, and in any
event, the streaking
has occurred with so many rolls of film that it can hardly be anything
else than dust in
the scanner.

Plus, the "latitude" of the streaks varies over time.  (Meaning the
position.)

The Polaroid website is singularly discouraging and unhelpful.

They suggest:

            - Check for and remove any objects in the calibration
window.

Objects?  Like what, baseballs? Keyrings?  Next, they say:

     - The bulb is not user accessible. There is not much one can do to
clean or replace the
     bulb. Call Polaroid Technical Support at 800-432-5355 to get your
scanner repaired.

I called tech support and asked them what the average charge for service
was.  They said $400
to $600.  This to blow out a piece of dust.  Maybe two pieces.

Finally, the website says:

     There is a misconception that blowing canned air into the scanner
will help clean parts in the
     optical path and the CCD. This is not true, the CCD in most of the
SprintScan scanners is
     sealed inside the unit and is not accessible. It is important that
the areas of the scanner you
     can reach are clean, but for this a q-tip or dust free cloth is
more effective.

I don't want to clean the CCD per se.  I want to clean whatever needs to
be cleaned.  What "areas"
might be cleaned?

Has anyone had experience with this problem?

Thanks and best regards,

Pat Cullinan, Jr.

.

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