[filmscanners] RE: SS120 - getting dust out

["Frank Paris" <frankparis@comcast.net>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
> [mailto:filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk] On Behalf Of Barbara White
> Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 8:59 AM
> To: frankparis@comcast.net
> Subject: [filmscanners] RE: SS120 - getting dust out
>
>
> Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. I'm thinking that
> because I'm scanning at a high resolution (4000) perhaps dust
> is showing up that I can't see on the negs, even with a
> loupe. So maybe now my question should be - how to clean negs
> other than blowing them off with air?
>
> Barbara White

I haven't found anything that works except a technique that I reported
and was roundly trounced on by a some members of this list when I
reported it a couple years ago. I take the negatives and firmly pull
them through a well-washed, terry cloth towel. I was told this would
ruin the negatives and put all kinds of scratches on them. But it cleans
the negatives like nothing else I've ever tried, as brutal as it sounds,
and whatever scratching it does has not shown up on my 4000 dpi scans.
Naturally I can't guarantee this will work for anyone else, especially
since the technique was so roundly condemned. My success may have to do
with the quality of my towels and the pressure I apply, who knows? I
only tried it out of desperation and was amazed myself that it didn't
ruin the film but actually got rid of the dust. Of course if you have
chemical stains it's hopeless. I try to avoid negatives for the reason
that they are so difficult to handle with the SS4000. With slides, I'll
get batches that are absolutely pristine one day and filthy the next,
from the same developer. It seems to me we're talking about careless
operator handling here. A tipoff is if the plastic case has tape holding
it together. This is a sure sign that some idiot dropped the whole batch
on the floor and they will be out of order and full of dirt.

Frank Paris
frankparis@comcast.net

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe by mail to listserver@halftone.co.uk, with 'unsubscribe 
filmscanners'
or 'unsubscribe filmscanners_digest' (as appropriate) in the message title or 
body