At 07:09 PM 4/6/2003, you wrote: >Any advice on cleaning slides? My father took lots of slides but never >thought about dust. Scanning them shows the dust up really well. How can I >remove it without damaging the surface of the slide? Cathy, 1. Always hold them by the cardboard mounts. Fingerprints may etch the emulsion over time. If you are working with a lot of slides at a time, consider cotton gloves. 2. Use a soft brush. Photo supply shops sell them for a couple of dollars. Wipe it gently across the film. 3. Use a blower, like an ear syringe bulb. But do NOT use canned compressed air, as they contain ingredients that can damage the film. 4. For stubborn spots, you MIGHT try one of the foam-tipped swabs -- not the cotton-tipped, as they can leave lint. If you use the foam-tipped swabs, do no more than gently wipe them across the surface, otherwise you may scratch the film. 5. Kodak made a cleaning solution (solvent-based) that you may find in professional photo stores. It works well. Water may also work, but water softens the emulsion after a few minutes, and often leaves stains and spots after it's dried. (Kodak makes a product called "Photo-Flo" which is a wetting agent, designed to avoid water spots in rinsing film.) Also check your library, of a good size book store, for books on care and restoration of film. Doing a Google search produced some more information: http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/mckaylet052701.html http://www.hipshot.com/scantip3.html From Kodak: Cleaning film http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/cis145/cis145.shtml Avoiding dust with scanners: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/tib/tib7024.shtml Hope this helps, Bob Geldart [email protected] Maynard, MA