Removing Fibres From Slides

Hi,

 

Has anyone had any success in removing fibres from slides? I'm not talking about restoring a digital image with ICE4 technology for example.

 

I recently attempted to remove a mark on one of my slides. So I put gloves on for handling slides and negatives because I wouldn't leave prints or finger oil on the slide. Big mistake. All I did was get cotton fibres embedded in the slide!

 

I read elsewhere on this forum that scrunched up Sellotape might be useful in removing fibres. Is this a good idea?

 

Thanks.

 

Rich

I duplicate slides and follow a routine before the copy part. Most of the surface dust can be removed by using a bulb blower. One must be careful in handling the emulsion slde of a slide. But there are liquid film cleaners that can, if used gently and with moderation, dissolve some of the gunk on the slide. If working on the backing non emulsion slde I sometimes use a lens paper or clean cloth to gently wipe. Static will often mean the process has to be repeated. Which is why I try to digitize the ones I value most. Kodak has in the past published guides on cleaning and getting dust and contaminants from slides. Do a search and you will surely get more ideas. I do not care for the tape idea at all..sounds kind of what we do to get lint off the car seat. Not for delicate gelatine slides I feel. Good luck. And also look into those post processing softwares since no slide is going to be perfectl clean when you make a copy. that is life.

I duplicate slides and follow a routine before the copy part. Most of the surface dust can be removed by using a bulb blower. One must be careful in handling the emulsion slde of a slide. But there are liquid film cleaners that can, if used gently and with moderation, dissolve some of the gunk on the slide. If working on the backing non emulsion slde I sometimes use a lens paper or clean cloth to gently wipe. Static will often mean the process has to be repeated. Which is why I try to digitize the ones I value most. Kodak has in the past published guides on cleaning and getting dust and contaminants from slides. Do a search and you will surely get more ideas. I do not care for the tape idea at all..sounds kind of what we do to get lint off the car seat. Not for delicate gelatine slides I feel. Good luck. And also look into those post processing softwares since no slide is going to be perfectl clean when you make a copy. that is life.

How do you duplicate slides?

Gerry has it. For stuff that is actually embedded in the coating or emulsion, film cleaners like Edwal Film Cleaner (practice first on something non-archival) can work wonders.

 

My firm and many-times-confirmed opinion that for "perfect" clean, you have to manually "spot" the image just like back in the film days but now digitally:

Popular Photography 1950-02

 

(The job's not over until the paper work is done)

What about PEC-12?

 

I sent my slide off to a specialist to clean, do you think they can remove the fibres?

Fibers are one of the reasons why I started insisting on plastic mounts years ago. Even fresh out of the box, paper mounts make your slides filthy. I haven't used Dwayne's in a while, but the last time I did they were still using paper(I now use a local lab that does use plastic).

 

In any case, as others have said the get as much as you can with a bulb blower and use Pec-12 if the film is especially dirty. Use latex or nitrile gloves-cotton darkroom gloves will just make things worse.

 

And, at the end of the day, you may have to give in and spend some time with the spot healing brush in Photoshop to get them all.

 

Granted with Cibachrome now dead, you can't wet print slides, but one of the things I've come to really appreciate is that at least at modest print sizes wet printing is a lot more forgiving of film imperfections than scanning.

How do you duplicate slides?

 

Various ways. Whole separate topic. I am selective and have the time to do it in my digital camera by using a macro lens on a bellows. This is one set up. The Canon Auto Bellows with slide copy attachment at the end. Unfortunately many of these products are no longer available. But there are attachments ( nikon) which have closeup lens and can be attached. Do a search on the forums and you will find more info....it is costly to send anything out unless it is going to be a wall mount print of course. That then is a different story.

Edited May 12, 2017 by GerrySiegel

As I recall, if something is imbedded in a Kodachrome slide the surface coating or varnish on the slide needs to be removed. Not a job for the faint hearted. Better use the sofware. The magic of digital legerdermain eh what? Edited May 12, 2017 by GerrySiegel