Dust on Durst

[Mats_A]

Is there even a theoretical chance to get a print whithout dust? I dust off the negative, the negative holder, filter and filterholder. Then I make a print and Presto! New dust in new interesting places.

How do you oldtimers do it? Retouching the print or do you work in a magical dust free environment?

r

[tkamiya]

I have my enlarger set up in level 10 dust free clean room with atomic level particle cleaner at all air vents. (just kidding....)

I'm not an old timer but I have been printing for about 6 months in regular residential setup. My enlarger is 40+ year old Omega D-II. When I got this enlarger, I've taken it apart and cleaned every part of enlarger using wet rag, compressed air, and vacuum cleaner. Before I set the negative in carrier, I clean it with soft lint free cloth, sandwich it, then use compressed air to blow dust. Then print. I see dust maybe 1 out of 20 prints and only very small ones. If I omit cleaning the negative and blow part, then I see it 50% of times.

I have yet, another enlarger in my garage going through the cleaning process. With this one, I have to scrape off all the lose paint, refinish and paint. Then dust, then assemble.

Can you identify the kind of dust you see? Is it coming from enlarger itself?

[jp80874]

I do the things you suggest. I wear white cotton gloves when I touch the things you clean. When I built the darkroom I sealed the rafters. The wall board I used has a smooth surface that is easily washed. The ceiling and walls are this material. At every joint the edges were taped. The air coming into the darkroom goes through a furnace filter. I vacuum the room before a day of enlarging. All these things help. I still have to spot a few prints and that is bad because I am old and my hand shakes. I have made new prints to avoid this. Some times I have reshot the picture. There is no easy answer. I like the craftsmanship of a fine print done in the darkroom. It might be much easier to use Photoshop, but that is not why I am in the darkroom. Stick with it.

John Powers

[mike c]

Dust is gets bad in summer time here in L.A., the humidity is low.My darkroom is in the garage,the only thing that helps is a wipe down with a moist towel every other week or so.Have a air inlet that has a furnace filter installed that helps,but its still there.Allso use a static brush.Another thing that may help is to see if your Enlarger chassis is grounded

[Mats_A]

I suppose I should need to disassemble the enlarger. The focus wheel is rather stiff also. Problem is the enlarger belongs to the local photo club and I suspect I will get one of my own in the future. But maybe it is better to practice disassembling on somebody elses equipment

r

[ic-racer]

You are using a condenser head, right?

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I hate spotting prints so I try to keep my negs clean. You might have dust in your enlarger bellows. What you could try is to remove the lens board extend the bellows (some enlargers have 2 sets) , then turn on a vacuum cleaner then gently tap the bellows to dislodge the dust. If your vacuum cleaner is small, you might be able to vacuum the inside of your enlarger.

[tkamiya]

I suppose I should need to disassemble the enlarger. The focus wheel is rather stiff also. Problem is the enlarger belongs to the local photo club and I suspect I will get one of my own in the future. But maybe it is better to practice disassembling on somebody elses equipment

r

Well... If you don't own the equipment, don't disassemble... You can mess up the alignment and affect everybody. But you should be able to clean quite a bit by taking off easily removable parts. You know the problem is a portion higher than the film carrier. Better yet, how about work with people who own and maintain the equipment...?

[Marco B]

Is there even a theoretical chance to get a print whithout dust? I dust off the negative, the negative holder, filter and filterholder. Then I make a print and Presto! New dust in new interesting places.
r

How about the easel for your photo paper? Any dust flying around there and ending up on the print while exposing, will do no good either.

To be absolutely sure you have no dust on your negatives, get a compressed air canister or compressor to blow of dust, and than inspect against strong light before really assuming its clean. Quite often, you may discover an additional air burst is necessary.

If I didn't mess up the negative before printing, which I try hard not do by inserting in sleeves directly after drying of the film, I do manage to print about 80-90% virtually dust free.

[Mats_A]

Problem is that the darkroom has been largely abandonded for many years (digital, any one ?). We are a small group of renegades that have started using it these last months. So nobody is really maintaining the equipment.
Am thinking about setting up my own darkroom but there are an infinite amount of wants and wishes and only a finite amount of money.

r