How do you clean your negs?

tomfrh · Mar 9, 2016

ive just started printing with an enlarger. It's going well, I've made a half dozen prints now, however Im finding it difficult to remove all the dust from the negs. I invariably miss a few tiny specks and end up with spots on the prints.

I'm using cloths, and also brushes.

How do you do it? How do you find and remove all the dust?

bvy · Mar 9, 2016

First it gets a gentle wipe with an antistatic cloth. This is usually all that's needed. After that, I have a small penlight that I use in the dark. I hold it at an angle and look for dust -- and then blow or brush off the remaining specks.

ChuckP · Mar 9, 2016

Try using a blower like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Giottos-Rocket-Blaster-Blower-Large/dp/B00017LSPI

Sirius Glass · Mar 9, 2016

I use a can of compressed air for computers and cameras to blow the dust off. Just do not put the negative close to the tube to avoid the propellant from getting on the negative. Dustoff http://www.dust-off.com/shop/category/computer-dusters

jimjm · Mar 9, 2016

Just before inserting the negative carrier into the enlarger, I blow the dust off the top (non-emulsion side) of the negative with a bulb blower like a Giottos Rocket Air Blaster. Very rarely so I get dust on the emulsion side as it's not as smooth and attracts less dust. I turn on the enlarger lamp so I can also see if there's any dust still on the negative as I slide the carrier in.

Any stubborn specks get brushed off with an anti-static brush. I don't wipe or touch my negatives otherwise. It's important to keep negatives protected as much as possible. They're kept in plastic file sleeve pages, which are filed in plastic binder boxes to keep dust off the pages as well.

I stopped using canned air to clean negatives a few years ago. The Giottos blower bulb is just as effective, and no possibility of damaging the negative from holding the nozzle too close to the film.

R.Gould · Mar 9, 2016

Brushed gently with a lens brush, then blown with a Giotas rocket blower, I have used canned air, but it can sometimes damage a negative if it comes out as a sort of gas kiqued, rare, but it has happened a few times, also the can empty just when you need it, the blower is always and gives a good blow

bdial · Mar 9, 2016

Dust-off, occasionally augmented by a Staticmaster brush, if necessary.
Less is more when it comes to touching the negative.

bvy · Mar 9, 2016

I agree that less is more, but canned air is equivalent to kill-an-ant-with-a-sledgehammer. Also, I've had it blow gunk on to my negative before.

If you wipe the negative with an antistatic cloth, there should only be the wayward speck or two to deal with. A brush or blow (by mouth) is all that is needed at that point. That's my experience anyway.

Thomas Bertilsson · Mar 9, 2016

Canned air works fine as long as the bottle is held upright. Don't tilt it, and don't shake it.

Before I put the negative into the carrier, I brush it with a fine brush to get the worst off, then I use the canned air. Works like a charm. It's of course not the only way to do it, and I've thought about buying one of those air blasters. The compressed air seems to be a little wasteful.

Maris · Mar 9, 2016

Dust bustin' step by step:

First I wipe down the darkroom with a lint free damp cloth.
I wear synthetic fabric garments rather than cotton or wool.
A 50W reflector flood light mounted in a snoot is set up pointing down into the darkroom sink. The beam is intense but the snoot prevents eye dazzle. Dusting and brushing is done over a wet sink where dust particles won't bounce.
The underside of the negative carrier glass (I use just a top glass) is dusted with a Staticmaster brush while being observed at a grazing angle in the spotlight beam. The glass is placed, underside down, next to the enlarger. The theory is that dust doesn't fall up.
The negative is then brushed in the spotlight beam, emulsion side first, top side second, until no speck of dust is visible.
The negative is put into the negative carrier, the top surface of the negative carrier glass is then brushed to eliminate settled dust and the assembly goes immediately into the enlarger.

It is a long time since I did any spotting. My Spotone bottles from the 1970s are still nearly full.

cliveh · Mar 9, 2016

If you have a dust problem, may I ask are you using a condenser enlarger with a glass or glassless carrier?

tomfrh · Mar 9, 2016

I'm using a condenser with glass carrier. I'm using 645 negs.

Using a lateral light source to illuminate the stray particles will help a lot I think. I haven't been doing that.

cliveh · Mar 9, 2016

tomfrh said:
I'm using a condenser with glass carrier. I'm using 645 negs.

Using a lateral light source to illuminate the stray particles will help a lot I think. I haven't been doing that.

Get rid of the glass carrier, problem solved.

tomfrh · Mar 9, 2016

cliveh said:
Get rid of the glass carrier, problem solved.

Forgive my ignorance - How does that fix the problem?

cliveh · Mar 9, 2016

tomfrh said:
Forgive my ignorance - How does that fix the problem?

Two sheets of glass with negative in between provides 6 surfaces for dust. Glassless provides only 2.

tomfrh · Mar 9, 2016

Ok I'll give this a try. Cheers

Gerald C Koch · Mar 9, 2016

It helps to keep them as dust free as possible. If possible keep them in glassine sleeves rather than plastic ones. When pulled from a plastic sleeve static electricity is generated attracting dust. This does not happen with glassine. Make sure that the frame of your enlarger is well grounded. When not in the carrier the negatives should be replaced in their sleeve and not left around. Wear photograde cotton gloves when handles the negatives. At least wash you hands thoroughly to remove oil and avoid touching anything other than the negative sides. Keep your darkroom as dust free as possible mop the floors and wipe surfaces. Low humidity encourages static electricity so keep the humidity up in the darkroom. Learn how to spot your prints.

Ziva · Mar 15, 2016

hi! It is my first post here

I clean my negs with isopropyl alkohol and it work perfect! No smudges, no dust, no funny things. Other thing is I do not need to do it to often, I just take care for appropriate developing process and then they are nice and clean.

Sirius Glass · Mar 15, 2016

Welcome to APUG

benjiboy · Mar 15, 2016

http://www.turntableneedles.com/Zerostat-3-Antistatic-Gun_p_3822.html

juan · Mar 16, 2016

I've been scanning 40-year old negatives that weren't stored well. I've had to clean them with naphtha and a microfiber cloth. Doing this, I've found that negatives are much less subject to physical damage than I had been led to believe. After giving the negatives a good scrubbing, I scanned a few at the highest enlargement my scanner would make and I see no evidence of scratching.

My point for this thread is I don't think you should be afraid of microfiber, anti-static cloths, soft brushes, etc. in removing dust. Avoid fingerprints.
Juan

MartinP · Mar 18, 2016

I only have a couple of suggestions to go with all those above... If you try to get dust off negs by blowing with your mouth then you will eventually have flecks of spittle landing on the neg -- use a blower instead! I can add yet another recommendation for the Giotto 'rocket' model.

Larger flexible negs (ie. medium format) have more of a natural curve than is ideal, so an upper glass (at least, lower too if possible) will help keep the neg flatter, and actually 135 isn't really flat either without glass(-es). It isn't very onerous to keep a couple of pieces of glass dust free, especially as they can be cleaned carefully with various things (anti-static cloth, liquids of several sorts etc.) that could not be used on negs.

Arklatexian · Mar 19, 2016

Gerald C Koch said:
It helps to keep them as dust free as possible. If possible keep them in glassine sleeves rather than plastic ones. When pulled from a plastic sleeve static electricity is generated attracting dust. This does not happen with glassine. Make sure that the frame of your enlarger is well grounded. When not in the carrier the negatives should be replaced in their sleeve and not left around. Wear photograde cotton gloves when handles the negatives. At least wash you hands thoroughly to remove oil and avoid touching anything other than the negative sides. Keep your darkroom as dust free as possible mop the floors and wipe surfaces. Low humidity encourages static electricity so keep the humidity up in the darkroom. Learn how to spot your prints.

I think that making sure your enlarger is "grounded" to control static electricity is more important than many people realize for dust control. All of my enlargers have three promg plugs and plug into three wire extensions, if necessary, and all the wall sockets are well grounded. I have always liked glassene sleeves better than plastic. Now I know another reason why. Thank you. I have never used plastic so I didn't know that made a difference. I do not like plastic because I have seen negatives "stick" to the plastic if they were stored in a high humidity enviroment. I keep my darkroom humidity dowm in the summer by cooling with an airconditioner. With our climate, there is still plenty of humidity left to help control the gust. All of your suggestions were good and useful.....Regards!

tomfrh · Mar 20, 2016

Thanks all. I'm a lot better at it now. The penlight was the key, as I can now see the dust and target it with blower/brush. I simply couldn't see most of the dust previously, and my "cleaning" efforts were just moving the dust around.

How do you clean your negs?

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