Is there a filter to clean up film scratches?

[rjacek1]

I converted some old 8mm film clips into digital format. Some of the film
has scratches on it. Is there any type of filter or additional software that can remove the defects?

[Clevo]

Depends how bad they are. If the scratches are deep then nothing can be done short of getting it professionally wetgated.

Considering there is a filter that adds scratches I would tend to leave them in for that authentic archival look...

There is a de-noise filter in the filter list. That may help a little


May I ask how you got the 8mm film transferred?

I'm about to do the same thing with a company here in Sydney that does it using a process without the need to run the film through a projector.

[MrA]

I converted some old 8mm film clips into digital format. Some of the film
has scratches on it. Is there any type of filter or additional software that can remove the defects?

Video Graphics Lab. Basically, it's the Photoshop equivalent to video editing. However, you will have to edit each frame, one by one.

[DB83]

May I ask how you got the 8mm film transferred?

I'm about to do the same thing with a company here in Sydney that does it using a process without the need to run the film through a projector.

The fully 'pro' technique is to scan each individual frame through a special tele-cine projector. A slow and quite expensive process.

The way I do it is to project the cine into a special mirrired unit. My video camera then sees the mirrored image (correct way round btw) and this is captured into the PC.

The video does suffer from flicker so it is then re-processed to remove the flicker using a nice v-dub filter (shame ulead does not have one - their flicker reduction does something else) and then processed again into dvd-compliant mpeg2 for transfer to dvd.

The only draw-back with this method is that the camera does see the projector light.

[sjj1805]

Similar to the reply by MrAmigo1212 and this can be done with just two products:

a. Either VideoStudio OR MediaStudio
b. A Photo Editing Suite such as PhotoImpact.

This in fact is the method used by the Big Hollywood Studios - as confirmed in one of the "Bonus Material" videos in the most recently released James Bond Boxed Set.

MediaStudio/VideoStudio: Use A Video Sequence File

Having mentioned this though you have to consider cost and time implications. The Big Hollywood Studios can afford to do each and every frame of a 2 hour movie - taking a painstaking number of months per film.
The can cut time implications by splitting the video up and employing several employees/specialists to do a section each rather than you the home user doing the entire thing by yourself. For them it is cost effective because they then go on to sell the completed product(s) on the world wide stage.

For the home user this is only practical for dealing with small sections of damaged film.