Lumina Fluid Scan & Film Cleaners

[mccormickstudio]

I'm about to embark on my first fluid-mount scans of 8x10 negs on a V700 using Lumina Scanning fluid. I have two questions:

1. I have a piece of anti-glare glass that I use to flatten for prescans - Is this ok to use for the top of the fluid sandwich or does acetate or mylar work better?

2. Cleaning the film after Lumina fluid scans - what are you doing? Will a water rinse work? A dip in mild hypo (I'm scanning 160NPS negs)? Or do I need to committ to a film cleaner spray like Prazio?

Thanks!

[Lenny Eiger]

I'm about to embark on my first fluid-mount scans of 8x10 negs on a V700 using Lumina Scanning fluid. I have two questions:

1. I have a piece of anti-glare glass that I use to flatten for prescans - Is this ok to use for the top of the fluid sandwich or does acetate or mylar work better?

2. Cleaning the film after Lumina fluid scans - what are you doing? Will a water rinse work? A dip in mild hypo (I'm scanning 160NPS negs)? Or do I need to committ to a film cleaner spray like Prazio?

Thanks!

I use a different brand of mounting fluid, however, that said - mounting fluid is supposed to evaporate quickly, and I am surf the Lumina will. Wave the film in the air a couple of times and it should clear right off.

Lenny

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I use Kami scanning fluid and I fully agree with Lenny E. While the fluid is not lighter fluid, it dries as quick or quicker. There is no need to clean it off and if it takes more time than you feel you have to hold the film in the air, just hang it to dry for a few minutes. As a matter of fact, scanning fluid is in itself a very good cleaner for the film and it should evaporate without a trace.

//Björn

[Bjorn Nilsson]

I use Kami scanning fluid and I fully agree with Lenny E. While the fluid is not lighter fluid, it dries as quick or quicker. There is no need to clean it off and if it takes more time than you feel you have to hold the film in the air, just hang it to dry for a few minutes. As a matter of fact, scanning fluid is in itself a very good cleaner for the film and it should evaporate without a trace.

//Björn

[Bruce Watson]

1. I have a piece of anti-glare glass that I use to flatten for prescans - Is this ok to use for the top of the fluid sandwich or does acetate or mylar work better?

If it fits it should be OK. The more optically "perfect" the cover the better your scans will be, so make sure it's a good piece of glass.


2. Cleaning the film after Lumina fluid scans - what are you doing? Will a water rinse work?

Nope. Fluids for scanner mounting are anhydrous. They aren't likely to be miscible in water. Worse, water will soften and swell the emulsion, something to avoid. IOW, trying to rinse with water will just make a mess.


A dip in mild hypo (I'm scanning 160NPS negs)?

Nope. What are you thinking? Why would you want to contaminate a color negative with hypo? And again, the water in the hypo will soften and swell the emulsion. Still a bad idea.


Or do I need to commit to a film cleaner spray like Prazio?

Yes, use a film cleaner. You could hang it to "dry" (let the fluid evaporate) but all scanning fluids leave some residue behind. Even Kami sometimes does, at least according to reports from the yahoo group ScanHi-End.

The Lumina family has a film cleaner does it not? Why not use that? Else the Prazio film cleaner should work, but if you are going to use the Prazio film cleaner, why not use the Prazio Anti-Newton scanning fluid too? That way you'll know the chems will work together as designed. And there's always PEC-12 which is available at many art supply companies.

Use a good quality scanner wipe (Prazio has good ones, and PEC pads are good) to remove the film cleaner, and use a good motion with the wipe to avoid damaging the film. That is, wipe across the film in one continuous motion (never scrub), and rotate the wipe as you go to lift the grundge up and away from the film so you don't drag abrasives across the surface leaving scratches behind.

[sanking]

I don't understand why my experience is so different from you and Lenny. There is nearly always some residue on my film after using Kami fluid and I clean it off with a film cleaner. Aztek makes a film cleaner for that very purpose so I have to figure I am not the only one that is getting some residue on the film after scanning with fluid mounting.

Sandy King



QUOTE=Bjorn Nilsson;370589]I use Kami scanning fluid and I fully agree with Lenny E. While the fluid is not lighter fluid, it dries as quick or quicker. There is no need to clean it off and if it takes more time than you feel you have to hold the film in the air, just hang it to dry for a few minutes. As a matter of fact, scanning fluid is in itself a very good cleaner for the film and it should evaporate without a trace.

//Björn[/QUOTE]

[Peter De Smidt]

I agree with Bruce and Sandy. Scanning fluid does leave residue on the film that needs to be cleaned off with film cleaner. It's easy to test for. Get a really clean sheet of glass. Put a few drops of scanning fluid on the glass. Let it dry for a day, just to make sure that it's completely dry. Now examine the glass. You'll definitely see a residue.