Cleaning film holders

Good afternoon. Does anyone have a secret for cleaning film holders? I blow them out with compressed air and then wipe them down, inside and out, the dark slides as well, with a moistened lens cleaner tissue. I still end up with a lot of specs all over the negatives. I'm not good at spot toning and would really like my current project to have wet prints rather than scanning the negatives. Any ideas?

Why should the film holder be to blame? What about your

• Changing bag
  
• Bellows
  

No, I have no perfect solution.

The best solution I have found is a small vacuum cleaner like a DustBuster. They are just the right size to get into a 4x5 holder and they are sucking dust out rather than blowing it into the light trap of the holder where it can come back when you pull the dark slide out and replace it after taking a picture. Also, vacuum the inside of the bellows periodically since dust can accumulate there and land on the film when the dark slide is pulled . Since I started doing that I have had very little spotting to do on my prints, although my cold light head helps as well with that problem.

Just a dust out with a brush and then blow any smaller particles out with a blower. A puffer brush serves both purposes, and in any case my Toyo holders appear to have an anti-static coating inside that doesn't attract much dust.

 

But I agree with Jochen. I'd look elsewhere for contamination. A changing bag being number 1 suspect, followed by storage conditions of the film, then interior of the camera.

 

Also, does your processing use filtered water? Do you mix your developer and/or fixer from powder and not filter it or let it thoroughly settle? Because particulates in processing solutions are far more likely to cause multiple tiny specks than random dust settling on the film before exposure.

 

FWIW dust on a camera bellows can cause a lowering of contrast through flare, as well as settle on the film. I noticed a definite increase in the 'punchiness' of negatives after replacing some old worn leather bellows with brand new synthetic ones. The interior of the old bellows was light grey compared to the new ones being truly black.

Edited June 24, 2022 by rodeo_joe|1

Not to mention flecks of stuff in the processing chemicals.

Just a dust out with a brush and then blow any smaller particles out with a blower. A puffer brush serves both purposes, and in any case my Toyo holders appear to have an anti-static coating inside that doesn't attract much dust.

 

But I agree with Jochen. I'd look elsewhere for contamination. A changing bag being number 1 suspect, followed by storage conditions of the film, then interior of the camera.

 

Also, does your processing use filtered water? Do you mix your developer and/or fixer from powder and not filter it or let it thoroughly settle? Because particulates in processing solutions are far more likely to cause multiple tiny specks than random dust settling on the film before exposure.

 

FWIW dust on a camera bellows can cause a lowering of contrast through flare, as well as settle on the film. I noticed a definite increase in the 'punchiness' of negatives after replacing some old worn leather bellows with brand new synthetic ones. The interior of the old bellows was light grey compared to the new ones being truly black.

Thank you, gentlemen. I don't use a changing bag. I load the film in an interior bathroom with no windows. The idea of debris inside the bellows is a distinct probability and I will clean that up tomorrow. Thanks again for the feedback!

Film holders are often not to blame if they are blown out, vacuumed, and wiped with a lint free cloth, and finally brushed clean under a strong light which will highlight even tiny specks of dust. The film in the holder has its emulsion facing the inside of the dark slide and if this surface is clean no dust can settle on the film.

 

If the outside surface of the dark slide is dusty then that dust will be wiped off by the light trap of the holder when the slide is pulled. The dust then may be dropped on the film and imaged during the film exposure.

When the dark slide is reinserted some dust may also be pushed out of the light trap onto the film but this dust won't be imaged because the exposure has already been made.

 

Film is very vulnerable to dust contamination during the loading of film holders because it is out of the box and emulsion side up in the dark possibly for an extended time.

I've successfully loaded hundreds of 8x10 film holders while being sure to wear lint free clothing and having well washed and dried hands: no gloves, no gloves.

 

My film loading bench has a lint free metal surface so there is no possible static charge to attract dust.

 

Cameras, particularly view cameras, can be dust magnets. When a view camera is unfolded and the bellows extended it sucks in enough air to fill those bellows together with whatever ambient dust is in that air. After extending a view camera I let it settle for a while to give any dust time to sink ... hopefully. I vacuum the inside of my view cameras bellows pleat by bellows pleat after every extended out door shoot.

 

My film holders live permanently in individual anti-static plastic bags except for the moments of film loading/unloading and camera exposure. Once clean they stay clean.

 

Forgive this extended essay on dust but I've fought the stuff for decades and have mostly (fingers crossed) defeated it.

Film holders are often not to blame if they are blown out, vacuumed, and wiped with a lint free cloth, and finally brushed clean under a strong light which will highlight even tiny specks of dust. The film in the holder has its emulsion facing the inside of the dark slide and if this surface is clean no dust can settle on the film.

 

If the outside surface of the dark slide is dusty then that dust will be wiped off by the light trap of the holder when the slide is pulled. The dust then may be dropped on the film and imaged during the film exposure.

When the dark slide is reinserted some dust may also be pushed out of the light trap onto the film but this dust won't be imaged because the exposure has already been made.

 

Film is very vulnerable to dust contamination during the loading of film holders because it is out of the box and emulsion side up in the dark possibly for an extended time.

I've successfully loaded hundreds of 8x10 film holders while being sure to wear lint free clothing and having well washed and dried hands: no gloves, no gloves.

 

My film loading bench has a lint free metal surface so there is no possible static charge to attract dust.

 

Cameras, particularly view cameras, can be dust magnets. When a view camera is unfolded and the bellows extended it sucks in enough air to fill those bellows together with whatever ambient dust is in that air. After extending a view camera I let it settle for a while to give any dust time to sink ... hopefully. I vacuum the inside of my view cameras bellows pleat by bellows pleat after every extended out door shoot.

 

My film holders live permanently in individual anti-static plastic bags except for the moments of film loading/unloading and camera exposure. Once clean they stay clean.

 

Forgive this extended essay on dust but I've fought the stuff for decades and have mostly (fingers crossed) defeated it.

Thank you for the very comprehensive answer, Maris. I vacuumed the inside of the bellows this morning (don't know why I never thought of that). I load film in my darkest bathroom on a granite top.

Haven’t touched my LF for a long time, but this thread touched upon things I never gave much thought.

From a simple question came a variety of useful info that I shall keep in mind.

Hi Tom,

When I used to load my holders in a bathroom I used to turn on the hot water and the humidity would keep the dust down - to a degree. Might help.

Hi Tom,

When I used to load my holders in a bathroom I used to turn on the hot water and the humidity would keep the dust down - to a degree. Might help.

Thanks, Eric! It turns out some of the answers above were the solution. What I was seeing were debris much too large to have been in the film holder anyway. The culprit was the bellows. Vacuuming and wiping it clean solved the problem. I still clean and wipe the film holdes as well, whenever I load film. The hot water might help what ever dust lingers. Thanks!