Vicki in Western Montana wrote:
> Can someone give me some tips/instruction on the best way to remove
> lint/hair/dust from slides. I seem to just move it around and have
> not succeeded at getting a really "clean" scan.
Try PEC-12 cleaner (fluid in a spray bottle) and cleaning pads. See
www.photosol.com
> Also, best way to
> get any dust out of inside of Nikon scanner.
Anthony Atkielski answered a similar question on this list on 10
September 2002 by describing how he cleans the mirror without
dismantling the scanner -- I have copied the exchange below. You might
also be interested to see these instructions for thoroughly cleaning
the scanner (I would leave this to the experts), which show the inside
of the scanner:
---------------------------------------------------
[Anthony Atkielski, filmscanners list, 10 September 2002]
> My LS-30 (also known as the Coolscan III) has
> been producing progressively foggier and darker
> scans from both slide and negative for about
> six months now. It clearly needs some sort of
> internal clean or a service.
The mirror is probably dirty. You can clean that yourself (I do it all
the
time, on both the LS-30 and the LS-2000).
Open the door to the scanner, but do not insert any of the adapters.
Turn
the scanner on. After making the usual noises, the scanner will
advance the
scan head towards the front of the scanner. Just before it
reaches the end of its travel, turn the scanner off; the head will
stop.
Now you can clean the front-silvered mirror that reflects light to the
lens
(the lens itself usually doesn't get dirty). I use a cotton swab
moistened
with a bit of Kodak lens cleaning fluid, followed by a dry cotton swab.
Be
gentle; you don't need to scrub it, you just need to gently wash the
accumulated dust out of the way. Once the mirror is clean and dry
again,
you can try it out. If the mirror had a lot of dust on it, the
improvement
will be amazing.
Usually the mirror has to have quite a coating of dust before you'll
see
haziness in scans. It took a long time for me to discover the problem
the
first time it happened, because the accumulation of dust is so gradual
and
takes so long to show up in scan results.
If that doesn't work, you'll have to take it in for service. But it
has
always worked for me.
The lens itself and other parts apparently never need cleaning. I
guess all
the dust settles on the mirror because of the way it faces upward.
----------------------------------------
Peter Marquis-Kyle
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