Have you ever wondered what microscopic dust might be present on your family heirloom 35mm slides? When you hold one up to the light it appears to be the image of purity with no debris whatsoever. But what do you suppose you would see if you held the 35mm slide under a microscope or…put it in a projector for display on the wall at 100x its original size? You might be able to see tiny particles of dust which may even be abrasive.
Slide transparencies such as these are particularly susceptible to picking up lint and debris through various means. Probably the worst event is if the slide is dropped on the floor, whether carpeted or hospital clean. While there are simple techniques to clean a slide, that slide will carry much of that debris for the remainder of its life. But even in normal use, slides can easily acquire debris, invisible to the human eye, which shows noticeably when duplicated to digital.
There is only so much that can be done in the way of slide physical cleaning. At W. Cardone Productions, every slide gets at least some attention to dust and debris removal, whether it needs it or not.
There is an avenue of “cancelation” that we employ to nullify the effect of dust and debris on your slides. While the dust and debris are untouched, we are able to largely remove their effect.
The illustration appearing on the right is typical of most slides. Once a slide picks up a spec of dust, it is generally there for life. The degree of debris in this sample is easily tolerable for most viewing. However, slides that have been dropped on a carpeted floor have very large lint specs impossible to miss. Even these are largely nullified.
Leave a Reply