[LargeFormat] Re: [Large Format] Air Compressor in the darkroom? (was Removing black spots from prints)

[Alan Bucknam]

Vince,

I'm finishing up my darkroom at the moment, and have been considering a 
compressor installation like yours. Any specifics on your setup would 
be greatly appreciated (where do you hide the compressor to minimize 
noise? how large a compressor do you use? Do you use a hard pipe from 
the compressor to the ceiling mount, or is it all flex hose? etc. 
etc....)

thanks,

Alan bucknam


On Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 04:26 PM, Vincent Dobson wrote:

> I did at one time have this problem until I changed my loading 
> regiment -
> since then, no problems.
>
> I have air piped (air compressor w. filter on line, not canned air) to 
> my
> loading station.  The air hangs directly over and as I close the 
> darkslide
> with one hand  (I have a jig that holds the flap ready to receive the 
> slide
> end), With the other hand I direct a continuous stream of air onto the 
> film.
> When I load in my travel trailer (or anywhere I don't have the Air
> compressor) use a travel tank (like they sell for emergency flat tire
> inflating) with a short hose - set the valve on the tank for a barely
> trickle of air.  This builds up to full pressure in the hose so that 
> when
> you direct the air, it comes out in a short high pressure blast as you 
> slide
> the darkslide to poof any dust off the film, then after you let go, it
> builds up pressure for the other side.  Using this I've loaded 40 
> holders or
> more with 1 7 gallon tank of air.  You can get this recharged at a 
> local gas
> station or inflate it with one of these cheap air compressors that run 
> off
> the cigarette lighter.
>
> As far as your current situation I'm not sure, perhaps add wings and 
> pass
> them off as a flock of crows?  All kidding aside I've not corrected 
> mine
> since they were inconsequential and since I started using the above 
> method,
> I've no shots with that problem.  But I think that it would be hard to
> bleach an area that small without overflow into the other areas and
> subsequent touch-up would show, especially in the sky.  I would go the 
> touch
> up the negative route.  This is a much easier option that would only 
> have to
> be done 1 time.  You would only need to build up density in that one 
> small
> speck area.  You would go until the spot appears white on the print, 
> then it
> would be a small and easy touch up on the print.
>
> My 2 cents, since you asked.  I hope this helps.
>
> Vince Dobson
> Visions In Nature
> www.VisionsInNature.com
>
> :>-----Original Message-----
> :>From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net]On
> :>Behalf Of Wilkes, Don MSER:EX
> :>Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 5:12 PM
> :>To: 'largeformat@f32.net'
> :>Subject: [LargeFormat] Removing black spots from prints
> :>
> ::>appear in a
> :>large, smooth area of uniform sky...
> :>
> :>Does anyone have experience in dealing with this sort of problem?  I 
> don't
> :>want to retouch the neg itself -- it's fairly important to me -- so 
> I'm
> :>thinking the route to follow will likely be bleaching and (probably)
> :>subsequent spotting.
> :>
> :>God, I hate dust...
> :>
> :>\donw in Victoria, B.C.
> :>
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