Originally posted by S40
Is there any effective way of removing them? What are the steps normally taken before you insert a film for scanning?
Lovely picture.
If you're referring to the white patches above the child's head and on her clothes, that's dust. Welcome to the world of film scanning.
The most cost effective method is to use the clone tool in photoshop, or something similar. Don't bother if you're not going to do anything with the picture except archive it. For pictures that i print, can spend anything from 5 minutes to 1/2 hour cleaning up the dust... it's very time consuming.
i sometimes use a film wiper before scanning a strip - available at Cathay, i think ~$15. Something like a stapler, put your film btw the rubber strips and pull through. (Disclaimer: if you scratch your neg doing this, not my fault. i'm just sharing what i do w my negs.) Also, check BOTH sides of the film for dust. It is unlikely that you will spot the all dust particles.
Another method is to upgrade the scanner to one of those that use infrared to remove dust. Quite a lot of models around, but i think the cheapest is around 2k range. This one you'd have to shop around.
Keep your scanner properly covered when not in use. Dust that goes in stays in, and will affect every neg you scan. Improvise some covering for your scanner.
i'm glad i turned digital. i still scan film, but not as often. Scanning and cleaning/correcting a roll of film usually takes me 1-2 hours, per roll. A heavy shoot, say 6-12 rolls, will see me stuck at the computer for many nights.
If you have intention of doing heavy scanning (ie everything you shoot), save yourself the time and effort - get one with infrared dust removal. There are even models i saw that can scan all 36 frames at one go, provided the negs are uncut, of course.
