Scratch Removal From B&W Negatives?

theprincereturns

Anyone have good luck with any technique on scatch removal on B&W negatives? I am scanning some old B&W negatives my parents have with a Plustek 7600i scanner (using silverfast 8). The Silverfast iSRD defect removal doesn't work on B&W film because of the silver content blocks the IR and really messes up the scan and the regular SRD option creates a lot of artifacts (especially on textured surfaces or clothing). I could do some manual removal in adobe but there are a lot of little items that would require quite a bit of time.

Here is a RAW scan:



Here is the same scan with the SRD option in use:


The Silverfast SRD option really isn't doing that much positive here and there are a lot of artifacts if you zoom in on the shirt area.

Any help with an automated process would be appreciated as I have a lot of these pictures.

theprincereturns

Sorry - realized this should go under the technique threads. Trying to figure out how to move it. Any moderator help with moving/deleting this thread. Thanks.

Hackbone

In the old days use to use the oil from our nose in a pinch, honestly.

zoomer

Using a lot of scratch dust removal lengthens the scan dramatically and softens it.
Try doing a couple using none of that and then fixing the dust/scratches with the spot healing tool, you may find it works better and is "overall faster". On any spots where that does not work use the clone tool set to darken and select the area next to it that is the same color.

theprincereturns

I have done that or somiething similar on a couple of them - so i can do it if neccesary. I am probably going to end up not doing them now and touching up them later if neccesary. The main reason I am looking for an automated means is that I am looking at 3000+ images (BW negatives and Kodachrome Slides) that the iSRD doesn't work for.

zoomer wrote: »

Using a lot of scratch dust removal lengthens the scan dramatically and softens it.
Try doing a couple using none of that and then fixing the dust/scratches with the spot healing tool, you may find it works better and is "overall faster". On any spots where that does not work use the clone tool set to darken and select the area next to it that is the same color.