Any suggestions for eliminating dust?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Peirce
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Robert Peirce

Every time I scan a photo on my flat-bed scanner, I get at least a few
dust spots that have to be cleaned up. I dust the scanner bed and the
photo before scanning, but I still get some. Are there any reliable
ways to eliminate this problem?
 
Robert Peirce said:
Every time I scan a photo on my flat-bed scanner, I get at least a few
dust spots that have to be cleaned up. I dust the scanner bed and the
photo before scanning, but I still get some. Are there any reliable
ways to eliminate this problem?
Click to expand...

For film and paper cleaning get PEC-12 and a static brush. At photo stores
and on line at http://www.adorama.com. B&H does not ship chemicals.

Handle the film and prints with lint-free cotton gloves.

Dust is guaranteed to appear somewhere, no matter how much you clean the
photo or film and scanner bed.

If you lived in a "clean room environment" then maybe....

Above all, do not smoke.
 
Dust is guaranteed to appear somewhere, no matter how much you clean the
photo or film and scanner bed.
Click to expand...

First Law of Scanning: Dust exists to stick to your image.
Second Law of Scanning: Dust also exists to get into your scanner, or
stick on it's surface.
Third Law of Scanning: Any available dust not conforming to Laws 1 & 2
will stick to the sensor in your digital SLR.
If you lived in a "clean room environment" then maybe....
Click to expand...

Bet Howard Hughes had clean slides...
Above all, do not smoke.
Click to expand...
Even if you catch fire...
--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...
 
I've got an anti-static aerosol from my vinyl LP days called Antistatik 100
by Kontakt Chemie that is amazingly effective. Records I sprayed 30 yrs ago
just the once are still impossible to induce static into. I now use the
little remaining to spray any printers or scanners I buy, it definitely
helps to reduce the problem of dust collection. Whether any modern
equivalent antistatic solution is available I don't know but it must be
worth a search.
 
Robert said:
Every time I scan a photo on my flat-bed scanner, I get at least a few
dust spots that have to be cleaned up. I dust the scanner bed and the
photo before scanning, but I still get some. Are there any reliable
ways to eliminate this problem?
Click to expand...

It is impossible to eliminate dust entirely, particularly if you go to
high magnification. But you can get rid of almost all of it with
freshly developed film. Older film, stored under questionable
conditions can create problems.

With fresh film, I wipe the film with StaticWisk brush after breathing
on it to discharge and static charge. I then use a blower to remove the
remainder of the dust. I do the same to the glass surface of my
scanner. I seldom have to spend more than a couple of minutes potting
in my photoeditor, and often I don't have to do anything at all. With
older film, I find that careful wiping with a PecPad wipe before the
other measures helps.
 
Robert said:
Every time I scan a photo on my flat-bed scanner, I get at least a few
dust spots that have to be cleaned up. I dust the scanner bed and the
photo before scanning, but I still get some. Are there any reliable
ways to eliminate this problem?
Click to expand...

Otherwise, get a scanner with DigitalICE automatic dust removal and
you're scans will be dust & spot free! (eg. Epson 4990, etc.)
 
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