Polaroid Dust and Scratches Filter

[jwcat]

I rediscovered this today after three days of scanning 1-3 year old negs. I think it works better than the built in filter in PS, when used with the history brush. I had to search the web to find a source for it. There are some archived pages.

Also Stephen Schaub has a good rant about scanners and a possible solution on his website. http://figitalrevolution.com/

 

[charjohncarter]

I've used that mini program, but lost it somehow, and I couldn't get it back. Could you let me know where it is archived. Thanks in advance; really thanks (!), you are right it was much better than the PS filter.

 

[Zonan]

This seems to have the link (waybackmachine)- I already have it installed, but I just downloaded the Mac version, so I assume it still works for both Mac and PC:

http://alphatracks.com/archives/134

 

[jwcat]

Yes, I got it from the latest entry and it checked free of bad stuff.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks, I just downloaded it, and it seems to be working. I have looked everywhere for this and I even was on the alphatracks page once; I guess I didn't read the whole page. Thanks again. Now I have to remember my settings.

I just remembered I put my settings on Flickr. They were a little too aggresive as I remember but it will be a start:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/polaroid_bw/discuss/72157606213297999/?search=dust

 

[charjohncarter]

I just did it with my old numbers on a 70 year old negative. It worked great.

 

[payasam]

Do you allow it to work at its defaults or is manual control necessary? I have many negatives from the 1970s to scan.

 

[Arvay]

I do not know why but for me it doesn't work.
The negatives are cleaned slightly but scratches are in still place. I should say that I took numbers from flickr posting to proceed cleaning.

 

[jwcat]

In the version that I downloaded as a plug-in for PS, I am not seeing the mask feature like I remember. I have to run it making adjustments to the eye and set the history brush to this state. I then revert to the last previous state and run History Brush to selectively remove the faults. This is how I use the PS filter anyway but Polaroid does a better job. I would like to get a version that shows Mask and allows masking out areas as shown in the original page of the thread.

It is not the end-all, be-all but better than I had before.

 

[Arvay]

Try to load a stand alone version. I've got all things in places&
I should say that I'm using MacOS version.

 

[jwcat]

Thank you.

John

 

[charjohncarter]

Do you allow it to work at its defaults or is manual control necessary? I have many negatives from the 1970s to scan.

Read this, it is what I use, you will then have a start and you can fine tune to taste.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/polaroid_bw/discuss/72157606213297999/?search=dust

 

[charjohncarter]

I do not know why but for me it doesn't work.
The negatives are cleaned slightly but scratches are in still place. I should say that I took numbers from flickr posting to proceed cleaning.

See above. But scratches are harder so you have to be more aggressive with your settings. The adaptive filter is important, I don't use it, but try it both ways.

 

[Arvay]

See above. But scratches are harder so you have to be more aggressive with your settings. The adaptive filter is important, I don't use it, but try it both ways.

I started with this.
Is it working only for color negs? I am trying to clean up BW negs.

 

[jwcat]

It seems like there is only one Windows version. If PS is installed it defaults to plug in. When I used it before, I was using PS Elements so that is why I had stand-alone installed. Anyway, glad others found it useful. I will use it anyhow.

John

 

[charjohncarter]

I started with this.
Is it working only for color negs? I am trying to clean up BW negs.

I use it more on B&W negatives than on color. Are you sure that you have the 'light' or 'dark' properly checked. For B&W I almost always use 'light.'

 

[payasam]

Thank you.

 

[baycrest]

Thanks for the link.
Tried it on colour negatives.

If you're in a hurry, it does produce reasonable results...instantly.
However, it cannot be expected to work miracles. Scratches are difficult to remove, without affecting the picture detail.

 

[Arvay]

I use it more on B&W negatives than on color. Are you sure that you have the 'light' or 'dark' properly checked. For B&W I almost always use 'light.'

Yes, sure 🙂
Anyway I'll continue experiments.