Milty Zerostat Gun

[samdj1210]

Hi people
I am looking to buy one to clean my slides, do anyone use these and do they work on film? I've heard mixed reviews.

Sam

 

[Shadowplay]

I've never used one on film, but I've used them a lot on my vinyl and they definitely work. It's not like the dust will just fall off of them, but if at one point you can't blow it off , a hit with the zerostat will likely help matters.

 

[crawdiddy]

Hi people
I am looking to buy one to clean my slides, do anyone use these and do they work on film? I've heard mixed reviews.

Sam

Good question. I've never heard of the Milty part, but I own such a device. Called simply Zerostat, it's a relic from the days when vinyl ruled, at least for music recording. Mine is a bright red ray-gun looking apparatus, with a chrome trigger. You were supposed to pull the trigger slowly with the tip over the vinyl, after it was already on the turntable. You can hear a faint hissing sound as you do so. If you touch the the electrode on the end, you get a mild static electric shock. I think it's a small piezo-electric device. I also recall you were supposed to "treat" the vinyl while pulling the trigger. Afterward, you should move the device away from the vinyl before releasing it (in other words, you wanted to increase the positive ions near the vinyl, and not the negative ones (or vice versa, can't recall).

Anyhoo, I just tried it on a slide. Not sure it helped as much as a blast of canned air. In fact, I'm pretty sure it did not. YMMV....

 

[samdj1210]

it's a relic from the days when vinyl ruledQUOTE]

Vinyl will always rule in my eyes 😉

Thanks for the tips, Canned air it is then.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Sam,

Not much good on film (I had one). Kinetronics Staticwisk brushes work better for me.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Tuolumne]

I think the idea is to use them in conjunction with canned air, not as a replacement. When vinyl ruled the world, I used to zap my albums with the Zerostat and then run a specially made, dry dust removal brush around the record. Without the Zerostat zap first, the dust just continued to adhere to the record. With it, all gone. You can find it here:

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/zerostat.shtml

/T

 

[ChrisPlatt]

My old Discwasher Zerostat 3 is the same as the Milty version but cost a fraction of today's price.
I use it in conjunction with a carbon fiber brush to clean my vinyl LPs before play.
It is also amusing to use when playing with a cat or other pet. 😉

In my darkroom I used a Staticmaster brush (with radioactive polonium element!) on my negatives:
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer products/staticeliminator.htm

Here's another page from the Radioactive Consumer Products website of interest to photo enthusiasts:
http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer products/cameralens.htm

Chris

 

[Tuolumne]

Discwasher - that was the name of the company that made my little dust removal brush. Thanks. That brings back memories. Did they also make the dust removal brush that pivoted on a base like a tone arm and kept the disk dust free while it was playing?

/T