Removing scratches from negatives

[raid]

I got back several rolls of film with two straight lines going through all negatives. I used two different cameras, and the lines show up in negatives from both cameras. Most likely, the developer's machine caused these lines.

Will ICE in a Nikon film scanner remove these lines?
Is there any method in PS to remove such lines from negatives?

Raid

 

[boilerdoc2]

Digital ICE will likely remove it. Let us know. Check your film back and make sure nothing on the pressure plate or film gate. If you'll be printing in wet darkroom there is a scratch remover solution that is available at some camera stores (back in the good old days anyway!).
Steve

 

[telenous]

Digital ICE does not work on B&W negs and Kodachrome. However it will erase scratches from colour or slide film.

 

[boilerdoc2]

True. However ICE will work on the C41 B&W films, a la Portra B&W, XP2 Super.
And the clone/healing tool in PS will remove it .
Steve

 

[AusDLK]

>printing in wet darkroom there is a scratch remover solution

It is great stuff. Edwal No Scratch. A miracle worker.

For grins I tried using it on a scratched negative when flatbed scanning -- but the results were not very satisfying.

>And the clone/healing tool in PS will remove it .

I wouldn't count on this working very well. In theory, yes, but in practice it is likely to be very difficult to get the cloned area to disappear completely -- especially if the scratch(es) cover the entire frame.

Of course, results vary depending on the image, skill level, etc. But I have rarely had complete success in hiding horizontal frame-wide scratches.

 

[mjflory]

"De-stripe" in GIMP

"De-stripe" in GIMP

Hi Raid --
I had the same problem myself tonight. This shot is one of a roll with a nasty couple of scratches through it. I tried a few things, none of them particularly satisfactory. First I used something new to me in the GIMP (Gnu Image-Manipulation Program): the "de-stripe" filter. It seems to work by blurring the image in one direction only, perpendicular to the scratch. (There must be an analogous filter in Photoshop.) But if I used the strongest setting for de-striping I found that the picture became oddly blurred and a little posterized. So I tried "smudging" the scratch away. This seemed to darken the scratched area and the absence of grain in the smudged area was conspicuous. So I added a little noise to that area. Finally I gave up on all of that and copied a long strip of the homogenous areas of the image to the left of the scratches and pasted it over the scratch, then smudged it a bit around the edges where necessary to disguise the trick.
As you can see, nothing really worked that well, but I made some progress.
Good luck -- Michael

 

[raid]

I used two different cameras and I got in all rolls the same two lines; one on each side of the negative. This tells me that it is not something due to the cameras but something was not correct in the developing stage.

I have only C-41 film in this batch, so maybe ICE will do something to the scans to reduce the impact of the two lines.

Raid

 

[raid]

Thanks Michael. My scanned images look like what you have in your posted first image, but mine have two such lines. My negative strips are already cut into short strips, and I have seven such rolls of film. It would be a time consuming task to patch up each negative strip.

Regards,

Raid


Hi Raid --
I had the same problem myself tonight. This shot is one of a roll with a nasty couple of scratches through it. I tried a few things, none of them particularly satisfactory. First I used something new to me in the GIMP (Gnu Image-Manipulation Program): the "de-stripe" filter. It seems to work by blurring the image in one direction only, perpendicular to the scratch. (There must be an analogous filter in Photoshop.) But if I used the strongest setting for de-striping I found that the picture became oddly blurred and a little posterized. So I tried "smudging" the scratch away. This seemed to darken the scratched area and the absence of grain in the smudged area was conspicuous. So I added a little noise to that area. Finally I gave up on all of that and copied a long strip of the homogenous areas of the image to the left of the scratches and pasted it over the scratch, then smudged it a bit around the edges where necessary to disguise the trick.
As you can see, nothing really worked that well, but I made some progress.
Good luck -- Michael

 

[titrisol]

A temp cure was to smear the negs with vaseline for enlarging.
I don't know if that works as well in scanning

 

[raid]

Using Vaseline is a good way to mess up a scanner 🙂
The negatives touch the surfaces inside the scanner.
That's an interesting thought for enlarging, though.

Raid

 

[MadMan2k]

Does that make it softer focus though?

Is it safe to use isopropyl alcohol to clean negatives with? Water doesn't seem to dry cleanly, so I'm thinking it would work, unless it screws up the negative in which case I won't do that

 

[titrisol]

MadMan Alcohol is safe

 

[raid]

My latest update on my film: It was the scan that was causing the two lines and the negatives seem to be fine. This was a false alarm! The lab did new scans for free. They told me that the Fuji Frontier had some scanning problems that were fixe.

Raid

 

[mjflory]

Hooray!
This has been useful all the same. I'm going to try the Digital ICE suggestion on that scratched neg of mine.
-- Michael

 

[raid]

Michael: Absouletely. I benefited a lot from the useful information on removing the effects of scratches.

Raid

 

[x-ray]

For future reference, there are two kinds of scratches, base and emulsion. Most scratches are in the film base or back and can be delt with using Edwal noscratch on the base or scanning oil on the base. Emulsion scratches are another thing and can not be removed other than retouching the image in photoshop.

 

[mjflory]

For future reference, there are two kinds of scratches, base and emulsion. Most scratches are in the film base or back and can be delt with using Edwal noscratch on the base or scanning oil on the base. Emulsion scratches are another thing and can not be removed other than retouching the image in photoshop.

Thanks, Don. I hadn't thought to distinguish the two, but I suspect that's why I didn't have much success with the IR-cleaning option in Vuescan. (I'm not sure whether that option invokes the Digital ICE cleaning built into my Nikon LS-2000 scanner or not, but it seems to work comparably to ICE for dust-spot removal.)

 

[Bob Helmond]

Alcohol for negative cleaning

Alcohol for negative cleaning

Does that make it softer focus though?

Is it safe to use isopropyl alcohol to clean negatives with? Water doesn't seem to dry cleanly, so I'm thinking it would work, unless it screws up the negative in which case I won't do that

Isolpropyl alcohol tends to suck up moisture from the atmosphere. For cleaning negatives, methyl (wood) alcohol has been the preferred solvent. It is less expensive and dries in the same quick manner.

On the note of "home remedies" though slightly OT, if one ever got a whiff of Edwal No-Scratch, a film-base-side scratch remover, you'd immediately detect the odor of turpentine. It was painted with a nail-polish-like brush to coat the film-base. Messy, yes, but effective.

Since miniscule amounts are needed, a four-ounce bottle of turps for diluting artist oils will last years.

To clean: wipe off the excess turpentine, and an alcohol-dampened piece of Photowipe will get off the remainder.

 

[raid]

Bob: Thanks for the great tips. I will start looking for Edwal No-Scratch and Methyl alcohol.

Raid