Automatic dust spot and scratch removal

PhilBurton · Apr 13, 2019

How good is automatic dust spot and scratch removal for either scanning software? What settings?

For Kodachrome

For Ektachrome

For color negatives

For black and white negatives?

How much do you need to use Lightroom or Photoshop after processing in either scanning software?

Phil Burton
PS: thank you for reading all my questions so far. Really appreciated.

jim10219 · Apr 13, 2019

They're all the same. Like I said in your other post, it's done in the scanner (I guess its processed in software, but they still all do it basically the same way). They scan in two passes, once picking up everything using the scanner's RGB sensors, and once picking up the dust using an IR sensor. Then the IR image is subtracted from the RGB image overlay, and the missing info is filled in. They all tend to make the scan a little soft. None are perfect at getting rid of all of the dust. But I say choose a software and give it a try. It might work well enough for you. And it doesn't take too long to run a test.

The one thing you probably need to know is that it doesn't work for B&W film. Color film has the silver halides replaced with dyes. The IR light passes through the dyes, but not the dust. With B&W film, the silver halides are still there, and the IR light won't pass through them. So it basically sees the entire photo as dust.

The best way to deal with dust is prevention. Wet scanning also helps, but is more expensive and tedious to do.

bestbefore1978 · Apr 14, 2019

Phil,

I find the SRDx plug-in for Photoshop very useful, especially as I scan on an Imacon which doesn’t have digital ICE.

As it’s a software solution which you use post scan, it works on B&W and Kodachrome images as well.

Only downside is that it tends to crash Photoshop on some rare occasions, so save before running.

https://www.picture-plugins.com/

PhilBurton · Apr 16, 2019

bestbefore1978 said:
Phil,

I find the SRDx plug-in for Photoshop very useful, especially as I scan on an Imacon which doesn’t have digital ICE.

As it’s a software solution which you use post scan, it works on B&W and Kodachrome images as well.

Only downside is that it tends to crash Photoshop on some rare occasions, so save before running.

https://www.picture-plugins.com/

The website seems to be saying that you scan slides and negatives using Photoshop itself. Are you saying that you can first scan with some other software, and THEN use this PS plug-in?

MattKing · Apr 16, 2019

Interestingly, SRDx support indicates it can be used with Elements.

bestbefore1978 · Apr 19, 2019

PhilBurton said:
The website seems to be saying that you scan slides and negatives using Photoshop itself. Are you saying that you can first scan with some other software, and THEN use this PS plug-in?

Yes, it’s a standard photoshop plugin that works on any image. So you can scan using any software you like, and then bring into PS and use the plug-in to clean up the image

runswithsizzers · Apr 19, 2019

I downloaded the trial version, and - so far - I have not found it to be that much more effective nor any faster than using the tools included with Photoshop.

The interface is much better than Photoshop's Dust and Scratches tool, but I can't say the end result is better. When used aggressively it wipes out fine detail in the image, and at moderate levels, it take a lot of time to tediously alternate between saving content and removing dust. I will play with it some more before deciding, but my initial impression is: probably not worth the cost.

chriscrawfordphoto · Apr 19, 2019

Phil,

If I remember right from your other scanning posts, you have a Nikon scanner. That scanner has built-in "Infrared Cleaning." Nikon calls it Digital ICE. Both Nikon Scan and Vuescan support it, but I don't think that Silverfast does. If you use it, you'll find there are different settings for it. You can turn it off, or on at different levels. If I remember right, Nikon scan has a fine and a heavy setting for Digital ICE. Vuescan has a Light, Medium, and Heavy setting. Which setting to use?

Infrared cleaning does not work for traditional black and white films, it produces strange very high contrast tonality. It does work for C-41 process BW films, like Ilford XP2 and Kodak T400CN. It also works for C-41 and E-6 color films. It isn't supposed towork for Kodachrome but some people report getting good results with it.

My experience is that the Light setting does not reduce image sharpness. If my film is relatively clean and is free of scratches, I use this all the time for films it is compatible with. For scratched or very dirty films that cannot be cleaned (dust embedded in the film), the medium and heavy settings work but will cause some loss of fine detail. Try the Medium setting first, and only use Heavy if the film is really bad.

PhilBurton · Apr 19, 2019

chriscrawfordphoto said:
Phil,

If I remember right from your other scanning posts, you have a Nikon scanner. That scanner has built-in "Infrared Cleaning." Nikon calls it Digital ICE. Both Nikon Scan and Vuescan support it, but I don't think that Silverfast does. If you use it, you'll find there are different settings for it. You can turn it off, or on at different levels. If I remember right, Nikon scan has a fine and a heavy setting for Digital ICE. Vuescan has a Light, Medium, and Heavy setting. Which setting to use?

Infrared cleaning does not work for traditional black and white films, it produces strange very high contrast tonality. It does work for C-41 process BW films, like Ilford XP2 and Kodak T400CN. It also works for C-41 and E-6 color films. It isn't supposed towork for Kodachrome but some people report getting good results with it.

My experience is that the Light setting does not reduce image sharpness. If my film is relatively clean and is free of scratches, I use this all the time for films it is compatible with. For scratched or very dirty films that cannot be cleaned (dust embedded in the film), the medium and heavy settings work but will cause some loss of fine detail. Try the Medium setting first, and only use Heavy if the film is really bad.

Thank you for this reply. I'm still in "soak mode," trying to learn as much as possible before I start the 30-day free trials of Silverfast and Vuescan.

Phil Burton

Automatic dust spot and scratch removal

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