Dust when loading film into holders

How do i get dust off of my negatives when i am loading them

into the film holders? I have tried to load after letting the shower

build up steam and it is not helping. if anyone has any other

solutions, please let me know. thanks

Joshua,

 

I do the steam from the shower but also turn on the exhaust fan for a few moments before I go in to load film. I have only found one speck of dust in over a year and many sessions loading film.

 

Others have suggested using one of the hepa filtes to "clean" the air before loading, but I have not had to go that far.

 

Good luck

Jonathan

Oh one more thing. I clean off the surface of the sink area before I start as well. This removes any dust already on the surface. Might be the link in the chain you are missing.

What I have found works very well, is to brush all the surfaces

of my film holders, including both sides of the dark slide. I use a 1" camel hair brush which I keep in a zip lock bag when not in

use and which I wash every so often. After I brush each holder, I put it in another zip lock bag. When I load the holders, I get

everything ready in front of me, sit down and wait a few moments before beginning. I wear a short sleeved tee shirt when

working, so as to minimize generating lint. I pick my film off the stack emulsion down, turning the film only just before I slip

into the holder. This way, any dust in the air that settles on the film will fall on the back, not the emulsion. Avoid loading in very

dry conditions. I too, run a shower in my motel room before loading on the road. This humidifies the room and also washes

some of the dust down. I almost never have to retouch a negative anymore.

I have figured out over the years that lots of times dust can come about from simply worrying to much about the stuff . I seem to get less dust when I'm not spending forever trying to clean my holders I do however keep them in ziplock bags once they are loaded. I have found that simply brushing them clean with a unused paint brush works great. I make sure I get in the tracks and any dust that I can see on black surface. Once the holders are clean I then load the holders. I think some dust or problems you might be talking about could be a result of loading the holders while there is to much humidity in the air(from the shower) that would cause the holders and film to become a little moist and would make dust stick to them easily. If you are using wood holder lots of times little bits of wood like to come out on you depending on the condition of the holders. Another big problem I have found is pulling the dark slide out fast. When you pull the dark slide out fast they say it creates a charge which makes dust stick to the film but also if you just think about it pulling the slide out to fast would seem to stir up dust as well. I pull my slides out very slow. Depending on how old your holders are you might want to get some new ones if all else fails. Good luck

After many years of loading holder I have found a way that is

about as good as it gets for keeping dust away. The downside is

the amount of time required. The first step is to vacum all of my

holders. After all holders are vacumed clean I then do the same

for the dark slides. Once the darks slides are finished I insert the

dark slides and check for dust on the holder inspecting under a

normal lamp. Having finshed this process I then load the film in

the bathroom. I usually let the steam build for a few moments

before loading. I then wash my hands to remove any excess oil.

After the hand washing I load the holders. Once the holders are

loaded I then run the vacum cleaner across the holders again.

<p> After all of this I wrap each holder in aluminum and then

place in ziplock bags. A few other items to consider.I also place

the holders on aluminum foil and cover them during the entire

process. The foil seems to keep dust off of both sides of the

holder. While I am loading I take off my t-shirt to avoid excess

dust from the shirt. <p> This is a process that goes the extra

mile to ensure a dust free negative. I will admit it can be a time

consuming process. The time spent is nothing compared to a

dust plagued negative that can in no way be reshot. <p>Many

different photographers use various methods to repel dust. This

method may or may not be worth the effort for you. I have found

that it works for me and is worth the time. I say find a method and

stick with it. I no longer have dust spots in my negatives. Once in

a while despite my best efforts I will get dust in a negative. That

is just the nature of the game. Good luck with whatever method

works for you.

Look for an electronic anti-static brush. Once made for Kodak, they were last made for Zone VI Studios. Using that, the dust just flies off the holders and they repel new dust for a time. Well worth the effort of looking for one.

I like the Kinetronics anti-static brush. Get the 4" one.

Lots of good ideas here. I vaccum all my holders between loading too. The micro attachment for my shop-vac seems to work well keeping the velvet light traps dust free. I also use the 1" brush in conjunction with my shop vac since I figure I'll not only move those pesky particles around, but suck 'em up and get them out of the dark room so they won't come back later on to haunt me and I keep my holders in zip lock bags until use. Good luck!

Wear a hat while loading - a lot of dust comes off your head. Cheers, DJ

I always wipe my counters and walls with a damp cloth. Do you regularly vacuum inside your camera? Lots of crud builds up on the inside of your bellows. I always do a quick vacuuming before I go out of holders and camera. When I load film I give the film 2 quick blasts of compressed air before closing the slide.

Maybe I'm just lucky. I blow off the holders with canned air before loading, and I don't ever recall having a dust problem. But, every now and then I give my bellows a real good cleaning. A lot more crud collects there than some people realize.

 

Jerry

....don't forget to clean the inside of your camera once-a-while. It would not come to me as a surprise as that is also a cause of dustspecs on film.

Life is too short for all this folderol. I use quick/ready loads. If you are worried about the cost ... shoot less film. Spend more time hiking or looking for better shots to keep yourself from shooting so much film.

Quickloads/Readyloads solve the dust problem, but not the films-that-don't-come-in-Quickload/Readyload problem or the people-who-shoot-formats-other-than-4x5" problem.

Quickloads, Readyloads, and even Polaroids can also get dust,dirt, and stuff on the film when the slide is pulled. Remove the back, or the front, of the camera in the wind outdoors to reverse it from horizontal to vertical, and you are inviting all sorts of things into your camera. I was once using a Wisner Tech field outdoors in Arizona. It was a breezy day. I needed to change from the normal to the bag bellows in order to use my 75 wide angle lens. Later, when the negs. were ready to be printed, it took me a long time to figure it out, but I eventually realized that it was a flying insect of some sort that was clearly imprinted on my film.

I used to have major dust problems. Furthermore, I do most of

my film loading in the field on 5 - 10 day trips. There is no

showers or vacuum cleaners where I go. Here is what I have

done to minimize dust.

 

The number one problem that causes dust is static charge.

Eliminate static charge, and you will remove 95% of the dust.

What follows are things I do.

 

1. I NEVER use Ziplock bags. They build up static charge

readily and can become a pool of dust. The charge will transfer

to the film holder inside the bag. Instead, I have made

envelopes for each of my film holders using black paper poster

board. Paper does not hold a charge. I also coated each

envelope with a map water proofing treatment.

 

2. Never vacuum your film holders. Sure they clean the film

holders, but the brushes and sucking air can also charge the

film holders so the minute you remove the slide the film will suck

dust.

 

3. To clean your film holders I sponge everything down with a

damp sponge including my changing tent. Water will remove

static charge. I then very gently air blow my film holders. To

much air across a plastic surface can cause static charge,

 

4. Film holders made of wood will have less dust problems

because wood, like paper, does not hold a static charge.

 

5. I wash my hands to remove oils and dust.

 

6. I always move the film slide slowly to minimize the possibility

of generating a charge.

 

7. I shoot two frames for each composition. This way I am sure

that I will get at least one without a dust spot.

 

After changing my procedures for loading film, I have found that 1

out of ten sheets of film will have a single spot of dust. Very

rarely is there multiple spots.

 

Hope this helps.