Dust/Hairs on negatives - how to clean them off completely/near as damn it?

[Lilserenity]

Hiya,

I've not been developing my own B&W films for that long but I started and generally having good success with everything I've developed. Loading spools/tanks is easy enough and it's going fine.

However, I have one problem and I perhaps know the answer. Dust/hairs on the negatives.

My first problem was water marks which I managed to resolve (I Think) by adding Photo flo to the final wash (I use the Ilford method) as I live in an area of very hard water (the water comes from aquifers under the South Downs, a huge area of chalk grassland) and so this was essential. Without it, splodges everywhere.

I have also given up on squidgee-ing as I've noticed it tends to scratch negatives.

So, my problem seems to be dust and so forth on the negatives. If I scanned alone I would be able to Photoshop them out (not overly satisfactory but c'est la vie) but my main passion is prints and wet prints at that. Nothing like them.

Mostly they come out fine but nothing irks me more than seeing one lone bit of hair on the final print in a shadow area.

My question is, is there anything, relatively inexpensive, that i can do to 'swish' these hairs/dust marks out the way before printing? I dry my negatives in the bathroom which is dust free and file away my negatives soon after they have dried properly.

I did think of something like a blusher brush but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

I want to try and solve this issue before I process the next 3 rolls which are the final ones from my South Downs Way walk this summer. I admit I did scratch one roll pretty badly but more fool me for trying to process that too early on.

I also heard distilled water is a godsend for washing, however it sounds like an expensive option (compared to paying my water rates!)

I did try searching but maybe my search terms were duff.

Any experience/ideas etc. most gratefully appreciated,

Vicky

 

[wray]

One of the Static master brushes: http://www.amstat.com/staticmaster.html

 

[FrankS]

Ilford sells an anti-static cloth to help remove hair and dust from negs.

I had problems with water marks until I began using distilled water with photoflo for my final minute of wash. No minerals in the water, no water marks on the negs. This can be reused many many times, as only a few drops of hard tapwater are added to the distilled water with each roll of negatives dunked in it for the final minute of wash. By reusing it, it is not at all expensive.

 

[Lilserenity]

Wray, FrankS - many thanks for your suggestions.

I hadn't thought about reusing the distilled water - it hadn't occurred to me that it's perfectly viable to reuse it. I'll check that out!

Secondly the anti-static options, thanks, I shall check them out. Likely I'll go for the Ilford option seeing as that seems easily available in the UK. This has been a great help.

Many many thanks!

 

[nikon_sam]

Edwal's Anti-Stat Film cleaner and standard cotton balls followed with a Anti-Static brush and or Air-Bulb Thingy...
Start cleaning on the non-emulsion side then check...if you have to clean the emulsion side be careful...

 

[Lilserenity]

Nikon Sam, Thanks I can look out for these if necessary. and will be making sure I clean on the non-emulsion side first most definitely!

I think my local store (about 1/2 mile from here) stocks the Ilford cloth at least and Halfords (car place) stocks de-ionised water in 5 litre cannisters for about £3.50 so that seems very reasonable indeed! This should all really help matters, thanks!

 

[payasam]

India is terribly dusty. Mostly I made do with just a blower. Isn't there a shop called Gifford Boyd in Worthing? Or Hastings?

 

[MartinP]

De-ionised water is not the same thing as distilled water.

In extremis, I have simply used Spa-Blue mineral water (it actually has very low mineral solids) plus wetting-agent for the final rinse. It was much better than the tap-water in that location for sure . . .

I suppose the hairs stick to the negs due to static - are you using paper or plastic neg sleeves ? The humidity also can have a lot to do with how much static is created. Think of a hard floor in the darkroom (temporary or not) and a humidifier.

 

[fidget]

I do my enlarging in the spare bedroom, although I managed to get rid of the bed. There is no practical way to make the room dust free.
My printing was always subject to dust problems, until I bought (and use) one of those anti-static guns meant for vinyl records. It allegedly produces a stream of ions and can render a negative charge free which apparently is what attracts dust. It certainly helps.

The one I bought is a Zerostat. They come up regularly on thE bay.
It's a shame, cause I had kept my original antistatic gun for years after my record deck went. No sooner do you throw these things out, than you find a need for them...

Dave

 

[Keith]

I use one of those blusher brushes you mentioned and a decent blower which is actually one of those little plastic bellows pumps they give you for blowing up air matresses stc.

Done at the last minute before I scan while everything is actually mounted in the holders ... this has made a definite improvement. That and being sure that I dry the negatives in a dust free environment as is humanly possible because I've discovered that a lot of the really annoying small stuff is actually stuck to the emulsion itself quite often!

And I no longer have a cat! 😛

 

[Lilserenity]

I don't have a cat to get rid of and though I'm getting my hair done on Saturday I don't think I'll be going for the bald look 🙂

Some good ideas there all worth trying depending on how things turn out as I progress through this, inevitably this is a learning curve and what works for me is going to take some time.

I'll look up those few things and let you know the outcome.

As for the de-ionised vs. distilled water I did check that one out and found out they are indeed different but the difference is so minimal that it shouldn't have any negative (no pun intended) effect, and would still make a good final wash. Agreeably it was only one place that said this but it's worth a try.

I think the best thing for me to do is fire off some 24 exposure rolls of nothing of much consequence and see what works the best rather than learning on rolls of film that matter to me! It would be so handy if they stil made 12exp. 35mm rolls, ideal for testing with etc.

Thanks again everybody!
Vicky

 

[fidget]

I think the best thing for me to do is fire off some 24 exposure rolls of nothing of much consequence and see what works the best rather than learning on rolls of film that matter to me! It would be so handy if they stil made 12exp. 35mm rolls, ideal for testing with etc.

Thanks again everybody!
Vicky

A neat trick for "test film" which I used to do before I used a bulk loader, was to split a 36 exp roll into 2 or 3 lengths:-
Take a used but good cassette with a tongue of film left hanging out about 1cm and pulled taut:
Take new, say 36 roll and trim end of film square.
Slip the end of the film under the tongue of film in the empty cassette so that a centimeter of it is inside the can, Tape (cellotape) over the joint.
Now, (in the dark) wind on about half the film (around 750 mm) onto the empty cassette.
Cut the film and shape the leader of each casette.

This works well enough for making 3 cassettes from one 36 roll.


One downside is that doing this increases the risk of scratches on the film from grit/dust in the cassette felt trap. But is great for short (and cheap) test film. Less importantly, the last frame will be unusable.

Didn't Keith start a thread on this recently?


..Dave...

 

[fidget]

I maybe should add, I popped into my local superstore (Asda/Walmart) photo counter and asked them if I could have a few empty cassettes. After looking at me for a moment as if I were an escaped lunatic (I don't know what they concluded) I came away with a couple of dozen cassettes with film tongues.
Just look out for auto DX problems if your cam needs this.


Dave...

 

[sepiareverb]

You might give your enlarger a good cleaning also. It sounds like it may be a source of this dust if you are drying your films as you state.

 

[sleepyhead]

I use a combination of an airblower and a soft hair antistatic brush simultaneously. This is because air alone will sometimes not dislodge some particles, and brush alone will sometimes just move them around but not remove them.

Good luck, dust is the bane of photographers, and some spotting for dust, be it on scans or prints, is almost always necessary. If you shoot C41 films and scan, I've have good expereinces with digital ICE dust removal with my Minolta Dimage 5400 scanner.

 

[Keith]

A neat trick for "test film" which I used to do before I used a bulk loader, was to split a 36 exp roll into 2 or 3 lengths:-
Take a used but good cassette with a tongue of film left hanging out about 1cm and pulled taut:
Take new, say 36 roll and trim end of film square.
Slip the end of the film under the tongue of film in the empty cassette so that a centimeter of it is inside the can, Tape (cellotape) over the joint.
Now, (in the dark) wind on about half the film (around 750 mm) onto the empty cassette.
Cut the film and shape the leader of each casette.

This works well enough for making 3 cassettes from one 36 roll.


One downside is that doing this increases the risk of scratches on the film from grit/dust in the cassette felt trap. But is great for short (and cheap) test film. Less importantly, the last frame will be unusable.

Didn't Keith start a thread on this recently?


..Dave...

I did and you're right ... it's dead easy to do. One 36 exposure roll gave me two that I got 16 out of each.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I've never done this for test films but on occasion I'll just shoot a few frames and need to develop them. I just cut the film in the darkroom and load the reel. It's easiest to get the measurement right if you use a camera with a swing open back, not a bottom loading Leica. You can get the film out without rewinding. I then cut a new leader and mark it "short roll" with a Sharpie. When I used to have an Olympus Pen half frame camera these rolls were used up in that.

For getting clean negs the best thing is a Senrac film drier, but they're extremely expensive. They blow filtered and heated air town through the reels. It's eassier to blow the water down across the width of the film than down the 5.5 foot length of a roll of 35mm. You just dip the loaded reels in Photoflo and stick them in the tube. The blower has a timer and a choice of heat or not. I made my own back in the 60's consisting of a a 1/4 inch plywood box, about a ten inch cube. The top of the box comes off to change the air conditioner filter material from behind several large holes on the front. A piece of pipe comes down out of the bottom which is big enough to hold four 35mm reels. Two holes on the bottom take a length of stainless steel rod cross wise to support the reels. A squirrel cage blower inside provides the air. You could probably just use a hair dryer mounted in a way that it sucked in filtered air or blows through the filter. Mine has no built in heat source and it plugs into the same Gralab timer which I use to time development. Between 1/2 and 1 hour will usually dry four reels. When I'm in a hurry I direct a hair dryer at the air intake. The film does come out curly! Either hang the dry film overnight with a weighted clip or put it back on the reel wound emulsion side out and give it a few more minutes in the dryer. This will get rid of the curl.

You might be able to find a Senrac on Ebay these days for cheap.

 

[oftheherd]

One of the Static master brushes: http://www.amstat.com/staticmaster.html

Thanks for that link. I don't know why, but I thought they didn't sell these any more. I had one years ago when I still did my own printing. They are really good since they have anti-static properties as well as a brush. I will get another on for my scanning.

Thanks again.

 

[wray]

Thanks for that link. I don't know why, but I thought they didn't sell these any more. I had one years ago when I still did my own printing. They are really good since they have anti-static properties as well as a brush. I will get another on for my scanning.

Thanks again.

You are welcome! I thought the same until I walked into my local photo shop and there they were sitting on the shelf! 😀