bill crookston

Dust on negatives is what the <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">Booflet Film Cleaner </A> was designed for. This product - using no chemicals - collects the dust and retains it on an adhesive pad. There is also an anti-static device.<P>

Many discerning photographers use these devices rather than brushes or canned air.<P>

Hope this helps.

You could try some 'just in time' cleaning with a tacky roller film cleaner.<P> I use a Polaroid 120 (4000dpi) which doesn't have ICE

Works well for all film strips up to medium format but not mounted slides.<P>

You can see the concept <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">here</A>

I've used the Scan Multi II and it was great.<P>

You will probably need to get a SCSI card for your PC, of the type recommended - I tried the one that was in my PC but eventually had to buy the Adaptek AHA 2940U (Ultra) and that did the trick.<P>

You will always have to have the scanner switched on before the PC so that the SCSI can find it.<P>

You might be able to scan the edges of the frame too as the medium format holder does allow a bit of rotation to square up slanted horizons or similar.<P>

I clean my films with a tacky roller film cleaner ( http://www.boofey.com ).

It is my belief that there is no difference between them other than the letter 'i'.<P>

Given that - the used price for a 'Ti' always seems to be higher than a 'T'<P>

So I purchased a used 'T' version and when I had it <A HREF="http://www.lutcamre.demon.co.uk/"> serviced</A> I also had a new set of 'OM-4Ti' top and bottom champagne covers fitted.<P>

This cost similar to do as buy a 'used mint' Ti body.

I had an OM4 system until it was all stolen about 10 years ago - it was replaced (insurance) with a nice EOS1 and Canon lens system with which I've taken many good photo's.<P>

But I felt that I never got the 'quality of picture' that I did with the OM system.<P>

So recently I sold the lot on eBay and bought an OM-4Ti Body and Zuiko lenses and guess what - the magic is back and I'm putting through more slide films per month than I did with the EOS.<P>

I do have a 5.1 megapixel HP R707 which can do marvoulous things (A3 no problem) which I carry in my pocket - so when new technology comes along why does it need to fit into a body the size of a brick for some people to buy it?<P>

Film still has a lot going for it!

Have a look at this <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">website</A>.<P>

This shows a special tacky roller film cleaner that was designed in the mid 90s for use in commercial darkrooms and is now used to clean film before scanning.<P>

It collects and retains the dust particles and also has an anti-static element too.<P>

There is also a section on the site that describes how do give your work place an 'audit' so that you will be aware of where most of the dust comes from.<P>

I've found that canned air is good for somethings but in general it just moves the dust from the film to somewhere else - usually it then gets on the film next time.<P>

I use the Polaroid SprintScan 120 (which doesn't have ICE) at 4000dpi and use a glassless holder as much as possible to reduce the number of surfaces that could attract dust - but if the film will not lie flat I then use the glass holder.<P>

On my Press Standard Body this dimension is 61.48mm (2.420") from the rear most (front facing) machined face of the lens mount flange to the pressure plate (dark slide removed).<P>

Hope this helps.<P>

Bill

The <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">Booflet Film Cleaner </A> uses a tacky roller approach to film cleaning in which you then clean the tacky rollers on a special adhesive (tape).<P>

This can be extremely effective and follows the processes widly used in manufacturing to clean film products.<P>

You can read more about the process <A HREF="http://www.teknek.com/rubberrollers/index.htm"> at this site </A>

Sorry for the late post...

I designed and use a 'just in time' cleaner that does a remarkable job for removing dust and hairs from my negatives before I scan them.<P>

The unit is called a Booflet and more information can be found at the following website <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">boofey.com</A>.<P>

As you will see it works using rollers to collect the dust particles and they are then transferred to an adhesive sheet then disposed of.<P>

Brushes and canned air just spread the problem around.<P>

It also works on black and white negatives and Kodachrome.<P>

There is also a link to Scanhancer too - which also improves scans.<P>

Hope this helps.<P>

BillC

Does it have to be A1 (594 נ841mm)?<P>

<A HREF="http://www.peak-imaging.co.uk/">Peak-Imaging </A> will print 30 x 24inch (609 x 762mm) from digital files.

An altenative would be to print your A1 onto 40 x 30 and and trim to A1 size.

Quality is excellent.

BillC

Dust on negative strips can also be removed using a roller film cleaner that collects it and doesn't 'blow' it back into your work area.<P>

Have a look at <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">this website</A> which shows how it works. I also use the Polaroid Dust program with the settings at the low end!

I've tried the flatbed route with a Canon D2400UF - the medium format holder (and the 35mm too) supports the film just above the platen I never got the sharpness I thought I would - when placed on the platen it was sharper but usually there were Newton Rings from the contact of the film on the glass! <P>

I then purchased a used Minolta Scan Multi II - what a difference in sharpness - and although it only scanned with an optical level of 1180dpi this was quite sufficient for most of my work, until I purchased a used Polaroid Sprintscan 120 and at 4000dpi from My Mamiya 645 and RB67 negatives, I can supply prints up to 30" x 40".

My method of working is now - clean the holder - clean the film - scan the whole negative at 4000dpi - save in Photoshop as filename+master (as a TIFF) - then compose the scanned image to get the horizon level - then fix the blemishes - adjust the curves - save - then create the final print files - as shown below.

Sometimes you have to think just what your final output needs to be and buy from that standpoint.<P>

Here is a list of my file sizes that I send on CD to be printed. I've never had a scanner with ICE but I do use an industrial tacky roller film cleaner and also Polaroid 'Dust and Scratches' software. <P>

Print Size (Inches) Image Size Pixels dpi Optimum File Size <P>

10 x 8 3000 x 2400 300 20.6Mb <P>

12 x 8 3600 x 2400 300 24.8Mb <P>

15 x 12 3800 x 3048 254 33.3Mb <P>

20 x 16 5080 x 4064 254 59.1Mb <P>

24 x 16 6096 x 4064 254 70.9Mb <P>

24 x 20 6096 x 5080 254 88.6Mb <P>

30 x 20 7620 x 5080 254 110.8Mb <P>

40 x 30 10160 x 7620 254 221.5Mb <P>

For my <A HREF="http://www.billcrookston.co.uk">websites</A> I set the image size to about 600 x 450 at 72dpi big enough to load, be seen and enjoyed but too small to be of much use to anybody.<P>

For printing I use an Epson 1290 with Epson Ink and print onto Fuji Hunt Satin (A3+) at home and for the larger images these go to <A HREF="http://www.peak-imaging.com">Peak Imaging</A>(Sheffield UK)

Not that this might be the answer - the scratch disk should be set to another drive from where the program resides - E: will do fine.<P>

If you check out the help files in Photohop it is explained how to do it.<P>

Also I get the 'full scratch disk' message sometimes when I am cropping an image and I've typed in '1280 in x 1024 in' instead of '1280 px x 1024 px' when the DPI is set at 300.<P>

That would create quite a big file!

Hi Linda

I use Cafepress.com in the USA to get my calendar made for friends and family and I'm in the UK.<P>

You can see the current version <A HREF="http://www.cafepress.com/islandtapestry">here</A>.<P>

You can then order calendars and get them shipped to whom you want.

Hope this is a help - but I'll be interested to also see what other options are mentioned here.

BillC

I've tried the flatbed route with a Canon D2400UF and as the medium format holder (and the 35mm too) supports the film just above the platten I never got the sharpness I thought I would - when placed on the platten it was sharper but usually there were Newton Rings!<P>

I then purchased a used Minolta Scan Multi II - what a difference in sharpness - and although it only scanned with an optical level of 1180dpi this was quite sufficent for all my work, until I purchased a used Polaroid SprintScan 120 and at 4000dpi from My Mamiya 645 negs I can supply prints up to 30" x 40".<P>

My method of working is now - clean the holder - clean the film - scan the whole negative at 4000dpi - save in photoshop as filename+master - then compose the scanned image to get the horizon level - then fix the blemishes - adjust the colour - save - then create the final print files - as shown below.<P>

Sometimes you have to think just what your final output needs to be and buy from that standpoint.<P>

Here is a list of my file sizes that I send on CD to be printed.

I've never had a scanner with ICE but I do use a <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">booflet tacky roller film cleaner</A>

and Polaroid 'Dust and Scratches' software.<P>

Print Size (Inches) Image Size Pixels dpi Optimum File Size<P>

10 x 8 3000 x 2400 300 20.6Mb<P>

12 x 8 3600 x 2400 300 24.8Mb<P>

15 x 12 3800 x 3048 254 33.3Mb<P>

20 x 16 5080 x 4064 254 59.1Mb<P>

24 x 16 6096 x 4064 254 70.9Mb<P>

24 x 20 6096 x 5080 254 88.6Mb<P>

30 x 20 7620 x 5080 254 110.8Mb<P>

40 x 30 10160 x 7620 254 221.5Mb<P>

Henry<P>

The Booflet has 'tacky rubber rollers' that are are probably similar to the way the film was kept clean when it was being manufactured. The rollers are cleaned on an adhesive sheet which retains the particles.<P>

That way the particles are gone for good. Canned air is good - but where does the dust go?<P>

Bill

Just a comment about the holders - I've got the Polaroid SS120 and in 90% of cases the glassless holder is perfect at holding the 120 film flat. <P> But in the other 10% - for no reason I've been able to come up with and even if an elephant sat on them overnight - they will not lie flat in the holder so they go into the glass one.<P>

My thought is that the 'curl' is in the film base before it goes through the camera!

Just a comment about the holders - I've got the Polaroid SS120 and in 90% of cases the glassless holder is perfect at holding the 120 film flat. <P> But in the other 10% - for no reason I've been able to come up with and even if an elephant sat on them overnight - they will not lie flat in the holder so they go into the glass one.<P>

My thought is that the 'curl' in in the film base before it goes through the camera!

Many photographers are now scanning older material into the computer now and like you they do have problems with dust. Most just put the slide / negative into the holder and then straight into the scanner complete with the dust.

There are many ways to remove the dust such as smart software, brushes, canned air and anti-static brushes and one of the best is to get rid of it before you put it into the scanner.

I use a film cleaner called 'Booflet' which can be found <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">here at this website</A>

. I use it to clean all my negative strips and I remove all slides from their mounts ( it's very rare that a slide is flat in any mount other than a glass one).

I now use a Polaroid SprintScan 120 after cleaning the film and I also use the Polaroid DSR program on large areas of sky etc. Works very well for me. My previous scanners Minoltas Dual II and Scan Multi II did not have ICE either and still gave me wonderful reasonably dust free scans.

I've used the Scan Dual II and I've now moved onto a Polaroid SprintScan 120 at 4000 dpi - both of these do not have dust and scratch removal processes.

Scratches are one thing but dust can be attacked with a good film cleaner - such as the tacky roller film cleaner <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">Click Here For More Information</A> .

Go there and have a look at it and you will see how it works.<P>

Polaroid also supply free a rather good <A HREF="http://www.polaroid.com/service/software/poladsr/poladsr.html">Dust and Scratch Removal </A> program from their website which works surprisingly well regardless of the scanner that was used for scanning.

It's free to download.

I use a film cleaner called a 'Booflet' to remove the dust from my negatives before I scan them - it removes dust and then you can retain the dust on the adhesive pads.<P>

Sometimes by looking at the particles on the pad you can determine the cause of some of the particles - hair, skin or fabric from floor or clothes.<P>

It also prevents the dust from going inside the scanner and perhaps on the sensor!<P>

The website is at <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">www.boofey.com</A>

A product that is used to combat dust before you scan a film into a film scanner or should you ever do some enlarging using an enlarger is a tacky roller film cleaner from <A HREF="http://www.boofey.com">click here for more info</A>

You must keep the scanner clean (and a good idea is not to position it next to the monitor - which is the biggest dust collector in your computer setup.)

I've been using a Scan Dual II and recently started to use a Scan Multi II and to clean the negatives in both cases I use a tacky roller film cleaner. These work by picking up the particles on both sides of the film before it is placed in the scanner. Very effective!

You can find out more at http://www.boofey.com - I also use Vuescan instead of the Minolta software.