vincenzozanghi

Be careful “dusting off” emulsion - it’s easy to embed that particle in it with even the lightest wipe. And the tiniest bit will scratch the surface if dragged across it by a brush or cloth. I use a Zerostat anti-static “gun”, which I originally bought decades ago to use on my vinyl records. I point and squeeze to neutralize static electricity, then gently blow the dust off with clean, dry air (eg canned). And even that isn’t perfect.

 

Dust is still a problem with digital photography. It gets inside every device and onto sensors etc in cameras, lenses, filters, scanners etc.

 

What I find most interesting is that I spend as much time “post-processing” digital images as I did optimizing emulsion-based pics. Instead of de-dusting the negs and prints, I “heal” the same flaws in scanned images. Instead of push-processing, burning, dodging etc, I tune the images electronically. Turning a RAW image into a great print can be every bit as labor intensive as emulsion photography. And Mr Murphy is clearly a photographer - that lone unnoticed speck will definitely appear at a critical location in the final image ;)

Never heard of such a device! Gonna have to buy one now because I love film and vinyl!

It is, as they knew very well in the days of film, really impossible to eliminate dust. Minimize, yes, but eliminate? No.

 

The answer is blowing in the wind -- it's called "spotting"

 

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The Photography Catalog

WOW! so cool thanks for sharing!

Film definitely should not feel sticky! Just how high is your humidity? Another cause might be too much wetting agent when the film is processed.

what do you mean by wetting agent?

Keep the humidity up at 40%, but not higher than about 50%. Then do the above and what you're doing.

is that why some of my film feels sticky sometimes?

Make sure there is no air movement around the enlarger. Ground the enlarger or negative stage.

by ground do you mean attach a physical ground wire to it?

Hello,

Recently I have run into an issue with some of my prints. When preparing to enlarge I try to dust off my film strip but still somehow I get specks of dust on my prints. Are there any tips or tricks to help with this? I usually use air and anti-static cloth.