{{Short description, Technique used to automatically remove dust and scratches from scanned film stock Digital ICE or Digital Image Correction and Enhancement is a set of technologies related to producing an altered image in a variety of frequency spectra. The objective of these technologies is to render an image more usable by Fourier or other filtering techniques. These technologies were most actively advanced in the 1960s and early 1970s in the fields of

strategic reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers, ...

and medical electronics. The term ''Digital ICE'' initially applied specifically to a proprietary technology developed by

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

's Austin Development Center, formerly Applied Science Fiction (ASF), that automatically removes surface defects, such as

dust Dust is made of fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes ...

and scratches, from scanned images.

Technology

The ICE technology works from within the scanner, so unlike the software-only solutions it does not alter any underlying details of the image. Subsequent to the original ''Digital ICE'' technology (circa 1989), which used

infrared cleaning Infrared cleaning is a technique used by some film scanners and flatbed scanners to reduce or remove the effect of dust and scratches upon the finished scan. It works by collecting an additional infrared channel from the scan at the same position ...

, additional image enhancement technologies were marketed by Applied Science Fiction and Kodak under similar and related names, often as part of a suite of compatible technologies. The ICE technology uses a scanner with a pair of light sources, a normal

RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three addi ...

lamp and an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

(IR) lamp, and scans twice, once with each lamp. The IR lamp detects the dust locations with its unique detection method, and then

inpainting Inpainting is a conservation process where damaged, deteriorated, or missing parts of an artwork are filled in to present a complete image. This process is commonly used in image restoration. It can be applied to both physical and digital art ...

is applied based on this data afterwards. The general concept is locate scratches and dust on the RGB image and mask them.

Limitations of Digital ICE

''Digital ICE'' is used to detect scratches and dust during transparent film scan and is not applicable for opaque

document scanning Document imaging is an information technology category for systems capable of replicating documents commonly used in business. Document imaging systems can take many forms including microfilm, on demand printers, facsimile machines, copiers, multifu ...

. For some positive films with white-colored fine structures in a dark background, their opaque areas may be removed or given a fuzzy edge. The figure on the right gives a demonstration of such subtle differences. While chromogenic black-and-white films are supported by ''Digital ICE'', other black-and-white films containing

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

lic

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, which form from

silver halide A silver halide (or silver salt) is one of the chemical compounds that can form between the element silver (Ag) and one of the halogens. In particular, bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), iodine (I) and fluorine (F) may each combine with silver to prod ...

s during the development process of the film, are not. This is because the long wave

light passes through the slide but not through dust particles. The silver particles reflect the infrared light in a similar manner to dust particles, thus respond equally in

visible light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 te ...

and infrared. A similar phenomenon also prevents Kodak

Kodachrome Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...

slides from being scanned with ''Digital ICE''. Kodachrome's

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...

layer absorbs infrared.

Further development

Kodak's own scanner, the "pro-lab" Kodak HR500 Plus was equipped with ''Digital ICE'' that could scan Kodachrome slides effectively; however, this scanner was discontinued in 2005.

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

produced the Nikon Super Coolscan LS-9000 ED scanner with a new version of ICE (Digital ICE Professional) from 2004 until it was discontinued in 2010. This was capable of scanning Kodachrome slides reliably, dust- and scratch-free, without additional software.

LaserSoft Imaging LaserSoft Imaging AG is a software developer designing software such as SilverFast for scanners and large format printers. The company's headquarters are located in Kiel, Germany, north of Hamburg, and another office in Sarasota, Florida, United ...

released an infrared dust and scratch removal tool ( iSRD - Infrared Smart Removal of Defects) in 2008, that allows Nikon's film scanners for

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, as well as many scanners from other manufacturers to make high quality scans of Kodachrome slides.

Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

s system for dust and scratch removal, called "Image Intelligence", works on a similar principle as ''Digital ICE'' and will also work on Kodachrome film.

External links

Kodak official ''Digital ICE'' site

Dr. Gabriel Fielding, Eastman Kodak Company (also https://www.kodak.com/motion/hub/itp/dice/default.htm)

* J. L. C. Sanz, F. Merkle, and K. Y. Wong,
Automated digital visual inspection with dark-field microscopy
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 2, 1857-1862 (1985) * Michael J. Steinle, K. Douglas Gennette
Designing a Scanner with Color Vision (pdf)
Hewlett-Packard Journal Aug. 1993 pg 52-58 Photographic processes Image scanning Kodak

Technology

Limitations of Digital ICE

Further development

See also

External links