Negative Preperation for Scanning

[lost]

I have an Canoscan 8400F that I am using for scanning med. format negatives. I was wondering what sort of preperation should I do to the negative before scanning. I am getting a lot of Dust and I am not sure how to clean the negative before scanning.

Thanks in advance.

[lost]

If nobody has any experience with this can someone point me in the right direction. I have tried google to no avail. HELP

[UncleDoug]

Hit it with some canned air after you have it in the holder.
The air blast may loosen things up a bit, so a re-adjustment may be needed after the blast.
Does your scanning software have the Digital ICE feature?

-Doug

[lost]

Doug,

I am using the software that came with the scanner and scanning into PSCS. I have never worked with film before. I started in digital LOL. I just dont know what I can and cant do to a negative. And I must not damage these! Is there a cleaning device or solution?

Buddy

[mbze430]

You can first clean it with canned air, but if the the dust keeps sticking, it's probably because you wiped it with a static material, klennix or something that create static.

You can go and get some film cleaner as well as non-static wipes at the camera stores. You might want to get yourself a pair of film gloves.

[PhotosGuy]

Using a liquid cleaner sometimes just embeddes the dust in the emulsion. It's OK to clean the other side, but I usually just brushed that side with a radioactive (yes) negative brush which you might still be able to buy. Brush gently on the emulsion side. If you're printing full frame, I'd brush before putting the neg in the holder so some doesn't get caught at the edges.
For really extreme dust, you might have to rewash the neg, but I'd make a good print first... just in case. You can screw up badly here!

[rdenney]

I have an Canoscan 8400F that I am using for scanning med. format negatives. I was wondering what sort of preperation should I do to the negative before scanning. I am getting a lot of Dust and I am not sure how to clean the negative before scanning.

Thanks in advance.

As others have mentioned, go to a camera store and get an anti-static negative brush intended for darkroom use. Some use radioactive elements to neutralize the static charge, and others use other methods.

Cleaning a negative with any sort of liquid is a last resort. I would much rather spend that time cloning out the dust in Photoshop, to be honest.

Dust prevention is as important in the digital darkroom as in the traditional darkroom. Some things to suggest:

1.) Wear lintless cotton gloves when you handle negatives--ALWAYS. Fingerprints are a dust magnet, aside from being visible in the scan in their own right.

2.) Store you negative carriers in plastic bags to keep dust off them. Brush them down to remove dust just as you brush down the negative--but before you put the negative in the carrier.

3.) Keep your digital darkroom scrupulously clean and free of dust. We moved into a house with central vacuum, and that is just the coolest thing--whatever dust gets through the filter gets ejected to the outside rather than being sprayed all over what we just vacuumed.

4.) Keep your scanner scrupulously clean. Flatbed platens require frequent cleaning, but I also keep my film scanner under a dust cover when not in use.

Dust removal technique is important, too. You have to see the dust before you can remove it. I hold the negative under a strong light with a dark background behind the light. Then, I view at a shallow angle so that the light lights the dust, but the film reflects the dark background. The dust will then stand out and you'll see what you need to remove. The color-corrected Ott light that I use for viewing works well for this, too.

Often the brush should be supplemented with a little compressed air. Use a bulb blower. The first time I ruined a negative because a can of compressed air left a deposit on it taught me not to use compressed air. The burned hand teaches best.

My Minolta scanner sandwiches medium-format negatives between two sheets of glass, which provides 6 surfaces to hold dust. I do all of the above with great care and commitment, but I still have gotten pretty good with the Photoshop rubber-stamp tool. Dust happens, and it's impossible to get it all.

Rick "who fought the same battles under a big Omega enlarger for too many years" Denney

[UncleDoug]

Since you are just starting out...

Just use air. Make sure you have a relatively full can, give a couple of test blasts to make sure no cold liquid comes out, and blast away. You can get quite close to the film.

Most dust will be eliminated this way.

Liquid film cleaners can work, but they are nasty. Gloves are necessary-Nitrile gloves work great. We use PEC-12 for most of our film cleaning, however we will soak some film in anti-static film cleaner or even the mounting solution we use for drum scanning. These are all petroleum based compounds. You can use FILM WIPES to lightly wipe the film, in one direction only, to remove stuborn cling-ons.

One thing, do not use water/photoflow or anything besides the film cleaners mentioned above. Water will soften the emulsion and you greatly risk destruction of your film.

[robertwgross]

Lint-free, static-free, film gloves work best for me. But then, all of my film scanning is done with 35mm slides in a Canon scanner.

---Bob Gross---

[lost]

I think I will try the Lint free gloves and canned air first. We have no camera shops in town, is there a good online source that handles this sort of thing? Are the gloves specifically designed for film use or just a generic lint free glove? Thanks so much for the help ya'll.

Buddy

[rdenney]

I think I will try the Lint free gloves and canned air first. We have no camera shops in town, is there a good online source that handles this sort of thing? Are the gloves specifically designed for film use or just a generic lint free glove? Thanks so much for the help ya'll.


Gloves:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=CWGQXcTZSD!343195711?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=19993&is=REG

or search for "lintless glove" at www.bhphoto.com.

Rather than canned air, I use a bulb blower by Giottos. It's a big sucker and moves a lot of air with a good force behind it. It's the large Rocket Air Blower:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=259157&is=REG

Rick "who likes the nylon lab gloves, but they are much more expensive" Denney

[lost]

Well the Rocket Blower is already on the way from B&H and should be in Monday. I will put the gloves on my next list from B&H

Thanks Rick

Buddy

[NickSimcheck]

Thread from the dead, awake!

What if you got a nasty case o' fungi? Anybody else have experence with cleaning negs for scanning?

[PhotosGuy]

Mold eats away at the gelatin. Take the worst one & try the wet cleaning steps above. Then get out the clone tool.
And, post your before & after results!

[NickSimcheck]

Mold eats away at the gelatin. Take the worst one & try the wet cleaning steps above. Then get out the clone tool.
And, post your before & after results!

Mold eats my gelatin, so take the worst picture of myself and get out the clone tool. Got'cha.

But will that really make me look like I lost 35lbs? :lol::lol:


All kidding aside, I'll see if I can't get my hands on some Pec-12. B&H won't (can't) ship it anymore.