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