Masking for dust and scratches

[Gary L. Quay]

Howdy folks,
I'm thinking of buying one of the masking kits talked about in the last two issues of View Camera Magazine.

www.Maskingkits.com

Does anyone know if one can use masks to eliminate, or at least hide, the black spots left on the print from stray dust on the negative at the time the image was taken? I have a number of negatives that would be very printable except for dust holes in the image.

Thanks!
--Gary

[Nathan Potter]

Wow, tough task. I don't know about the registration ability of the masking kit you mention. Mine are home made and may just have the accuracy to work on defects down to about 0.001 inch (25 micrometers), about the lower limit of most large lint. For critical work I hand register under a binocular microscope on a light table and 1 mil registration is a butt buster. Realize that the defects fall in a variety of densities on the negative and all are clear (I presume) so you can only build masking density equally at every defect. What I mean is that for straight masking the density of the defect mask cannot match the adjacent negative density equally everywhere on the negative. Solving the problem of varying the mask defect density variation would require some really sophisticated process technique. Perhaps utilizing some adjacency effect using lith film?

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[David A. Goldfarb]

One method of hiding pinholes and clear spots from dust on the neg is to use a sharp stylus, like a needle, perpendicular to the film base, and stipple the area on the base side over the pinhole. Put the neg on a lightbox and use a magnifier to be sure you get the right area and keep the stippled area compact. The idea is to create a little diffusion over the pinhole, so the light scatters and fills in the empty spot.

It's a bit scary to take a sharp object to a neg for the first time, but I've found it to be a very effective method that shows no trace in the print when done properly. Obviously, practice on a scrap neg first.

[Drew Wiley]

I've made hundreds if not thousands of masks using the best gear available, but
don't personally consider this a very realistic method for controlling dust spots.
For simple black and white work, I use fine point pens and neocreocin dye, which
can be put on a sheet of frosted mylar and registered to the film if you don't want
to mark the base of the film itself. I just try to work very, very clean when loading
filmholders in the first place. Masking gear can be useful for a variety of other things in printing, however. But since I haven't subscribed to View Camera in a long
time, I have no idea of the specific kit you're looking at. Just be aware that acetate
based films are not dimensionally stable and won't maintain registration for long.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Nearly fired off a reply earlier but didn't a). because I too couldn't think of how to easily do this through simple masking (despite having made quite a few contrast and highlight protection masks myself) and b). didn't wanna come off sounding like a wet blanket and c). there's always the chance someone more clever than I am will chime in and I'll learn something without having to look like a dolt by shooting my mouth off first.

Even if there is a way, whatever mask might be devised for dust might have unintended dust consequences itself which could make it more trouble than it's worth. Whenever you make a mask and then sandwich it with the neg for printing, you've now got 2 additional surfaces to entrain dust (which at least when working with negative materials show up white and not black on the print and can be spotted. Not so with transparencies, though). Moreover, Newton's Rings too often can be an issue when using masks that don't have a thick base as did the now defunct Kodak Pan Masking film. But most of the masking films are pretty rare these days. Since their demise many folks are struggling along with other more typical emulsions with thin bases if they're still sticking with any masking at all, and this is where Newton's Rings can be a real pain.

Much as I still love film and my D/R and the process, dust and scratch repair is one area where digital truly dominates. For the few motes that might get past automated repairs during CCD scanning using Digital ICE, it's ridiculously trivial to clone out dust in Photoshop. Contrasted with what a bugbear this can be with film in the darkroom, and you might want to at least consider this an option for your really banged-up negatives and transparencies.

[Gary L. Quay]

I have no means to print digitally in the sizes that I normally produce with traditional processes. I have, however, been considering producing digitally repaired negatives for use in the darkroom. I can print up to 8x10 on my Epson R800, so I could possibly repair the negs and contact print them or enlarge them somewhat. I'm asuming that the DPI would have to be astronomical, though. Is this a practical approach? I have a dual core Mac Pro, so computing power is not an issue.

[Turner Reich]

I looked up the kit they offered in the View Camera magazine and it was $550.00. I think I'll stick to spotting the negative and keeping the vigil up on film holder cleanliness.

[Gary L. Quay]

Another thought occurrs to me. I've thought of merely blacking out the offending spot, and retouching each final print. This seems like a lot of work, but I'll do it if I have to. The stippling approach mentioned earlier seems like something I should try very soon.

As far as care in film loading goes, I have done everything I can think of. If someone can think of anything else, I'm all ears. Here's what I do. I clean blow out the film holders before loading. The air is from a compressor and 150 psi. I use a cappilary nozzle. I leave the negs in the bag until I load. I load the holders in a vertical position, and then with the dark slide open, and film holder on it's side, I blow the loaded film off with the air at a 45 degree angle while holding it in place with the bottom part of the film holder: the part that flops open to load the film. Then I close it up. I've also blown out my cameras. I live in an old, dusty house, though. It's hard to keep the darkroom clean.

--Gary

[Gary L. Quay]

I looked up the kit they offered in the View Camera magazine and it was $550.00. I think I'll stick to spotting the negative and keeping the vigil up on film holder cleanliness.

How do you spot the negative? I bought some of the Kodak spotting varnish, but pencil won't stick to it, and spotting pens leave large blobs of ink. I've destroyed a few negatives trying.

--Gary

[Michael Rosenberg]

I mask about 80% of my negatives. I have been using the condit punch and negative carrier in all that time (I was lucky to buy one before he retired), and I cannot see doing without a registration system! In my experience masking makes dust spots on film worse - as it should! As others suggested stipple the back of the film before making a mask, or etch the prints with a clean new x-axcto knife. Before making a mask use Rexton spray to clean the negative, as this also provides an anti-static protection.

I have found that some dust can come from the inside of the bellows, so keep your bellows clean. When using my Harrison tent in the field I set the tent up a few hours before using it to allow the dust to settle, use a lint roller to pick up dust on the floor of the tent (you would be surprised how much there is - I think it gets drawn in through the sleeves when setting the tent up), and dust off everything with an antistatic brush before putting it into the tent. All of this helps.

Mike

[Drew Wiley]

My first "darkroom" was a spare bedroom with a carpeted floor, and I was making large
Cibachromes, which are utterly miserable to retouch. What a learning curve! Today I
have the convenience of a genuine film-room/cleanroom, separate from the wet side.
I have a large industrial air-cleaner, antistatic air blower, triple-filtered compressed air,
and a 100% dacron cleanroom smock.My filmholders are all treated with antistatic fluid.
I use black Goretex darkcloths, never cotton. When the air is extremely dry and cold,
like winter in the Southwest, I might ground a metal camera using an alligator clip, a
length or doorbell wire, and a common nail to act as the ground rod (not necessary for
a wood view camera). The filmholders or equivalent are double wrapped in ZipLocs as
well as tupperware. If all this sounds like overkill, it isn't. There's nothing worse than
spotting, although the worst scenario for me is open skies on medium format film, where tiny manufacturing blemishes become a real chore. 8X10 is so much easier. I fear that a younger generation, accustomed to Photoshop, will acquire sloppy habits
(spotting on the computer isn't fun any either - it's so much easier to do things right
in the first place!) Incidentally, my own basic registration gear was also made by Condit, although I've supplemented this quite a bit. I work with three distinct color
processes as well as various black-and-white techniques, but never print digitally.