dust removal from scans

[VidJa]

I have a bunch of scans with serious dust problems. unfortunately I cannot scan again. Several years ago I had the Polaroid dust removal filter in PS, but given time it does not work on a modern version of PS-CC on Mac. The internal dust removal filter of PS is highly unsufficient.

Does anyone know how to tackle this?

[TonyW]

It would be helpful if you could post a scan or link as there are many ways that may be helpful, some more so than others so seeing the specific problem would help illicit the best response

[Mark D Segal]

I have a bunch of scans with serious dust problems. unfortunately I cannot scan again. Several years ago I had the Polaroid dust removal filter in PS, but given time it does not work on a modern version of PS-CC on Mac. The internal dust removal filter of PS is highly unsufficient.

Does anyone know how to tackle this?

Yes - if your scanner supports it, use SilverFast at the scan stage and deploy its very effective and finely controllable iSRD tool.

[StephaneB]

When I scanned B&W film, I had the same problem. I treated to difficult spots with Photoshop's healing brush and had good success using Photoshop's Dust & Scratches filter for dust in zones without details. The trick was to  first select the zone to treat with the lasso, so that it would not destroy detail elsewhere. You need to use the Radius and Threshold cursors to get the desired result. It can still be tedious because you'll end up selecting small zones, treat them and repeat, but the result can be very good.

[pflower]

I have been using this technique as described by Ctein and which I discovered on the Online Photographer website.  For dust in skies etc. it is very effective and very quick.  Save the steps as an action and you can clean a dirty sky very quickly indeed.  But as noted - it is not so effective in areas with texture.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/10/speedy-spotting.html