What is your workflow for cleaning 35 mm slides and negatives prior to scanning?

PhilBurton · Sep 18, 2019

I'm very late to the scanning process. I hope to begin "real soon now."

Some basic questions:

For slides or negatives that have dust, what is your workflow to prep the material for scanning?

Just use a brush? Which brush do you use? Is an anti-static brush worth the money?

Do you use a film cleaner? Pec-12 or Edwal?

I assume clean gloves are a given? Which kind do you use?

Is is realistic to be able to remove almost all dust spots prior to scanning?

Phil

markbau · Sep 18, 2019

I use an anti-static brush and because most of my slides and negs have been stored well I rarely have problems. if the is a stain of some sort I have a 20+-year-old bottle of Kodak film cleaner that I gently apply with a Q-tip. I don't use cotton gloves, I just make sure I don't touch the film. Yes, a Kinetronics anti-static brush is definitely worth buying.

Wallendo · Sep 18, 2019

I generally wipe negatives between two fingers while wearing cotton gloves. I use cheap ones I buy in bulk from B&H.
For slides, I use a rocket blower.
In many cases, it is easier to fix small blemishes than to completely remove them. I do try to clean them as well as possible, as I eventually plan to do wet printing - I've bought the hardware, I just need to make a space for a darkroom.

PhilBurton · Sep 18, 2019

markbau said:
I use an anti-static brush and because most of my slides and negs have been stored well I rarely have problems. if the is a stain of some sort I have a 20+-year-old bottle of Kodak film cleaner that I gently apply with a Q-tip. I don't use cotton gloves, I just make sure I don't touch the film. Yes, a Kinetronics anti-static brush is definitely worth buying.

Which brush? Kenitronics? Do you have to replace it periodically?

PhilBurton · Sep 18, 2019

Wallendo said:
I generally wipe negatives between two fingers while wearing cotton gloves. I use cheap ones I buy in bulk from B&H.
For slides, I use a rocket blower.
In many cases, it is easier to fix small blemishes than to completely remove them. I do try to clean them as well as possible, as I eventually plan to do wet printing - I've bought the hardware, I just need to make a space for a darkroom.

Have you ever scanned any of your negatives?

If you just wipe a negative between two fingers (with a glove) are you concerned about the dust smearing or scratching the negative?

Phil

logan2z · Sep 18, 2019

I use a Rocket Blower on my negatives and a lens cleaning cloth on the surface of my flatbed scanner. Any dust spots that remain on the scans are easily taken care of with the clone tool in Lightroom.

Tom Kershaw · Sep 18, 2019

I've had problems in the past with some of the compressed "air" products and cotton gloves etc. so in most instances I simply use a Kinetronics brush which is now a few years old, carefully positing the film with clean bare hands on the scanner film holder.

winger · Sep 18, 2019

My scanner is about 15 years old now and has plenty of dust and scratches built in. I don't stress too much about cleaning negatives and slides before I scan, but I'll blow off surface dust. Wiping them makes them more attractive to dust that jumps to the scanner as soon as I start to close the lid. Consequently, I'm really good at using the heal and clone tools. I have a Wacom tablet, which is much easier than a mouse.

Les Sarile · Sep 19, 2019

PhilBurton said:
I'm very late to the scanning process. I hope to begin "real soon now."

Then you will soon realize how great the Coolscan's ICE is as you will just assume that all your film is clean . . .

mshchem · Sep 19, 2019

PhilBurton said:
I'm very late to the scanning process. I hope to begin "real soon now."

Some basic questions:

For slides or negatives that have dust, what is your workflow to prep the material for scanning?

Just use a brush? Which brush do you use? Is an anti-static brush worth the money?

Do you use a film cleaner? Pec-12 or Edwal?

I assume clean gloves are a given? Which kind do you use?

Is is realistic to be able to remove almost all dust spots prior to scanning?

Phil

I've used a very small inexpensive air compressor, VERY IMPORTANT you need to use a filter at the very end attached to your blow gun. This is the best filter you can buy and will last for years in a limited use setting. These are about 10 bucks at a real auto paint store. Harbor Freight sells cheap China copies for less but are junk. Two packs are common online for18 bucks. Just make sure you get the real thing and don't use much pressure. This and a good 1 inch wide camel hair brush.
I also have a Kodak 5kV ionization, 10 inch film brush with a built-in vacuum and air gun. Looks and works great, I very rarely use it.

mshchem · Sep 19, 2019

You may find on ebay. No longer sold by Kodak

PhilBurton · Sep 19, 2019

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

About Coolscan ICE. Does it work with B&W negatives? I forgot to mention in my original post that I have a Nikon 5000 ED scanner with SF-210 batch feeder for slides.

Mainecoonmaniac · Sep 19, 2019

PhilBurton said:
I'm very late to the scanning process. I hope to begin "real soon now."

Some basic questions:

For slides or negatives that have dust, what is your workflow to prep the material for scanning?

Just use a brush? Which brush do you use? Is an anti-static brush worth the money?

Do you use a film cleaner? Pec-12 or Edwal?

I assume clean gloves are a given? Which kind do you use?

Is is realistic to be able to remove almost all dust spots prior to scanning?

Phil

The key point for me is to keep the work area clean. Vacuuming a dusting is important. Depending on the type of scanner you use, if your scanner uses glass, there are 2 surfaces to clean. I never use canned air because it's expensive and possibly bad for the environment. I use a air bulb which works well. I don't scan on windy days because static electricity makes it harder. For me, I've never had a scan that had no dust. The best I could ever hope for is a few spots that I could retouch in Photoshop.

Les Sarile · Sep 19, 2019

PhilBurton said:
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

About Coolscan ICE. Does it work with B&W negatives? I forgot to mention in my original post that I have a Nikon 5000 ED scanner with SF-210 batch feeder for slides.

There is no implementation of ICE that works on traditional b&w film.

jtk · Sep 21, 2019

The only B&W film that my 50ED Nikon's ICE can't handle nicely seems to be EK's Kodalith (in ancient times I shot a bunch in 35mm). There are reported issues with Epson's less expensive version (if that really is ICE).

PhilBurton · Sep 21, 2019

jtk said:
The only B&W film that my 50ED Nikon's ICE can't handle nicely seems to be EK's Kodalith (in ancient times I shot a bunch in 35mm). There are reported issues with Epson's less expensive version (if that really is ICE).

Thanks. As soon as I can "get to it," I'm going to start doing test scans with Nikon scan and the two commercial alternatives. I'm anxious to see if Nikonscan is still the best using my 5000ED.

Alan Edward Klein · Sep 21, 2019

winger said:
My scanner is about 15 years old now and has plenty of dust and scratches built in. I don't stress too much about cleaning negatives and slides before I scan, but I'll blow off surface dust. Wiping them makes them more attractive to dust that jumps to the scanner as soon as I start to close the lid. Consequently, I'm really good at using the heal and clone tools. I have a Wacom tablet, which is much easier than a mouse.

How do you use the Wacom? Which one? Does it integrate to your post processing program? Which one? I use Lightroom (owned version) and PS Elements and PS Premiere Elements (video). Any recommendations? Thanks. Alan.

Wallendo · Sep 22, 2019

PhilBurton said:
Have you ever scanned any of your negatives?

If you just wipe a negative between two fingers (with a glove) are you concerned about the dust smearing or scratching the negative?

Phil

I scan all my negatives. I use soft cotton gloves and apply just enough pressure to free away dust and dirt. I have never scratched a negative this way (although I have scratched a lot in other ways).

winger · Sep 22, 2019

Alan Edward Klein said:
How do you use the Wacom? Which one? Does it integrate to your post processing program? Which one? I use Lightroom (owned version) and PS Elements and PS Premiere Elements (video). Any recommendations? Thanks. Alan.

I have an Intuos3 - it says model PTZ-630 on the back. Because I'm holding a pen-shaped instrument instead of a mouse, it's just easier for me. Mine is about as old as my scanner, but it works with the almost current Elements version I have (2018). They make newer ones - if mine ever dies, I'll get a current version. All tools work the same and some may even have more options.

Alan Edward Klein · Sep 22, 2019

Bethe: OK Thanks. I'll look into the newer models.

Adrian Bacon · Sep 25, 2019

PhilBurton said:
I'm very late to the scanning process. I hope to begin "real soon now."

Some basic questions:

For slides or negatives that have dust, what is your workflow to prep the material for scanning?

Just use a brush? Which brush do you use? Is an anti-static brush worth the money?

Do you use a film cleaner? Pec-12 or Edwal?

I assume clean gloves are a given? Which kind do you use?

Is is realistic to be able to remove almost all dust spots prior to scanning?

Phil

For color film, soft paint brush and air rocket. I run a giant house sized HEPA filter to keep overall dust levels down and store my film in sleeves and plastic archival binders the enclose it.

For black and white, the same, though I'll sometimes take a pec pad soaked in 99%+ isopropyl alcohol and give the film a gentle wipe down if it's not pristine out of the sleeve.

For gloves, black nitrile gloves. You can do the white cotton ones, but I've found that you have to wash them, they don't provide a lot of grip or feeling, and they reflect light awesomely well, so depending on your scanner setup, where your hands are can affect the scan if you're wearing white gloves (especially if using a copy stand set up). The black nitrile gloves are dirt cheap on Amazon, and disposable after your work session. And they're grippy and protect your hands from any cleaners/scanning fluid you might be using.

As far as removing almost all dust spots, eh... not really, though you can get it down to reasonably manageable with some basic things like I noted above. How clean the air is in the area that you're scanning makes a pretty big difference. If the film was stored sleeved, the only time it's going to be collecting chunks of stuff is when it's out of the sleeve, and that comes from the air, so if you can keep that air reasonably clean, it cuts down a lot of stuff, otherwise, I really only spot out the big chunks of stuff you can see at a reasonable enlargement level. Once you resize it for viewing online or printing, a lot of the stuff that you see when you're zoomed in totally goes away. We photogs have a bad habit of looking at stuff way too zoomed in. Nobody else does that.

markbau · Sep 25, 2019

Les Sarile said:
There is no implementation of ICE that works on traditional b&w film.

Agree, and would also add that the same applies to Kodachrome.

PhilBurton · Sep 25, 2019

Adrian Bacon said:
For color film, soft paint brush and air rocket. I run a giant house sized HEPA filter to keep overall dust levels down and store my film in sleeves and plastic archival binders the enclose it.

What make and model of your HEPA filter? Or what spec, e.g. airflow volume, should I look for?

Phil Burton

Les Sarile · Sep 25, 2019

markbau said:
Agree, and would also add that the same applies to Kodachrome.

Coolscan 5000 & 9000 + Nikonscan ICE was designed especially to work on Kodachrome. Here is what they look like compared to Epson V500 + Epsonscan. Worst around borders of dark and light like the exhaust and rims.

Worst on the Epson combination. Barely discernible on the Coolscan 5000 and nonexistent on the 9000.

jim10219 · Sep 25, 2019

Alan Edward Klein said:
How do you use the Wacom? Which one? Does it integrate to your post processing program? Which one? I use Lightroom (owned version) and PS Elements and PS Premiere Elements (video). Any recommendations? Thanks. Alan.

I've had a few (and still have an Intuos 3). Always Wacom branded. I don't like any of them. I don't like having disconnect of drawing on a desk while starring at a screen. I keep thinking I'll get used to them, but I never do. I know a lot of people who love them though. They work like a mouse. In fact, you can use them with pretty much any program that uses a mouse, including your desktop.

Most touch screens are accurate enough, but Wacom makes some screens that allow you to draw on them. I'd like to try one, but they're really expensive.

Anyway, I just use a rocket blower for most dust removal. I also have an ultra soft brush that rarely gets used. For oil and grime, I use a naphtha bath.

But really, with a scanner, there's always going to be some dust or scratches or something. So your best bet is to not work the negative too hard, and just get good with your photo editing software. I can clean a 4x5 negative in about 3-7 minutes.

What is your workflow for cleaning 35 mm slides and negatives prior to scanning?

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