First, just a comment. I need to find a way to keep film clean when scanning. No matter how hard I try, a piece or dust or something manages to show up. Maybe I need to try harder.
Now the real question. I saw an article about a "new" program called FreeCCR to convert scanned negatives. Have any of you tried it? I did and immediately had a problem. It was larger than my computer monitor and wouldn't let me resize it any smaller. This problem showed up on versions for both Windows and Linux.
It processes reasonably fast. However the colors don't look natural, too green/blue for the few pics I tried. It was touted as using "physics-based" conversion. It didn't work for me. But maybe I missed something. Any of you tried it? Oh, I asked that already.
A dust free environment requires isolated film developing and scanning environments with high quality filtering and humidity control. So, what is your budget? Short of that, isolated film drying with air hepa-filtration and a bit of humidity. I’ve added ion generators. Then immediate sleeving, or copying. Many copy setups can include brushes before entering the film holder. I use Negative Supply gear. Canned air can be used prior to scanning. Beyond that further isolation and ultra clean rooms with hepa vacuums..etc. Short of that, I accept a limited degree of dust.