On 2011-10-30 03:57:55 -0400, John said:

I have just tested using the iSRD dust removal in SilverFast and I
wasn't too impressed with it.

I'm not sure whether it is software or hardware based but when I use
it to remove scratches and dust the settings that I have to use in
order to do this also wipe out peoples eyes, teeth and other areas
that it also thinks are defects when they are not. Lowering different
settings doesn't help much because then it also still leaves in the
true defects the dust and scratches and doesn't reduce them by much.

For example on one negative setting detection at 65, defect size at 7
and intensity at 100 will get rid of the dust and scratches but it
will also remove other detail that are not defects like eyes, and
finer detail in the image. Reducing the settings to detection 55,
defect size 3, intensity 100, will prevent this but leave large
portions of dust and scratches still visible. These figures also
differ greatly from one negative to the next so as to make it pretty
much worthless as a feature as it would take up so much of your time
doing these settings for each individual frame to make it not
worthwhile cost/benefit/time wise.

Just wondering if you have has had good results using any similar dust
removal feature in Viescan and found settings that you can apply to
all your scans to get a decent level of dust and scratch removal
without sacrificing finer detail and noising and softening out your
results into a watercolour?

I feel I may as well just use the CanoScan software than SilverFast
because it is faster and I can also scan at 48 bit colour to get a
positive and not have to revert the colours in software to obtain
this. (Scaning at 48 Bit in SilverFast will only give you a negative
of a negative). I can then just use dedicated software to remove any
noticeable defects by hand without affecting things that are not
defects. The final option I guess is to download the Vuescan trial to
see if I like it any better than the Canon Software and if it does any
better at dust removal using the hardware (i.r.) of the scanner.

John

I have been using Vuescan for a few years now but I have never used
Silverfast so I can't make any comparisons. I have a Canon FS4000 and
Vuescan works very well with it. The program utilizes the IR
capabilities of your scanner - no IR, no dust removal as far as I know.
With my FS4000 I have been using the "Medium" setting for IR dust
removal and it works very well. I should add that I have thouroughly
cleaned all my slides with Pec-12 and when they are inserted in the
slide holder I go over them with a blower brush. Negatives should get
the same treatment. The cleaner the neg the less work your software
has to do.

I found that the original Canon software was laughable compared to
Vuescan, plus Vuescan has given new life to my scanner by making it
compatible with all current operating systems. I don't need the Canon
driver to keep it working.

I believe you can download Vuescan for a trial. If you decide to buy,
then getting the Pro version is the only way to go as it offers updates
for life.

I even use Vuescan to save documents from my Epson flatbed scanner.
Vuescan knows which scanner is turned on and loads the last init file
used for that scanner. I have init files for different types of film
as well as for different kinds of PDF files that I might want to
create. It can also scan images to DNG type TIFF files which
unfortunately are huge. It would be nice if the program developer can
get it to scan to RAW.