Symptom-first troubleshooting. Find the description that matches what you’re seeing, work down the fix list.
Real Dust Is Being Missed
- Confirm Film Type matches the image (Slides for positives, Negatives for inverted scans). Wrong setting = the detector looks for the opposite tonal sign.
- Switch profile to Balanced.
- Nudge Sensitivity to the right.
- If dust is sitting over detailed areas (foliage, fabric, hair), lower Texture Penalty in Advanced Settings.
- For very sharp DSLR scans, disable Focus-Based Filtering.
- For thin linear marks, enable Scratch Detection.
False Positives — Image Features Being Flagged
- Switch back to Conservative.
- Nudge Sensitivity to the left.
- Raise Texture Penalty for foliage, fabric, brickwork.
- Raise Minimum Contrast if false positives appear on smooth skies or skin.
- Lower Largest Defect if real image features (eyes, buttons, signs) are being flagged.
Faint Dust on Old Slides Isn’t Caught
- Lower Minimum Contrast in Advanced Settings — old contamination often has very low contrast against the dye.
- Confirm Film Type is Slides.
- Try Balanced profile.
Inpainting Looks Soft or Smudged
- Check Detection Resolution — if it was lowered for tuning, raise it back to the scan’s native resolution before processing.
- Lower Largest Defect — large detection regions inpaint less precisely.
- For specific frames, use the Brush tool to refine the mask manually, then Export This Image.
Detection Is Slow While Tuning
- Lower Detection Resolution in the Processing section while tuning. Output is always saved at full resolution — only the detection pass uses the lower res.
- Raise it back before clicking Process Batch.
Scratch Detection Catches Fibres I Want to Keep
- Raise Min Length in Scratch Detection — short threads stop being treated as scratches.
- If short fibres are real defects you do want removed, leave Min Length and instead lower the standard Max Fibre Width so they’re caught by the dust detector.
Dust Visible on the Filmstrip Thumbnails Isn’t Detected on the Big Image
- The thumbnails update from the last detection on each frame. Press D to re-detect the current image.
- Make sure you haven’t accidentally excluded the image (X) — the red cross icon appears in the filmstrip when an image is excluded.
Output Folder Is Empty After Process Batch
- Check
cleaned/inside the source folder — that’s the default output location. - If you ran on a network drive, latency may be slowing the writes; let it complete.
- Make sure the source folder is writable.
Still Stuck
Open Help → Report a Problem. The “Improve detection quality” option sends a quick automatic report (no email needed). For bugs, “Report a bug” creates a zip you can email to support.
Next Steps
- Settings reference — 2.3: All Settings Explained.
- Advanced controls — 5.1: Advanced Settings Configuration.