Keeping dust off your flatbed?

Oh boy.... best answer: Photoshop's healing brush. If it wasn't for that thing I'd be sitting in the corner mumbling at the spider webs most of the time.

Find another room for he scanner. A small room like a bathroom. Move the computer if need be, or use a laptop- scanning is a pretty simple operation all in all compared to processing.

Spray the air with fine water mist to settle dust. Get a plastic cleaner- Brillianize is one, Novus #1 is another, there are others. It is basically an anti-static wax. Spray it on a rag and web the scanner down. polish the scanner glass. Ilford AntiStaticum clothes as a final dust sweep. Have a small lamp near the scanner that you can glance across the negative to check for dust. I recently got a small air brush compressor that lets me blow dust away but isn't so strong and high-volume that it creates a new dust cloud.

Did I mention Photoshop's healing brush? Amazing!!
 
I gave up trying to keep dust off. I just brush it off with an anti-static brush before each scan and it's usually pretty clean. Some bits still get in, so, as above, I use the healing brush in Photoshop/Lightroom to clean my pics.
 
"REALLY dusty" in no enviroment for any optical instrument.
Get your scanner in a different room or clean up, simple as that.
 
icebear said:
"REALLY dusty" in no enviroment for any optical instrument.
Get your scanner in a different room or clean up, simple as that.
Click to expand...

Some people live in dry/dusty environments, so it's not as "simple as that" for everyone.

Personally, I clean often, and it does help some, but not completely.
 
I keep a plastic sheet over my flatbed, and go over it with a static-free cloth before use...plus a blast of canned air and then over it again with the cloth. :)

A humidifier in the room might help with dust and static.
 
I keep both my scanners - film and flatbed - in plastic bags. Seriously. When I'm going to scan, I go over bag and surroundings with microfiber cloth and pull bag off to clear access to feed of film scanner or remove from bag film scanner (it's slim LED light canon so it's quite easy).

Dust is around us, it's here to stay and overtake us. So no, I'm not strange nor paranoid.
 
Not having a particularly dusting environment, I commiserate with those that do.

Dust is a pain

Usually I wipe over my scanner with a dampened micro-fibre cloth and clean the glass with Rosco lens cleaning fluid and tissue. Negatives are given a once-over with a Giotto blower.

Photoshop's Healing Brush sees some action, too.
 
I've been religiously blowing with a large Giottos blower
It's just annoying because microfiber and Zeiss lens cleaning fluid is not actually (I hate that fluid- seems to take forever to evaporate) lifting the dust
 
Ilford antistaticum cloth. soo good! Also rocket blower.
I also want to get one of those covers for my v-750.

I know what its like regarding the dusty environment. I used to work (and scan a ton) in Downtown LA and there was nothing you could do...clean up did nothing, it was dust in the air everywhere.
 
I make a first pass around and on the scanner with a swifter, then a second pass on the scanner plate and the negative holder with an anti-static cloth
 
eyeglass lens cleaning spray (from my optician) and a VERY clean soft cotton cloth. Seems to work best if I clean before I start scanning, then every two-three negatives.

Oh, yeah. And the clone tool/healing tool in photoshop :)
 
Canned air and a microfiber are a must in my experience. Though PS's healing brush does become a best friend very quickly!
 
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