zerostat gun

Does anyone use these guns for film or lenses?

 

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/zerostat.shtml

 

Darcy

Yeah,

I have been using an old "Static Neutralizer" gun by Quantum Instruments for quite a few years. I have used it regularly when re-assembling camera parts. After a few shots with the gun, the dust almost falls off. An easy blow with a hand blower finishes the job. It has been especially useful on lens assembly.

I have always felt it was worth more than the price. I don't know the price of the Zerostat, but is appears to be the same type device.

 

JF

At one time I managed a photo/audio store and we sold Zerostat guns. They worked for eliminating static on vinyl records (the reason we stocked them), and I took one home for use in the darkroom. They work good for that also.

 

They're a little tricky to use. You have to pull the trigger very slowly to get them to generate the most ions. If you rapidly pull the trigger like a squirt gun, they don't work at all.

Has anybody experimented with the effect of these guns on sensitive electronics? The reason I ask is that I have one, which I use for records, and at one point some years ago one of my kids aimed it at a novelty keychain, which had a little electronic soundmaker that made locomotive sounds. When aimed at this, it set off the soundmaker. I never noticed any harm to anything, but it seems worth noting that there is a lot of stray voltage coming out of these things.