Dust and Negative Scanning Tips

Look, Dust is Dust. There isn’t much you can do about it. It’s everywhere. It’s going to be on your negatives, stick to your negatives, and appear after you ensure your negative is absolutely dust free. This doesn’t mean you should just leave dust all over your negatives. There are many things you can do ensure that your negatives require as little cleanup as possible.

Make sure your camera and negative carriers aren’t dusty

Make sure you are storing your camera in a case. If you aren’t using the the case then keep it closed. Also make sure your large format negative carriers aren’t left out to get dusty as well. That can cause dust to get on the film before you even get to take the photo. The easiest way to fix these issues is to keep them in a protective case when not in use, but sometimes you do have to clean them. A 35 mm or Medium format camera just needs a good blowing from a blower bulb in the negative compartment. For large format, mount them camera facing upwards and just use a  blower bulb between them and it should help get rid of any in camera dust. Also rocket blow your negative carriers each time before you load them.

Rewash your negatives

Just use distilled water and rock the water back and forth. You can use a stabilizer like Photo-Flo as well which may help the dust come off easier. Use room temperature water (not cold or hot) and dry them in a place that doesn’t have a lot of dust. If the humidity is a bit higher it will take longer for the negative to dry after cleaning, but the air-born dust will be lower. I usually will dry film in my bathroom after developing or rewashing negatives. I run the shower for a couple minutes to get the steam up and help collect the dust. Sure the drying time is longer, but it helped me keep more dust off than anything else I tried.

If you use a changing bag, make sure it’s super clean

I don’t use them for this reason. Luckily, I have a basement with a room that is pitch black I can load in (my laundry room). Sometimes I get dust on my negatives or scratch them using the changing bag, and it’s more hassle than it’s worth for me. If you don’t have that option, just shake the changing bag out well before using it. When I have to use the changing bag I always make sure to shake it even if It’s been stored in a case or between each consecutive use.

Dust is everywhere

I keep a blower bulb, microfiber cloth, and a spray bottle of distilled water close by when I scan. I clean the scanner glass with the lightly damp cloth after blowing as much dust as I can off the glass with a blower bulb; let the glass completely dry before scanning anything. Once dry just blow it off again with the bulb to be extra safe. I blow off each negative and negative tray between each scan; blow them off away from the scanner as well just for extra caution. It’s all preventative steps that help keep dust off the scanner as much as possible. If you are using a camera to scan negatives, make sure your light table is absolutely clean. The same cleaning process applies to the light table as well. It’s important to use distilled water so it doesn’t leave hard water residue. Don’t use chemicals like cleaners! They can leave residues on the scan bed and damage your film.

Store your negatives!

I use print file sleeves, but anything that is acid free to store your negatives out of harms way helps. If you are extra nervous, then use a negative sleeve in a print box to help keep dust even more at bay. Storage of your negatives is the easiest way to keep your negatives dust free after development.

Embrace it

You will always have some dust on your negatives, and large format (4x5 in my case) will have more dust on it because of area compared to medium format and 35mm. That’s okay! Nobody is getting perfectly dust free negatives. There will always be some cleanup that needs to be done when you scan. Just try to limit as much dust as possible to help ensure you are going to get as clean of a scan as you can.

So in the end, we can’t stop film from getting dirty or dusty. We can help to make sure we keep as much dust off our negatives as possible. Hopefully these tips will help you keep your negatives clean and ready for scanning at any time!