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What Compressed Air Gun Do You Use For Lenses And Film?

Certain Exposures

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Hello,

I would like to stop spending money on cans of compressed air and worrying about the occasional spritz of condensation. I do not find the hand pump rubber air blowers with the red tips useful.

Are any electronic compressed air guns safe for use on lenses, camera parts, scanner glass surfaces, and film? If so, which one do you recommend based on your experience? I am looking at a few options.

Thank you.
 
I use a small CO2 powered blower with a fine tip, uses standard CO2 canisters used in airguns, etc. Never had a condensation "spritz" from it. When I get home tonight, I'll try to remember to get a picture of it. Works perfectly.
 
I use an air tank from the home improvement store. I charge it up with my shop compressor. In my previous darkroom (basement) I ran a line directly from the compressor. A simple air gun attachment is sufficient to clean negatives. The air tank, of course, can be used wherever.

The air blast is not as strong as with "dust off" type products; this can perhaps be an advantage.

I have never had a problem with moisture, despite not using a trap.

I will admit that this rig was actually purchased to run nail guns, and many would probably not want to buy a compressor.
 

I NEVER use a compressor, at least the usual kind, for anything photographic. A certain amount of the internal oils contaminates the compressed air. A little oil in the air in your tires is no big deal but it's not a great plan for delicate camera and lens innards. So you want a compressor that is "oil free".

(An ideal source of cheap compressed air is a scuba tank and used regulator setup and an appropriate nozzle attached. However, most shops won't sell you one without a dive card on the assumption that you need to learn how to handle the 3000 psi found therein. But that air is VERY clean. The tanks have to undergo a visual inspection every year and a hydro-static deformation test every 5 years.)
 
In the darkroom I have a CO2 tank that was used for airbrushes. Dry, controlled air to clean negs. The biggest problem is finding a reasonable place to get it filled.
 
I recently bought a HOTO AutoCare Air Duster & Vacuum. Lithium battery and USB charged, with many type of nozzles. It is very powerful, and I used it to vacuum clean the inside of an old Graflex 4x5 SLR. You can use it as a duster as well, just need to be careful not to blow away other things on the table.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.


I'll check which options suggested are 'oil free' besides a scuba tank.
 

Those can generate a lot static electricity which is a dust magnet.

There are specialty vacuums made for working on precision and electronics systems that avoid this.
 

I stopped using compressed air 20 years ago and switched to a small compressor from Calumet. Never regretted the switch. They are safe, and there are no more cans to buy. I use it to clean all sorts of things. I also believe the compressor is a lot stronger than the cans. Initially, it takes a little wait until the compressor reservoir is pressurized, but that's no big deal; have I mentioned 'free compressed air'?
 
chuckroast said:
Those can generate a lot static electricity which is a dust magnet.

There are specialty vacuums made for working on precision and electronics systems that avoid this.
Click to expand...
What's the make and model vacuum you use?

What's the model you're using? Is it convenient for a small space?
 
chuckroast said:
I don't recall the model. It's been years since I bought one. You'll need to look for one that is static safe for electronics.
Click to expand...

I just checked. Look for "Data-Vac" or "Metrovac" on Amazon.

Mine is similar to this:


But it's a vacuum, not a compressed air source. The trick would be to find an oil free small compressor.
 
I am still in the process of getting the darkroom set up and haven't had a chance to try this out.
 

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Oh gosh. I designed and sold pro compressors, and still have three small ones in my shop & darkroom building. Every one them is oil free, US made, and low-RPM for sake of being quiet and running cool over a long lifespan. The air hoses (also high quality) are triple filtered using a series of inline micro-mist filters.

It's also important to purge you hoses and airguns well before cleaning prints of film with them. You need a good pressure regulator which you can set to 30 PSI or lower. And the tank must be periodically drained to prevent condensed water accumulation in them.

I've been retired awhile; but prior to that my source of US made portable compressors was drying up, and what was still left had jumped from about $300 apiece to around $800, so I asked another of my sources, Rol Air, to come up with a substitute, and we experimented with one of the better oilless, similarly quiet Chinese models, now marketed as the JC-10 model. The secret was 2 small slow pistons rather than one big fast one. They've double in price recently, due to all the tariff madness I presume, to around $400. I sold them for less than half of that.

But one does not want to get an outright cheapo compressor because the pistons run way too fast and hot to make up for their inefficiency of design, leading to a lot of internal water condensation plus a greatly reduced lifespan - maybe six months or less. I've been running some of my own compressors for over 30 years now.

Vacuums are a different topic I am also highly informed about, since I've sold thousands of those as well, and in true EPA-registered HEPA design. Simply put a so-called Hepa filter in an ordinary shop or household vac, and you'll still get fine dust all over the place due to lack of adequate seals. Plus for film use, you also need to be able to either dramatically reduce the pull via RPM control, or have a functional pressure bleeder valve in place, or both. But I don't have time at the moment to elaborate more.

My personal Festool vacs have anti-static hoses; but those are expensive.
 
I went with the WolfBox model reviewed here:


It's extremely strong, overkill for many tasks, in those cases I just use a rubber handheld blower.
 
Pieter12 said:
In the darkroom I have a CO2 tank that was used for airbrushes. Dry, controlled air to clean negs. The biggest problem is finding a reasonable place to get it filled.
Click to expand...

I had a setup using CO2 with a tank for painting airbrushes used in model making. I secured a small CO2 tank from a place that supplied hospitals and other medical facilities with O2 and other gases. You might be able to get the tank from a model shop.
 
One kind of device I had to give up was an ionized compressed air anti-static gun. The ionization created havoc with the solid-state controls of certain enlargers in the vicinity.

The worst thing for film, paper, and delicate camera and lens cleaning would be a high air pressure emitter, like in the posted video, even though every one of those looks like a pathetic toy right out of a Cracker Jacks box. I even question how safe something that inexpensive can be in terms of flimsy high RPM fan blades and cheap battery fire risk.

At the other extreme, once high-pressure CO2 tanks come into play, they need to be equipped with high-quality dual step-down regulators (as is legally the case if leased from a professional service specializing in compressed gas). But when things get DIY jerry-rigged, then you potentially have a deadly bomb on you hands if a weak regulator fails.
 
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DREW WILEY said:
The worst thing for film, paper, and delicate camera and lens cleaning would be a high air pressure emitter, like in the posted video, even though every one of those looks like a pathetic toy right out of a Cracker Jacks box.
Click to expand...
I clean film and lenses with an anti-static brush. I use air to clean 4x5 film holders before loading.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I will have to revisit this over the weekend. I was not expecting this much to consider (oil, static, safety, etc.).

@Michael Howard I'm still interested to see what you use.
 
Certain Exposures said:
What's the make and model vacuum you use?


What's the model you're using? Is it convenient for a small space?
Click to expand...

very much so, it sits on my desk. It's called 'Ding mini air compressor and if I remember correctly, I paid $69 around 1995. It still works well and never had a problem.
 
I use canned air. I do not use it enough to consider getting a compressor.
 
Sirius Glass said:
I use canned air. I do not use it enough to consider getting a compressor.
Click to expand...
The downside to canned air is it is hard to regulate if you just want a light burst and on the other hand if you use it too long, you can get nasty white residue on whatever you're attempting to clean. It takes just the right touch do use well as opposed to compressed CO2 with a nozzle and regulator.
 
RalphLambrecht said:
very much so, it sits on my desk. It's called 'Ding mini air compressor and if I remember correctly, I paid $69 around 1995. It still works well and never had a problem.
Click to expand...

You find several desktopmodels on Amazon if you search for 'mini compressor' for as little as ~$100.
 
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