Cleaning film for scanning: What is your process?

I have lots and lots (and lots) of Kodachrome slides to scan, and I've learned from responses to my other posts that dust removal during scanning doesn't work with Kodachrome (and B&W film, which I also have). So it would seem that I need to clean Kodachrome slides and B&W negatives as much as possible before scanning.

What is your process?

Phil Burton

No real process for me... a can of compressed air to remove dust (as I would do when printing), then fine tune in post when needed.

I scan using a DSLR and the purpose of my scans is only for web use and sharing with friends, never high quality prints. Therefore my needs in terms of scan quality are very limited and I don’t worry too much.

Etienne

Anti-static brush and Rocket Blower. I also keep some Pec Pads and film cleanig solutions on hand, but the liquid cleaners are more for finger prints, and should not be needed for dust.

These methods are far from 100% effective, so I spend a fair amount of time using the Photoshop "Spot Healing" tool (Content Aware) which I much prefer to the Lightroom version. Occasionally the "Rubber Stamp" tool is more effective than the Spot healing tool. It is rare that I can get away with using Photoshop's Dust and Scratches" tool on the whole image, but it can be a time saver if you can select areas which lack fine detail, especially shadow areas and/or sky where the dust shows up the worst.

I have looked at SRDx software <this website> but I have not tried it. If it works as promised, it is probably worth $50 / 50 Euro.
EDIT: I just tried out the trial version of the SRDx software (above). Somewhat helpful, but not magic. For some kinds of defects it works pretty good, but almost worthless for others. So a lot of clean up was still needed after running the filter. In some areas it was just as destructive to image detail as Photoshop's Dust and Scratches tool.

Has anyone found anything useful on fungus?

I tend to use an anti-static brush and make sure the film holder is reasonably clean (Nikon scanner). I've found the 'compressed air' blower products can be rather overzealous and usually avoid them. If memory serves, at one point in time a member here had installed a clean and controllable compressed air system for his photography, but think this was for a darkroom supply.

PhilBurton said:

I have lots and lots (and lots) of Kodachrome slides to scan, and I've learned from responses to my other posts that dust removal during scanning doesn't work with Kodachrome (and B&W film, which I also have). So it would seem that I need to clean Kodachrome slides and B&W negatives as much as possible before scanning.

What is your process?

Phil Burton

Click to expand...

I run a HEPA filter in the room where I handle negatives. It cuts down on that sort of thing pretty dramatically.

Assuming your film was stored cleanly and is sleeved or boxed and haven't been handled much, they should be fairly clean to start with. A rocket blower and little anti-static brush or soft paintbrush to knock off the more stubborn stuff usually works fine. The only time I use liquid cleaners is if there are finger prints or other water based blemishes that you can see in the scan.

This goes without saying, but invest in some black nitrile gloves that are powder free and wear them when you're handling your film and scanning it, it will cut down on finger prints, and the black will not reflect as much so if you have hold film in place or such while scanning, it cuts down on reflected light contamination.

I use the rocket blower and then breathe a fog onto the non emulsion side and wipe it carefully vertically and horizontally with a digital sensor cleaner wand. These can be purchased in packs of 12 or so on eBay. They seem to work quite well and remove the stubborn dust spots and threads without scratching the neg.

runswithsizzers said:

Anti-static brush and Rocket Blower.

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Me, too. Just the rocket blower when I can get away with it.

A Kodak Camel Hair brush, plus judiciously applied canned air.

As the OP, I appreciate all these responses. Thanks to all.

Phil Burton

PhilBurton said:

I have lots and lots (and lots) of Kodachrome slides to scan, and I've learned from responses to my other posts that dust removal during scanning doesn't work with Kodachrome (and B&W film, which I also have). So it would seem that I need to clean Kodachrome slides and B&W negatives as much as possible before scanning.

What is your process?

Phil Burton

Click to expand...

In another thread, you posted that you have the Coolscan 5000 but I am not sure which software you are using to drive the scanner. If you use Nikonscan then I can tell you that ICE will work on Kodachrome. ICE for Canon (they call FARE) does a most horrible job rendering the results completely useless. ICE for Epsons (I've tried 4990, V500 & V7XX) does better then Canon but leaves a lot of artifacts especially in areas with adjacent dark and light areas.

Here are results of scans of Kodachrome from various scanners and ICE settings. Epson V500 clearly shows the artifacts, Coolscan 5000+Nikonscan leaves tiny - barely perceptible, artifacts while Coolscan 9000 does it perfectly.



This particularly scratched up frame of Kodak 160VC shows the effectiveness of Coolscan+Nikonscan ICE.