Tutorial: ICE

The hardware and software we use when scanning your slides and negatives improves images in ways that will amaze you. These techniques remove the effects of age and rough handling - and reducing or eliminating the need to edit the images that you receive from us.

ICE

"ICE" stands for Image Correction and Enhancement. This is the technology in our scanners and software that effectively removes the effects of minor scratches and dust contamination on your slides or negatives. ICE works on color films and C-41 processed B&W films; it will not remove the effects of scratches or dust on traditional B&W films (such as Tri-Pan or TMAX). We apply ICE on all slide and negative scans where it is effective. This service is included in all of our prices - not a costly extra.

ICE works using a combination of hardware and software technologies. The scanner hardware scans the film using infrared light to illuminate the film. This allows the sensors in the scanner to pick up the imperfections on the surface of the film - such as dust particles and scratches in the film. Software then electronically "subtracts" the effect of the imperfection from the digital image. It sounds a bit like magic - and it works like magic! However, ICE is not perfect. It can't recover very badly scratched or seriously dirty films. For average films, however, it does an amazing job.

An Example...

Shown below is a crop of a small part of a scan of a 35 year old slide. We have scanned the same slide twice to show the effect of ICE. The difference is remarkable! (Those are beads on a baby stroller circa 1969 shot on Kodak slide film.)

No ICE Scratches, dust and color fade are apparent.	With ICE Dust and scratches are removed

Benefits of ICE

Without ICE, you will not be happy with the resulting scanned images. Even very "clean" negatives and slides have some dust and scratches. These imperfections will show up on the scans. Most film has not spent its life in pristine conditions and hence has finger prints, dust, dirt, fungus and scratches. For most films, the use of ICE will remove the need for you to spend hours in your photo editing package manually removing these effects of age and handling from your scanned images.

Applied correctly, these are amazingly useful tools. We are not slaves to this technology, however. We have the knowledge and experience to utilize these tools effectively when we scan and process your images. We always use our experienced eyes before we use these tools.

"Digital ICE4" is a brand name of products from Applied Science Fiction (now a Kodak company). Please see the Kodak/Applied Science Fiction website for lots more details on these tools.