Safely Cleaning Negatives

[dhkirby]

Hey Everybody,
I've long been trying to find a way to clean negatives without doing harm to them (specifically scratching). The best way that I've come up with so far is a brush that was made for cleaning a DSLR sensor, but even this occasionally leaves small scratches where I use it. Is there a better way of cleaning dust off?
Thanks,
Dan

 

[Mark_S]

I shoot mostly 4x5, and I have a brush thingy which is mounted in a frame - sort of like two brushes, one on top, and one on the bottom, it is electrically grounded and pulling the negative through this both removes dust and static charge so that you don't attract more dust. This works on MF negs as well, and does the trick as long as the issue is just dust.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

A large-headed sable hair make-up brush first, holding neg down against lightbox as you brush briskly one way. Lightly blow on the negative for stubborn spots then wipe over with a very clean microfibre cloth. Ilford antistatic spray on a microfibre cloth can also be used to reduce (but never entirely eliminate) dust. Storing negatives/transparencies in a sealed box (not varnished) is the only sure way to avoid dust build up. In my experience negatives are very, very easy to scratch as opposed to transparencies so there is quite a bit of risk of damage in the cleaning regime.

 

[dhkirby]

Thanks guys!

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Compressed air.

 

[cliveh]

If you are just trying to remove dust then some form of blower brush or compressed air often does the trick. The problem with this type of application is that you are usually treating the effect rather than the cause. When you blow air away it has to be replaced by other air, hopefully dust free, but not always the case. Those of us who use a converted bathroom are onto a good thing as the damp atmosphere reduces the dust. Also keeping negatives in diffuse paper sleeves as opposed to plastic will reduce static and help avoid dust.