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Re: [OM] Need help on cleaning some old 35mm Negatives

Subject: Re: [OM] Need help on cleaning some old 35mm Negatives
From: "Jim L'Hommedieu" <lamadoo@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 18:37:36 -0500
Hi Ken,
Since I've been scanning I've found that I need to be as careful with dust
removal as I ever was when making 11x14" prints in the darkroom.

I've tried to just brush the dust them with a soft brush.  Doing this step
by itself often leaves dozens of pieces of dust on the negative.  Rather
than trying to save time by cleaning quickly, and having to reclean after a
dusty scan, I've decided that a very careful cleaning of each strip of 6 is
actually a time-saver.  You can buy a brush  at a camera store for lenses
and negatives; mine also has a completely useless air syringe attached.

Here's what I do.  I get my C-41 negs developed but not cut.  When I get a
new set of negs home, I hang them with a weight to encourage them to
straighten out.

I bought a Teflon-coated pan for baking brownies.  It has a plastic lid that
attaches with snaps.  The Teflon surface doesn't react to liquid film
cleaner.  In the pan, I store my cotton gloves, anti-static gun, and film
holders for the scanner.  I wipe off a counter space, set everything out,
and put on a pair of cotton gloves, bought from a camera store.  I wipe off
the inside of the baking pan with film cleaner in case I need to clean negs
there.  I cut off my first set of six negs (starting with frame 1)
and.......

1.  Use a Milty static-eliminator gun (formerly the Zerostat, formerly the
Discwasher static gun) in both directions according to the directions.  This
involves aiming the gun at the strip from about a foot away, then very
slowly squeezing and slowly "un-squeezing" the handle.

2.  Use the negative brush lightly on both sides.

3.  Use compressed air from a can on both sides.  As others have mentioned,
you hold the gun's nozzle level and tilt the negative so the air stream
blows across the surface.  If I tilt the nozzle from "level to the horizon",
the can belches propellant across the negative.  I don't think it's harmful
but it sure doesn't help anything.

That works for me.  I don't use the liquid film cleaner unless the first
scan shows a finger smudge from the old days before I started buying cotton
gloves.

I scan that strip, putting the raw scans in a dedicated folder.  After the
scan, I sleeve the strip, then cut off the next strip.  When I first open a
raw scan, I save it immediately to a new folder so the raw scan is still
available.

The scans I do by hand at home are far better than the drugstore scans sold
locally under the Kodak "Picture CD" logo.  As we've discussed before,
"Picture CD" quality seems to vary all over the map.  What's available to me
is lousy for concert pictures.  Your needs and local quality will be
different.

Lama

> Hello Zuiko Lovers,
> I've been scanning some negatives, to find that if could only wash away
the
> tiny specks I might get a cleaner result and would not have to use
> photoshop.


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