I'd like to ask somebody whom encountered this problem before the solution for i t! I've had lots of trouble with hair or dust on my film "BEFORE" I shoot the ph otograph. This translates into nasty black marks on the prints which are ever so difficult to retouch. My first field camera(WOODMAN 45) was particularly prone to this feature, my actual camera a Wista VX is already an improvement. Any sugg estion? Could my film holders be responsable for it? Thanks for answering me! Andrea Milano
It sounds as if your first camera had dust inside it, which was attracted to the film. You should clean the dust from your camera. An antistatic brush over the loaded film might also help.
Some people here use readyloads. I read and followed the advice on storing holders in plastic bags, brushing out before loading them, and brushing the film after loading.
However, I discovered how to really reduce the problem: don't lean over the holders when I load them! I suspect much of the dust came from clothes, beard and hair. I now load by holding the film and holder in front of me, and I also ensure the surfaces are also horizontal, encouraging any falling dust to fall off.
Another tip that also reduced problems for me: I used to extract film from the packet by sliding it out from the back of the polythene bag. This created static, attracting dust to the film. Now I remove all the film, in the cardboard folder, from the bag, and lift each single sheet off the pack.
A few more tips.
Every few times I load holders, I vacuum them with darkslides in and out. I have a vacuum cleaner brush and pipe reserved just for this purpose.
Occasionally vacuum the camera well. Especially the bellows.
When I load film, I set the holders vertical. In theory, it's a little harder for dust to settle on them.
When I load film, I pull the entire stack of films out of the box and set it *emulsion side down* on one of the cardboard packing pieces in the box. Dust isn't going to settle on the emulsion this way.
I have a dedicated darkroom, not a closet, bathroom, or (shudder) laundry room. Its door is always shut, and I have an air cleaner that runs a few hours a day. It stays pretty dust free in there.
Which brings up... a laundry room is probably the worst place to load film holders! Getting a laundry room lint free is nearly impossible.
I shoot only chromes, if that makes any difference, but I have very little trouble with dust spots, and I use a bedroom closet (only at night is it dark enough) to load and unload my holders. I do brush and blow out my holders before reloading. Get a good squeeze bulb (not the wimpy ones with brush attached) that puts out a good puff of air, and blow out the film guides, as well as both sides of the darkslide. After brushing and blowing out, reinsert the dark slide until reloading. I would think that the cleaner the environment, the better.
Hi Andrea, For color I use Fuji Quickloads. They are more expensive, but I save time cleani ng and loading and unloading holders. Also I have less "dead weight and bulk" to drag into the field. QuickLoads also let me easily make notes on each exposure on the sleeve of each image. In the US we can only get Fuji color transparency f ilms in QuickLoad, but in Europe you can get B&W negative and color negative as well. In my experience the Fuji work much better than the similar Kodak product. As I am primarily a professional photographer i am able to charge off the diffe rence to clients.
For hose times when I do shoot film in holders I throughly vacuum out the change box I use (a collapsable Photoflex, though i want theHarrison & Harrison film t ent that was designed for motion picture work) and also the holders. To vacuum t he holders I found a hose attachment at a vacuum cleaner shop that is ideal it i s a adjustable low pressure nozzle kit made by Hoover that has all sorts of litt le brushes. It is also very good for computers and would probably work well for cameras and still life sets too. They cost about US$25.00. If you can't find one , e-mail me and we can make arrangements.
One further thought on reducing dust which originates in the environment in which you load your holders: I load mine in a blacked- out bathroom. Before loading, I vacuum the room, and then I run the shower on hot for a few minutes. This puts some humidity into the air, which helps the dust to settle. Then, I brush out each holder before I load it. (I keep the brush, a 1" paintbrush, sealed in a ziplock bag between loading sessions so it doesn't pick up extra dust).
If I had that problem, I'd run the bellows out to full exstension, and shine a bright light in there and then look with a magnifying glass. I've found a lot of dust in bellows before, and I could see where heat could stir it up. I wonder what the elements are like were you photograph? I haven't had a lot of problems with dust, and I live in what is surely one of the exampler dust bowls of American high desert. I use the paint brush, the vacum cleaner, and I put the holders in those black plastic bags that photographic paper comes in. The plastic is pretty slick stuff and easy to see dust on and easy to wipe off. In the field I take the holder out of the black plastic bag; use it, and then return it to the plastic bag which often is covered with dirt and grass seed, but the film seems to stay clean. Good luck.
No matter how throughly you clean your holders, or what procedures you follow for not allowing dust into them, you will still get those pesky minus-density specks. Simply spot them out on the base side of the negative with Kodak Black Liquid Opaque using a 00000 brush. Then you can spot the print in the normal fashion.
I know it may sound silly or mundane but a good way to cut down on dust spots is to throughly wash your hands with a mild or moisterizing soap and pat dry your hands your hands with a cotton towel (not paper) before loading holders. The ext reme version of this would be to use surgical gloves.
Just a small addition to the above dialogue: It has been my experience that cut film comes with minute, dust-sized specks of film packed with it (despite the ma nufacturers efforts for cleanliness). I take each sheet of film and tap it two o r three times on the counter top at a place arm's-length away from the loading a rea immediately before loading it into the film holder. Very often I have a litt le pile of black film crumbs on the counter when I turn on the light. This, coup led with about all of the procedures above, plus keeping every film holder in it s own, new, quart-size ziploc bag just about keeps me free of dust spots. I'm st ill working on 100%!
Best regards
Dory
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