Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

I have an Epson 2580 photo scanner that I
have had for awhile now and in the past have used it a lot, not
so much lately. It worked great. This morning I wanted to scan a
negative from some that I have catalogued. This photo is not one of them,
I thought maybe the negatives where the problem, so I took out
this one that has never seen a scanner. It’s not a very good
picture but I’m sure you can see the problem. Any ideas—is it dirty? Or time for a new one.
Swede

Bobber Loc: Fredericksburg, Texas

What I see looks like fibers, droplet residues, and smudges.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Ditto

Elle Loc: Long Island, NY

The first thing I'd do is clean the glass, wiping dry with a lint free cloth. After that I'd scan another photograph and note its placement...if it comes up with the same noise pattern chances are its the scanner but what can be seen on this photo could also be degradation in the photo itself that is undecernable to the naked eye.

professorwheeze Loc: Maine, USA

Dirt, grime, pollution. I would clean the glass and blow the innards that you can safely get to, using a hair dryer without heat. Then if it works ok after all the cleaning, keep it covered with anything lint free.

ticTOC Loc: IL

I'm seeing 4 possible problems here.
Yes, as you stated it's not the best shot(out of focus). But in a close-up view of the picture,
--I see that some of the negative's markings are out of focus along with the picture. So I believe that those markings are in the original picture.
--Some other (sharper) markings are what look like fresh lint that can be wiped down with eyeglass/lens cleaning rags.
--You might want to try a moist link free rag on the negative to see if it's cleanable.
!!!wipe softly so as not to destroy the negative!!!
--try to scan a very dark negative to see if the scanner may have dead pixels. (I did see a few bright spots(pixels) in the posted picture)

PhotoArtsLA Loc: Boynton Beach

If you are going to attempt to clean the negative, moisten the cloth with DENATURED ALCOHOL or FILM CLEANER. The best film cleaner is PEC-12, which is a miracle in many other cleaning dilemmas. It is pricey, but lasts a long time.

Using water can cause all sorts of problems on your film. Do not do it. If your film has a scent... those are chemicals remaining due to a non archival process. Reactivating chemicals with water is not a good thing. Denatured alcohol and PEC-12 are the ticket.

(I was once a lab owner.)

Also, make a scan with NO NEGATIVE in play. This lets you see the condition of the glass. Adjust the exposure until you see at least grey. Some of the debris is definitely process related, however.

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Thanks All Will try them all
Swede

SoHillGuy Loc: Washington

I use Dry Sweeper cloths to sweep down ever so gently both sides of the negative, and the surface on which they are being laid. I wipe the surface they are laying on before each side is wiped. I also sweep down the scanners glass bed before placing negatives on it. This works for me, but I'm very gentle in sweeping the negative.

Elle Loc: Long Island, NY

Rather than take a chance on perhaps ruining a negative that is irreplaceable..I would do heavy postwork on the copy and save it in a less lossy file than jpg. I brought your image into Paint Shop Pro and eliminated all the spotting and abnormalities with its crack healing tool, blowing it up to 200 percent of its actual size. If any spots were missed, its because I didn't see them because they all blended in well. Not satisfied, I used an HDR tool to sharpen it and bring out anything I missed..that really brought out all the abnormalties and I went over the photo again. My sharpened file shows no spotting or irregularities at 200 percent larger.. that I picked up but I don't know how it will weather being uploaded so I've got my fingers crossed. At any rate, it's a safer method than cleaning the negative in my opinion (which is where I think the fault lies).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You could scan a sheet of plain white printer paper, and see what turns up.