Digital BW, The Print

Walt, 

Even though ICE won't work with silver b&w negs (it works with chromogenic
b&W), here is a fast way to spot with b&w negs in 8 or 16 bit.  In
Photoshop, go to filters>noise>dust&scratches and select some setting such
as a 3 pixel radius and a threshhold of 4 or similar and apply.  Make a
snapshot and discard the dust&scratches state from history.  Then use a
small history brush to spot out.  Also, try spotting after applying your
sharpening, and view your print at its print size or a little larger.  A
final rinse in distilled water with Photoflo and hanging to dry in a
dust-proof drying cabinet or bag (like the Jobo) will probably help the
most.

  -Ken 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
> [mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On 
> Behalf Of wwodets
> Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:54 AM
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Feedback on dust and scratches?
> 
> I am scanning 35mm negatives with a Nikon 5000.  Though the 
> film is squeaky clean to the eye, the scanned images are 
> filled with spots and linear scratches.  At 100% view, panel 
> by panel (page down/control-page down) I am spending three to 
> four hours spotting these images.  The healing brush is a 
> tremendous advantage, though on this dual XEON computer with 
> 1 gig of ram it is rather slow, requiring hesitation between 
> spots to allow the image to update.  
> I've tried spotting at a 50% view and it just isn't good 
> enough (spots come back to haunt you, particularly after 
> sharpening) though it's much faster.  
> 
> A few other related issues:
> 
> Digital ICe doesn't work and the BW film, but might it work on the XP-
> 1 I used later in my career?
> 
> I am doing noise reduction (Neat Image) before spotting and 
> sharpening much later in the flow.
> 
> Any experience or thoughts on all this?
> 
> Thanks,
> Walt