Vacuum those film holders then Vac-seal them

[richardman]

I have no problem with dust so far in the Silicon Valley, although I would imagine that things are quite different in the desert. Also, scanning, especially with ICE dust removal (non-B&W only) may act differently than optical enlarging as well.

[Drew Wiley]

My clean room is in my own little lab and is dedicated to film and color printing, separate from the sink and processing room and general enlarging room. Actually I have four adjacent darkrooms, each equipped differently. The film room has triple-filtered air lines (sub-micron), an industrial air cleaner, enameled anti-static
walls, I wear a 100% dacron cleanroom smock in there (lint free), blah blah. Sometimes I use it for general printing, just cause it's superbly insulated and nice n' cozy in winter. But if I do that, then I sponge everything down before doing any color or film registration work etc. Any cleanroom or lab supply has all kinds of stuff applicable to darkroom work. Camera stores are pitiful in that respect, as are the habits of traditional photographers. And it ain't all that expensive to do things right if you just research it a bit.

[Alan Gales]

My clean room is in my own little lab and is dedicated to film and color printing, separate from the sink and processing room and general enlarging room. Actually I have four adjacent darkrooms, each equipped differently. The film room has triple-filtered air lines (sub-micron), an industrial air cleaner, enameled anti-static
walls, I wear a 100% dacron cleanroom smock in there (lint free), blah blah. Sometimes I use it for general printing, just cause it's superbly insulated and nice n' cozy in winter. But if I do that, then I sponge everything down before doing any color or film registration work etc. Any cleanroom or lab supply has all kinds of stuff applicable to darkroom work. Camera stores are pitiful in that respect, as are the habits of traditional photographers. And it ain't all that expensive to do things right if you just research it a bit.

It sounds really nice, Drew.

We did HVAC work on a place that had a commercial clean room. The floor was elevated and had holes in the floor tiles. Air was constantly sucked down through the floor along with any dust particles and then through a filter before it returned to the clean room. It was a neat set up and a large format photographer's dream.

[BetterSense]

For loading cameras and film it may be more economical to engineer a clean mini environment than a whole room.

http://m.sentryair.com/specs/Clean-R...ni-218-PCR.htm

of course it doesn't matter because dust is just going to get sucked onto the film as soon as you pull the darkslide, which is why I have all but given up on 4x5. I don't scan and I don't have the skill or inclination to remove dust spots from skies. If they would ever bring back quick loads I would be so happy. Until then I find that using static-guard on the film holders, storing in pink ziploks, blowing out the camera and letting settle before loading the film, and praying make a difference but still not enough for me to be confident there won't be ruinous spots on the film.

[Tin Can]

4x5 is dustier, not sure why but I agree.

I also love 'fixing' invisible on a print 'dust' on a scanned anything.

On a scan I don't know where to stop 'spotting'!

Not scanning much.

[jp]

My scanner is the dirtiest dustiest part of the whole process. I think the epsons' plastic is a static dust attracter.

Hepa air cleaner in darkroom.
Pink antistatic bags for the film holders when they are not in the camera.
No dust problems.

[Jmarmck]

I agree. The scanner is the dirtiest part. It is a magnet for dust and dog hair. All my retouching is due to dirt on the scanner, for the most part. It is on the plastic and glass. No matter how much I clean it. Now it is inside underneath the glass.
The masking material from better scanner is terrible for static. I am looking for a better material.
Other than that, I have very little problems with dust. I keep the cameras/lenses/holders covered or protected from my very dirty house/dogs. I simply blow the holders clean before loading. So far, so good.

[richardman]

I don't know why you folks have so much problems with dust and scanning. My bane is 3 dogs who are constantly shedding. Ugh.

[cyrus]

In my experience, vacuuming only adds to static charge and attracts dust, as do plastic bags. I use an antistatic dust gun to blow out the holders and try to increase the humidity in the air before loading film holders. Thus far it has worked well.

[Alan Gales]

In my experience, vacuuming only adds to static charge and attracts dust, as do plastic bags. I use an antistatic dust gun to blow out the holders and try to increase the humidity in the air before loading film holders. Thus far it has worked well.

I've heard of people loading their holders in the bathroom after running hot water in the shower.