Tips for Cleaning Dust on Film Scans

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Cleaning dust in the scanner software (2:05)
- What is iSRD dust and scratch removal? (3:00)
- Using iSRD in SilverFast (4:17)
- What is SRDx dust and scratch removal? (9:38)
- Using SRDx in SilverFast (10:33)
- Cleaning dust in Photoshop (17:29)
- Cleaning “film rash” in Photoshop (22:14)
- How much of the dust do you really need to remove? (25:31)
- What magnification to use when cleaning dust (26:14)
PRODUCT (AFFILIATE) LINKS
Hand-powered air rocket: bhpho.to/2XU2dVP
Anti-static brush: bhpho.to/3GsnirX
Hey so I was planning to throw together a real quick video showing a couple tips on how to remove dust in your scanned film. Turns out I’m long-winded. Sorry. But at least I gave you a table of contents.
I didn’t want to only cover the Dust & Scratches filter in Photoshop for removing dust. I couldn’t leave my Epson V750 peeps behind! Especially if you’re using SilverFast software coupled to your Epson V750 or V800 or V850… you gotta know about the automated dust removal tools available to you. They speed up the process by a lot. And your time is valuable. You got things to do. Time doesn’t grow on trees. We ain’t gettin’ any younger. Etc.
With iSRD and SRDx, you can let the scanner software and hardware do the heavy lifting for you. Just sit back, relax and watch another episode of The Office. Your scanner will take care of it.
But what’s that? You don’t use a film scanner? You scan with your digital camera or maybe you just have your lab handle all your scanning? Don’t worry, boo. I gotchu. In the second portion of the video I’ll cover an efficient way to clean large swaths of dust without having to clone out every last bit manually.
I hope this video helps a few people out. Or maybe it’s a whole lot of “YEAH WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT ALL THIS”. But that’s a risk I have to take.
Thanks for watching!
Website: www.nickcarver...
Instagram: / nickcarver
And check out my online course all about light metering for film photography: www.nickcarver...

[@Figitarian]

Never shot film, probably never will shoot film. Never going to need to need to clean dust off a film scan. But....it's a nick carver video, so I have to watch it as soon as I see it :)

[@KentuckyMan30]

You and me both.

[@tweed0929]

But you will probably will need to clean the dust off the image, that was sucked onto the sensor.

[@dadasese69]

Never, say never!!

[@KentuckyMan30]

@@tweed0929 True, but that's not as extensive as dust from a film scan. A few dust specs on a sensor can easily be dealt with by using the spot healing brush.

[@Tijs667]

Same here. But always hard to say 'never'.

[@thecoreelementsmoto]

Dust is the absolute bane of my work flow! I cant wait till I get my studio build and can use my big ol film dryer and more dust mitigation measures.

[@andydreadsbmx]

Hot damn that dust and scratches is a time saver, I knew this would be worth the watch!!

[@berthaduniverse]

Nice tutorial Nick. As a former scanner operator, I'm kind if amazed at how dirty your Whitney drum scan was. Was it a dry mount? IMO anything in oil should be nearly spotless. Thanks again for the channel.

[@dougfromsoanierana]

Thanks for these tips. Preventing and removing dust spots in a digital darkroom can be tedious, but it beats the hell out of spotting prints.

[@jacobmarx1994]

So so so helpful. I shoot and scan BW 35mm and I’ve been fixing everything manually in Lightroom. This will help!!

[@charlesrichjr5087]

I’m so glad I found this channel. This is absolutely what I need at this stage of my work. Thanks for the thorough content.

[@michaelmccolpin6711]

This video is a literal godsend

[@Gitsh]

Great tutorial Nick, I use a Epson V800 scanner and you've short-cut the technique of dust removal a lot quicker and clearer than the instruction manual!

[@Ivandotjpeg]

I remember photo class in college, instructor would fail your project if he didn’t notice any spot tone touch up marks on your final image. We’ve come a long way…

[@thefilmdaddy]

I mean I’m excited that you released another video, but holy shit you may have also just saved me hours of my life removing dust and scratches man. Thank you so incredibly much man 🙏

[@WTFungus]

One of my projects to keep busy in retirement is to create digitals of my binders full of B&W negatives that I amassed over the decades. I bought the PlusTek 8200i for negatives, and the Epson V850 for my boxes of prints. I'm going to be busy for quite a while. Your videos are a very valuable resource, so thanks!

[@ridealongwithrandy]

Extremely helpful, Thank you for this vid. Cheers!

[@jw48335]

Nick - for B&W film, you can develop XP2 Super in DDX or HC-100, either traditional or stand development, and then iSRD WORKS! I've now tested XP2 from 100 to 2000 ISO, and I am utterly stunned at the results. I use a 1/3 stronger fixer and give it an extra minute, but other than that, there's nothing else special required. This is essentially a bleach bypass, so I thought maybe ICE would puke on the leftover silver, but my V800 and the Prime Film XAS both work fine for iSRD. The stand development with DDX is wild - I can shoot at 400 thru 1600 on the same roll, soup it for 1:15 minutes, and they all turn out great. It's interesting - the film looks different when soup'd in B&W chemistry - more like Delta - but with better highlight retention. I just thought I'd call it out here since your subscribers may be looking for a B&W ICE option. Too bad they don't sell it in sheet film:(

[@DevonChristopherAdams]

I have never understood the use of the History Brush until TODAY. Thank you.

[@stuartbaines2843]

Not used dust & scratches for years 😅 Still prefer the Mind Numbing clone /heal 😂 I know ‘No one Cares!’

[@CornishMotorcycleDiaries]

Really useful stuff Nick & I will certainly be using the Photoshop method for images shot with Fomapan that seem to be covered in Negative rash. The tutorials on using iSRD and SRDX were interesting and potentially useful, but as a Negative Lab Pro user, I have to out put my Epson V850 scans as a positive DNG from Silverfast. That means I can't use either method. Any suggestions??

[@christos1973]

Perhaps the BEST and MOST USEFUL video on analogue photography since I started 10 years ago. Perhaps I 'll stop cursing so much at those Germans at Lasersoft.

[@mikebaginy8731]

Thanks for this very helpful tutorial, Nick! I use Silverfast too and, while offering excellent performance, I'm always frustrated how un-intuitive the software is. I don't scan regularly so I need to relearn a great many functions for each session. Your suggestions for dust removal will prove a great time saver; I'm now anxious to put them to use.

[@Vector_Ze]

Is Silverlight's ISRD better than the Digital ICE that Epson Scan includes? Is there enough difference to justify buying another program? Digital ICE seems to work very well.

[@charlywedl5544]

Please excuse the stupid question, but I don't speak English so well that I can follow your post completely: Which scanner do you work with?

[@KevinR-c8g]

Very useful video, i love how you covered everything,I just want to share the product that I am using on cleaning my negatives which is the PEC 12 from photographic solutions. It is the best product I used out there for cleaning dust smudges or marks on my negatives. Hope you can check the product and try using it in your videos!

[@jnrickards]

"... my wife's pretty cool but ..." , well, nice knowing you Nick Just kidding! Awesome video!

[@bhamerlik]

Hi Nick, thanks for explaining iSRD, I now understand better the function and will use it for the scanning of my old slides. After 20+ years I have decided to scan my old slides and have this older Plustek scanner with an older version of the SilverFast software (so yes, I am limited a bit, but still doable). However, one questions comes to my mind: when scanning, does it make a difference if I scan to TIF or JPG? Since it is a scanned image, it will not be any more flexible for further post-processing be it a lossless TIF or a lossy JPG, rigth? Or are there any benefits of scanning into TIF and then later converting into a jpg? Thanks in advance for your advice. PS: I just remembered one more question: my scanner supports 7200 dpi resolution scanning, but it produces 200MB huge TIF files. Does it make sense to scan at such high resolution rate or is smaller sufficient (eg. 3600 dpi).

[@mattl347]

Hi Nick. Why use Silverfast to scan and then Silverfast HDR to process the scan? I guess there are workflow reasons which might necessitate that? Obviously everything can be done in the Silverfast scanning sw. I have both (I bought SF HDR to process my DSLR scans (cough) but then bought Silverfast to use with my v850). Good tips on SRDx and B&W dust correction 👍

[@tweed0929]

Thank you, Nick, for Filter → Noise trick. Usually, I keep my scans pristine clean, but sometimes, when I scan other photographers files, batch spot removal is needed.

[@TheEli008]

Is there any way to do this just in photoshop after scanning a 64 bit HDRi raw file in silverfast?

[@silekiernanphotography]

Thanks for this Nick! I never bothered with the History Brush tool but will rethink that, you put it to great use here!

[@stevetalent8255]

I'm just getting started on B&W negative scans of film going back to the late 1950's. Very helpful tutorial. Thanks. By the way, I used an oil free air compressor and an artist's air brush to blow dust. I run the air through a filter/drier and a regulator set to about 20 psi.

[@v0ldy54]

Is that a sticker of the Simpsons cocoyote below the monitor?

[@cressdiligent]

Analog is great but loving it tuen just turning it digital isnt exactly undying love

[@markbaigent8373]

Isn’t the silver in Kodachrome removed after the dyes are set?

[@frankwc0o]

wo...wo.... where is the liquor? :)

[@frstesiste7670]

Thanks, didn't know the trick with the history brush! That and Adobe's new select sky function should save me a lot of time.

[@CristianGeelen]

Haha I've been using the healing brush for as long as I shoot film. Nick, you are a god!

[@simeonkorobov698]

Yes! This is the video we've all needed so desperately. Thank you!

[@alexismethenitis]

Hi Nick, nice video. One thing, there is one B&W film that ISRD works with: Ilford XP2 Super which is proccesed in C-41.

[@kurczveilg]

And it's a super nice film too!

[@AeromaticXD]

Reliant on lab scans; but still often have to deal with dust and scratches. This was a helpful video!

[@quite1enough]

My dust mainly behind the glass of the scanner moreover my 2013 laptop is so slow that SRDx works really clunky and I have to wait about 30-60 sec each time I chose different options in SRDx (I only have SRDx in my Silverfast) What I find annoying is those tools also marks some things that isn't dust, and troublesome parts I usually left for manual removal, using mask for sky or any other similar patterns I have tons of issues with Silverfast, including when I mark the mask region, after magnification it might be not exactly where I want to be I use Silvefast AI 8.8 for Windows, and it's lacking some features from apple one (I guess) Dust & scratches seems like affecting film grain no matter what I choose, so the image looks a bit soft and uncanny in places where I removed it, but with perfect details with grain where I used either lasso tool or healing brush, I guess it's much more harder on low res 35mm scans

[@yeunganakin]

dust, the worst nightmare on scanning. sincerely thanks for your helpful tips

[@incorporeal3793]

Hey, Nick, do you know you have two home improvement videos in your Photography on location playlist? No.25 is replacing fluorescent lights by Building entertainment and No. 27 is how to install a shower valve by Home Renovation DIY. 🤣😬

[@Mickaelplqn]

Very useful ! Could you make another video on silverfast? This software is so tricky Thank you again

[@camera_curt]

Super job, Nick. You explained clearly exactly what I wanted to learn.

[@weisserth]

Dust on scans is the thing you hate most about analog photography? It's my second most hated thing about analog photography. The most hated thing in analog photography is SCRATCHED negatives, in particular horizontal thin scratches across the whole frame. So annoying to repair in Photoshop.

[@maksimkupre9681]

Thank you ! But seems like it works only for landscapes. With portrait it’s still healing brush only

[@xeninweb]

Thanks Nick! I love your videos and I always follow you from Italy :-) I really like analog photography and I shoot with both a 35mm and a 6x6 Bronica. My favorite videos are the ones where you end up with the press. I will continue to follow you with pleasure. Thanks

[@Dncyx]

Is there anything film related that Nick Carver doesn't know?

[@peterfarr9591]

Amazing

[@carlseibert9015]

Compared to spotting for real with an iffy bitty little paint brush, the Spot Healing Tool is so easy and powerful it makes spotting actually fun. Tip: Do your spotting on a new layer. That way, you can erase your spotting from any place it didn't quite work right. (eat your heart out, spotting dye). Make sure your new layer is at the top of the stack, above your adjustment layers. That way, you can change an adjustment without making your spotting look like a skin disease.

[@thedubc]

Great tip. Thank you! I've been working on over 150 photos of fine art and the Dust & Scratches filter made cleaning the white walls a snap.

[@betelgeuse1253]

The Dust and Scratches filter is a game changer... but the rocket blower is the best tool for preventing dust. Plus it's a really fun toy to play with... I always annoy my partner whenever I break it out, blowing it on things, at them, at my own face, and just generally being a nuisance squeezing it over and over again. Almost worth buying just to play with.

[@chevy2die]

This is basically a Silverfast tutorial, which I am down with, but you should do a whole series on Silverfast because all the ones I've found suck and that shit is super confusing to use.

[@apuldram]

Digital creates dust. I view slides (on a projector) and see no dust. I assume it’s the same using an optical enlarger? Up to a point. Good advice though, for who wants to make analogue colour prints… 😱

[@SMydland]

Best way to gdt rid of dust. Develop yourself, go quick and straight from dryed film to scanning in a dust free environment.

[@Riverrockphotos]

If you did your dust and scrach on a seprate layer you would have more control like opacity and stuff.

[@_o__o_]

i want to see this in IMAX

[@maxwellwellmax878]

Its a sad world we live in, you only have 426 Thumbs up 😒.

[@realitytunnel]

Thanks, really useful and informative (and entertaining) as always!

[@TimothyGray]

Just finished up a portrait session and was pulling my hair out trying to get SRDx to ignore the subject but clean up everything around him. Your video shows how easy and effective masks can be. Thanks Nick!

[@teh_rei]

Epson scanners made by vampires? And that's why the IR scan can't see through silver XD

[@ohtaekwon2240]

작업할 때 먼지는 까다롭습니다 ㅠ 영상이 항상 공부가 됩니다. 감사합니다

[@LFarinas19]

The smartest way to clean dust I have seen. Thank you for sharing!

[@ivangenasi3721]

Very helpful Thanks Nick.

[@fangxusun1723]

That amount of dust, is nothing compared to what my scan gives me. I shoot b&w only, sometimes I just leave them there, as I am not a perfectionist.

[@Porschedoctor1]

At least you didn’t have spot your prints to remove dust

[@boristrouserkov]

Thanks Nick, really useful.

[@ian7379]

Great tips. Going to make my life a lot easier!

[@irishmanlost]

awesome, this came at the right time too. still getting to grips with the scanning process.

[@pepsico815]

I'll never shoot film but it's cool to see how this works

[@Light_Camera_Story]

Silverfast is fantastic.

[@jokerkillerx]

The best SilverFast sharing

[@scotttaylor8140]

Excellent, really useful

[@someonewithsomename]

21:01 just use layers, bro

[@briansavage932]

I had zero clue that the dust filter existed in photoshop until now. Boy is my face red. Strangely, I haven't had a big dust problem as of late though. Its still there, but after I develop but before I hang my negatives to dry I steam my bathroom. The steam knocks dust out of the air. Then I leave the bathroom closed until the negatives are dry. I scan using a Negative Supply rig (pro riser, film carrier, Sony a7riii+Sony Macro). The anti static brush that comes with the negative supply pro mount works really well to get rid of a lot of dust too. From there I can usually just spot remove. Though I really REALLY wish Lightroom would adopt photoshop spot healing tool. Lightroom's version is laughably bad.

[@johnrogers2418]

The only certainties in life are death, taxes, and dust on your negatives.

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Well Nick allow me to easy you picking up a Digital Camera cause that is still ANALOG PHOTOGRAPHY Yes my friend because a Sensor is an analog device, it translates light to output voltage, and then it will be converted to a digital signal ( yes, by the A/D converter) So to recap: It's an Analog Sensor A digital camera But still Analog photography !!

[@cheftt6863]

I enjoy watching your videos, but boy that was boring. More on location please.

[@zanderdausi9924]

first :D

[@techshorts6044]

third

[@bouboubee]

Dust Off. Get a can.

[@tomashudak3641]

first

[@peacebutt]

those biceps.. damn