dust busting nightmare

[jetcode]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

[Daniel_Buck]

I use a large 'blow bulb/rocket' and give the glass a good puffing of air and the down-side of the negative just before I place the negative down. I do the same with the next negative (I scan two 4x5s at a time), then I blow off the lid and the top of the negatives in the fully opened position, then just before the lid closes all the way (only a few inches open) I give another good puffing of air in there to make sure nothing settles down on the film as I close the lid.

That seems to work quite well for my 4x5s.

If the dust is stuck to the negatives so that a puff of air doesn't loosen the dust, I suppose some sort of soft brush could work as well?

[Ron Marshall]

I brush the glass with an anti-static brush and then gently close the cover. Before I began using the brush it was a spotting nightmare for me also.

[Saulius]

Aside from brushing and spraying with canned air before scanning, both negative and the scanner, I try to minimize the dust from collecting on the scanner itself by keeping a plastic cover on it at all times when not in use.
You can also look here:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...highlight=dust
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...-spotting.html

[Don Hutton]

Wet Scanning helps a whole lot...

[Doug Dolde]

This is kind of a lousy answer because I haven't actually tried one since i send all my film out for scanning.

But Kinetronics makes several sizes of anti static film cleaners. I'd look at the KSE models.

http://www.kinetronics.com

[Ed Richards]

Use a big anti-static brush and brush the scanner plate each time as well. I have a 12" brush that I keep by the scanner.

[David_Senesac]

A computer servicing blower vacuum with a concentrator attachment to focus air works far better than any of the usual canned air products. I've been cleaning my optical parts and film for a couple decades using something like this:

http://www.demco.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWE...BLK921&STA0000


...David Senesac

[walter23]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

I keep my desk / work area clean and try to dust it often. I also have a big rubberized printer cover that fits over my V750 and keep that in place all the time when I'm not scanning. I also keep all my negative carriers in their original plastic bags in a clean drawer of a desk near my scanning area, and only take them out briefly when I'm using them.

And of course I use a rubber bulb blower on the glass and negative and holder before scanning (and after, before putting everything away).

[Ben Chase]

The scans I am getting are just clogged with dust. What are the techniques do you use to reduce dust in a scan?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

Depends on how you are scanning.... If you're wet-mounting with Kami or other types of mounting fluid, dust typically isn't a major issue (at least in my experience).

If you are not using a wet-mounting system, I recommend you try cleaning the transparency or negative with PEC-12 immediately before scanning. That should get rid of fingerprints, dust, etc.

Dust is the bane of all large-format photographers, there is only so much you can do, but if the room you are scanning in has a major dust problem, I'd recommend keeping the scanner wrapped in plastic at all times. I did this with my Nikon Coolscan 9000 when I was shooting medium format, and I never had dust as a problem after that.