Your solutions to dust?

[Adrian Pybus]

I find removing dust boring. It's a lot easier with CS5 most of the time but ...

My procedure is this:

Before loading 4x5 film into my cassettes I take a brush and clear away dust from the cassettes.

I load the film in a Harrison tent (the pup) which doesn't seem to be as statically charged as my other portable darkroom bags.

Prior to scanning I use a large giottos rocket air blaster on my negatives and the glass on my V750 scanner.

I also wipe the surface of my scanner with a lens cleaning cloth.

I still get dust ...

I've read books where they recommend using wet wipes on the cassettes but am a bit leery of using wet wipes. I tried one once that actually left deposit of some kind.

For the same reason and for environmental and monetary reasons I don't use canned air anymore.

What are your thought on the dust issue? Any obvious improvements I could make?

Adrian

[Brian Ellis]

If "solution" means complete elimination, there is no way. As long as there's film there will be dust issues. And even digital cameras have problems with dust on the sensors.

For suggestions, you don't mention keeping film holders ("cassettes") in sealable plastic bags at all times except when a holder is in the camera and when you're loading and unloading film. That helps a lot in my experience.

I assume you periodically vacuum your changing bag. Those things are dust magnets, I quit using them years ago.

I'm sure there are many others but those are two quick and easy ones that come to mind.

[Gem Singer]

In dry climates, simply pulling the slide from a film holder can cause enough static charge to attract dust from the inside of the bellows.

A careful vacuuming the inside of a bellows with a crevice tool can help reduce the dust from attracting to the surface of the film.

[brianam]

Adrian, you say removing dust in scans is "a lot easier with CS5". I'm still on CS2; is there something about the healing brush that's a lot better in CS5? or, another technique?

I'm told using a Wacom tablet is good for doing a lot of spotting. I tried it, but couldn't get used to it.

[dave_whatever]

I'd add before loading holders you can vacuum the empty holders in and out. Using a brush will just move dust about, not get rid of it.

[Richard Wasserman]

I found that vacuuming the holders and storing them in plastic bags virtually eliminated any dust problems I was having. I still get the occasional wayward dust or lint particle, but they are easily dealt with.

[Brian Ellis]

Adrian, you say removing dust in scans is "a lot easier with CS5". I'm still on CS2; is there something about the healing brush that's a lot better in CS5? or, another technique?

I'm told using a Wacom tablet is good for doing a lot of spotting. I tried it, but couldn't get used to it.

I don't remember whether CS2 has the spot healing brush (right above the healing brush in the tool box) or not. But if it does that's the brush to use for fixing spots. You can also use the cloning tool but that takes more time.

If you want to remove or minimize everything in one fell swoop you could try this:

Select the area (say the sky). Enlarge it to 100%. Then Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches. In the dialog box that appears choose Threshold. Move the slider all the way to the left and then gradually move it to the right in increments of 5 pixels. After each move click and unclick the preview box and look at the image. The objective is to make the area in which you're working look the same when you click and unclick. Ignore spots when doing this, only look at the grain. When you see no change whether you've clicked or unclicked go to the Radius slider (in the same box from which you selected "threshold") one pixel at a time until you see that most of the spots, scratches, etc are gone. If you go too high with the radius everything will look blurred, so just go high enough that the spots, scratches, etc. are removed.

This is a technique I learned in a workshop quite a while ago. It isn't as tedious as it sounds reading it, it all goes pretty quickly. I used it for a while and it seemed to work pretty well but I don't generally have enough spots and scratches to need anything other than the spot healing brush so I haven't used it in a long time. Hopefully it's viable with CS2, when I learned it Adobe was probably on PS5 or 6.

[jp]

I keep the holders in anti-static plastic ziplock style bags when they are not in the camera or darkroom.

Darkroom has a dust removal air cleaner going to keep the air clean of dander, dust, etc... No pets allowed in darkroom.

Scanner (Epson) seems to draw in dust by simply lifting the lid. I have to clean that glass on that before each use, dusting at a minimum, sometimes cleaning with alcohol.

Another unmentioned source of dust is the camera itself. Every time you extend the bellows it sucks in dusty air. I've been able to tell which speed graphic I used simply by the dust in the photo one occasion till I cleaned the camera insides out good. Pulling the darkslide could create enough charge that the film and holder attracts dust from inside the camera. In my case, cocking and operating the focal plane shutter could move dust around as well.

[Lenny Eiger]

Every time I clean the holders, I use an anti-staticum cloth from Ilford and rub them down. I get very little dust. I would also suggest liquid mounting the film for scanning, it makes most of the dust transparent...

Lenny

[Adrian Pybus]

Adrian, you say removing dust in scans is "a lot easier with CS5". I'm still on CS2; is there something about the healing brush that's a lot better in CS5? or, another technique?

I'm told using a Wacom tablet is good for doing a lot of spotting. I tried it, but couldn't get used to it.

Yes, in CS 5 there is content aware operations (both for things like the healing brush and for delete) where ps looks at what is behind what you are removing. It doesn't always work but it has cut down my de-dusting by half.

I got the first CS and dutifully upgraded each time but the only upgrade that was really worth it was to CS5.

Adrian

[Adrian Pybus]

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions. I seem to have to become friends with the vacuum cleaner again. :rolleyes:

Adrian

[Lenny Eiger]

Yes, in CS 5 there is content aware operations (both for things like the healing brush and for delete) where ps looks at what is behind what you are removing. It doesn't always work but it has cut down my de-dusting by half.

I got the first CS and dutifully upgraded each time but the only upgrade that was really worth it was to CS5.

Adrian

I use CS 5, am usually cranky at the changes they made in the curves dialog over CS 3 (grrrr). However, I will add that you should move to CS3, at least. CS 2 adjustment layers caused a lot of image bloat. They copied too much of the original layer somehow and every time you add a layer you almost double the size of the file. This was fixed in CS 3...

Lenny

[John Kasaian]

I have a mini shop-vac with attachements dedicated to film holders and cameras. It works for me! :)

[Doremus Scudder]

I vacuum the holders just before loading, paying attention to the light traps. I use a dedicated upholstery attachment with a turn of gaffers' tape around the bristles to get a bit more suction (it's only used for cleaning holders). Make sure your vacuum has a hepa-filter so it isn't launching lots of dust into your darkroom.

Wash your hands well before loading film, roll up your sleeves or wear a short-sleeved shirt to keep lint from dropping onto the workplace. I also don one of those cheapie shower caps hotels provide and try to keep head and body away from the loading area.

I keep the stack of film I'm loading emulsion-side down, turning each sheet of film emulsion-side up just before loading it into the holder. Total exposure of the emulsion side to air before the darkslide is closed is just a few seconds, thus keeping most airborne dust from settling on it.

After loading, the holders go into new ziploc-type bags (re-used ones invariably have dust in them. I use them for sandwiches).

Clean the bellows on the inside of your camera at home regularly. Extend them fully and blow them out then vacuum. In the field, blow them out occasionally. I carry a blower-bulb in the field. I especially do this if I have racked out the bellows a long way or used extreme movements, which can dislodge dust that has been hiding in the camera bellows. I take off the camera back, blow, wait for the dust to settle, put the camera back on, wait, then load the holder.

Before loading a holder into the camera, I take it out of it's bag and brush off the dust that has collected on the darkslide and seating surfaces. It's always there, no matter how careful I am loading. I keep a lipstick brush in my vest pocket just for this purpose.

Important images with lots of featureless sky get two shots.

Once the film is exposed, dust is less of a problem until after the film is developed. However, drying is a dangerous time. Keeping the darkroom clean is a must, but don't clean just before developing film or you'll fill the air with dust. Better to leave things settled. I try to humidify the room by running hot water for a while before developing. The final rinse for the film is in filtered distilled water with PhotoFlo. The film goes from there to the drying hangers. If I can, I leave the room. If I am developing another batch, I try to keep my movements to a minimum to keep from launching any dust. As soon as the film is dry, it goes into poly sleeves to keep dust off the negs.

When enlarging, I've found that spending lots of time cleaning the neg (blower and a new, freshly-washed microfiber cloth for stubborn particles) more than compensates for time saved spotting later. I have an ion filter that I keep running in a corner of the darkroom when I'm not in it, but turn it off when working to let the particles settle. If you scan, then you have the glass to worry about too. I quit using glass carriers because I found they did not help sharpness and just added more surfaces to clean and more dust-catching potential.

Finally, I got good at etching small black spots from my prints. A 10x loupe and a small surgical scalpel used to just scrape off enough of the emulsion to eliminate the spot. The spot is then retouched with Spottone mixed with gum Arabic to match the print gloss. I don't do digital.

This has minimized my dust problems tremendously. Hope it helps,

Doremus Scudder

[Adrian Pybus]

I vacuum the holders just before loading, paying attention to the light traps. I use a dedicated upholstery attachment with a turn of gaffers' tape around the bristles to get a bit more suction (it's only used for cleaning holders). Make sure your vacuum has a hepa-filter so it isn't launching lots of dust into your darkroom.

Wash your hands well before loading film, roll up your sleeves or wear a short-sleeved shirt to keep lint from dropping onto the workplace. I also don one of those cheapie shower caps hotels provide and try to keep head and body away from the loading area.

I keep the stack of film I'm loading emulsion-side down, turning each sheet of film emulsion-side up just before loading it into the holder. Total exposure of the emulsion side to air before the darkslide is closed is just a few seconds, thus keeping most airborne dust from settling on it.

After loading, the holders go into new ziploc-type bags (re-used ones invariably have dust in them. I use them for sandwiches).

Clean the bellows on the inside of your camera at home regularly. Extend them fully and blow them out then vacuum. In the field, blow them out occasionally. I carry a blower-bulb in the field. I especially do this if I have racked out the bellows a long way or used extreme movements, which can dislodge dust that has been hiding in the camera bellows. I take off the camera back, blow, wait for the dust to settle, put the camera back on, wait, then load the holder.

Before loading a holder into the camera, I take it out of it's bag and brush off the dust that has collected on the darkslide and seating surfaces. It's always there, no matter how careful I am loading. I keep a lipstick brush in my vest pocket just for this purpose.

Important images with lots of featureless sky get two shots.

Once the film is exposed, dust is less of a problem until after the film is developed. However, drying is a dangerous time. Keeping the darkroom clean is a must, but don't clean just before developing film or you'll fill the air with dust. Better to leave things settled. I try to humidify the room by running hot water for a while before developing. The final rinse for the film is in filtered distilled water with PhotoFlo. The film goes from there to the drying hangers. If I can, I leave the room. If I am developing another batch, I try to keep my movements to a minimum to keep from launching any dust. As soon as the film is dry, it goes into poly sleeves to keep dust off the negs.

When enlarging, I've found that spending lots of time cleaning the neg (blower and a new, freshly-washed microfiber cloth for stubborn particles) more than compensates for time saved spotting later. I have an ion filter that I keep running in a corner of the darkroom when I'm not in it, but turn it off when working to let the particles settle. If you scan, then you have the glass to worry about too. I quit using glass carriers because I found they did not help sharpness and just added more surfaces to clean and more dust-catching potential.

Finally, I got good at etching small black spots from my prints. A 10x loupe and a small surgical scalpel used to just scrape off enough of the emulsion to eliminate the spot. The spot is then retouched with Spottone mixed with gum Arabic to match the print gloss. I don't do digital.

This has minimized my dust problems tremendously. Hope it helps,

Doremus Scudder

Thanks again. The zip-locks seem like a good idea [and rubber band to keep the darkslides from sliding(my darkslides slide a bit too easily nowadays)] and the emulsion down before inserting was a good tip. Just need to get used to it.

Adrian

[Adamphotoman]

BTW,
For you folks who actually pay for photoshop...Adobe has made a policy change. When CS6 comes out [in the next 6 months] the only upgrade path will be from CS5.
So if you are on CS2/CS3 or CS4 and want to upgrade you should do it now - @20% saving in December to CS5.5 - You also get a free upgrade to CS6. I bit the bullet because I did not want to pay full price down the road.

I will keep a CS2 installed because a number of expensive plug inns would not work on CS4/CS5.

The content aware healing brush is much better than the one in CS2.