Dust Update

[grain elevator]

I guess this is the area in life where fate means well for me. I don't take any anti-dust measures other than a final rinse with antistatic properties (Tetenal Mirasol, beautiful name for a mundane product). And I have few issues with stubborn dust. My storage and handling isn't all that clean anyway, so a few puffs of air are needed and seem to do, usually. Maybe the Mirasol is the key? Or do you allenlarge much beyond 12x, so the issue is very fine dust I don't get to see?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Do you do color printing, or anything involving registering film multiples like masking, or use true glass enlarger carriers? If so, keeping the room dust-free is task number one, unless you enjoy Printing Purgatory.

Degree of enlargement is also indeed an issue. A speck of dust hardly noticeable enlarging an 8x10 film original onto 16x20 paper, for example, might look as big as the Goodyear Blimp in the sky enlarging from a little 6X7 roll film original.

 

[snusmumriken]

I guess this is the area in life where fate means well for me. I don't take any anti-dust measures other than a final rinse with antistatic properties (Tetenal Mirasol, beautiful name for a mundane product). And I have few issues with stubborn dust. My storage and handling isn't all that clean anyway, so a few puffs of air are needed and seem to do, usually. Maybe the Mirasol is the key? Or do you allenlarge much beyond 12x, so the issue is very fine dust I don't get to see?

Degree of enlargement is also indeed an issue. A speck of dust hardly noticeable enlarging an 8x10 film original onto 16x20 paper, for example, might look as big as the Goodyear Blimp in the sky enlarging from a little 6X7 roll film original.

+1 for Mirasol and negligible dust. I also use Secol storage sheets in which the (35mm) negative strips are totally enclosed, placed in storage boxes, and I stow the film away as soon as it is dry.

I don't think scale is the difference here: I only print what I judge to be 'keepers', and then always on 16x12 paper. I am a big fan of Mirasol, which was a game-changer for me. I think it is anything but mundane.

I suspect those who scan rather than print may see more dust. I think it accumulates in the scanner. I've noticed that a clean negative placed in an old scanner produces a file with far more spot defects than any print from the same negative.

 

[grain elevator]

Do you do color printing, or anything involving registering film multiples like masking, or use true glass enlarger carriers? If so, keeping the room dust-free is task number one, unless you enjoy Printing Purgatory.

I don't and I get that. Want to make a glass carrier, I will have more dust worries then... I do remember it was an biggier issue with that when I used one. I was strictly thinking of dust issues when drying film, how the thread started.