cleaning dust from scans

LEO

LEO

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Hi all would love to know how everyone else goes about cleaning scans.

I'll kick things off with
scanner V800
SilverFast 8
The ISRD I've never got on with as I find its visible corrections on the scans more trouble than the dust.
this could be me tho as I've just started to use this program.

so I scan and retouch with Frequency separation. very time consuming is there a better way?

thanks in advance

Leo
 
The best place to start is to remove dust before scanning :D. I wipe the glass with a microfibre cloth, and blow across the negative before inserting it. Clean dryng conditions is also a good idea, and getting the negative in a sleeve as soon as possible.

I'm very behind the times on Photoshop; I either clone or use a method Barry Thornton recommended years ago (as he died in 2003 the version of Photoshop would be very old) and that's to use the dust removal tool set to remove all visible dust (which makes a mess of the image which is clean) then save as a history layer, restore the orignal and paint over the spots with the history brush set to the appropriate size.

I think Photoshop has some sort of smart healing now; but whether that's in CS2 (which I use) I don't know. I was just glad to be able to see the circle for the clone tool on a black and white image, which it took years for Adobe to attend to.
 
Apart from the changing bag, dust is my second biggest nightmare. Having said that, compared to when I first started, I would say that it has reduced by around 80%

Unfortunately, I don't have a dedicated darkroom where I can develop film, I have to use a bench in the corner of the conservatory.

I clean out the changing bag every time before I load any film. I used to dry the Paterson tank and Mod 54 holder with an old tea towel but I stopped that and just let them dry naturally.

I used to hang the negatives in the bathroom but I now hang them in a spare wardrobe which seldom gets used.

Like Stephen, I blow each negative and the scanner glass thoroughly each time I need to do a scan (Epson V800).

Still amazes me though that when you zoom into 100% in Photoshop, I still see the occasional hair.
 
Thanks gents!
I pretty much do all of the above apart from hanging in a wardrobe but happy to try that ;-)
are we blowing with just a simple hand rocket type or compressed air?
this is the top corner of my 5x4 "4x5" I think this is excessive.
no matter how much I blow wipe it's no better or worse.
everything in the office is clean dust free as much as possible.

Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 3.05.29 pm.png
 
What holder are you using on the scanner
Are you using PhotoFlo after the last wash
 
Hi Ian
just sat here listening to one of your fab videos ;-)
Im using the V800 scanning holder that comes with scanner and finishing off in Fotonal
 
These are the tings I now do which have certainly helped with dust (not eliminated) but helped quite a lot.
  1. Clean Camera Bellow Regular with vacuum cleaner
  2. Clean Paterson Tank regular with vacuum cleaner
  3. Clean dark slides regular with vacuum cleaner
  4. Store Dark slides in a zip lock bag
  5. Clean changing bag regular with vacuum cleaner
  6. When using changing bag, wear cotton shirt (no woolens)
  7. After final wash and PhotFlo hang negatives in wardrobe and close door
  8. Do not open door until dry ( I leave them at least 6 hours)
  9. Transfer negative to sleeve
  10. Throw Cat out side
  11. Blow negative with Rocket Blower (Both Sides)
  12. Blow scanner glass and holders with rocket blower
 
1234 tick
5 I'll do that tomorrow
6 I live in oz lucky if I have a T shirt on.
7 photoflo will purchase tonight is there a difference with Fotonal?
8 not sure the wife will like it but ..
9 tick
10 don't have one maybe should just get one ?
11-12 all good

thanks again Ian loVe ya work! I did buy a few of your cs pannels Fantastic workflow!
do have a question about the scanning panel and linear scans but I'll look into it more in the next few days!
 
I addition to the above, an absolute essential in my process is to regularly wipe down all, and I mean all, hardware with a good anti-static cleaner and monofibre cloth - and wash or renew the cloth often!
 
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Another thing I meant to mention, I NEVER use white cotton gloves as recommended by many - they are dust collectors and a bottomless pit of minute cotton fibres imho. Since switching to the cheap polythene gloves shown in the attached photo I have cut down on negative contamination by a very noticeable amount and yes, I do give them a quick spray/wipe before use.

Anti-Static.jpg
 
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Sorry Leo, the AF is one of the anti-static sprays for glass that I use. There are many on the market but beware of the cheap ones because some of them leave a greasy residue behind.
 
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