Using fcp to remove dust and scratches from images

I have transferred two hours of 16mm original, color ektachrome positive to 10 bit uncompressed digital form for editing on FCP - the film is 32 years old without sound - on reviewing the digital transfer, there is dust, partial hair in bottom of frame, and scratch lines in many sections of original film. The lab cleaned before transfer, but the soft emulsion of positive film can be easily damaged from earlier work prints and handling and is difficult to clean.

Even with careful selection of best footage to minimize dust etc., I wanted to find best recommendations on the following: Can FCP clean up individual frames once final editing complete? I know there are special labs that do this frame by frame, but wanted to find way to do myself.

Alternative: Should I send back to lab for a liquid gate transfer of original to create a new, cleaned -up master and then use that to make the digital transfer? I am new to FCP and digital world - really need advice soon.

Many thanks for your thoughts, Mark

For dustbusting, I go to After Effects. FCP is not well suited for this.

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[www.thefoundry.co.uk]

You could try giving this a shot.



www.strypesinpost.com

I second The Foundry's Furnace plug-ins for FCP.

I cleaned up an old spot from the early '50's using the DirtRemoval and DeNoise.

There were a handful of pesky pieces of dirt that resisted, but the overall cleanup was very very nice.

debe

Hi Mark,

The software solutions are the way go. A couple of runs on the ultrasonic cleaner at the lab will usually get rid of most of the dust.

Liquid gate printing is for hiding abrasions, cinch marks and scratches that are on the base side of the film stock. The liquid has the same refractive index as the film base. If the liquid were not applied to the base the printer light bend at the scratch area rather than passing straight through, resulting in the image of a scratch.

But you are contending with dust so your money would be better spent on the software solutions.

Dave