What is DustMagic?
A desktop app for Windows and Mac that detects and removes dust, fibers and hairs from scanned film, in batch. Scratches can be touched up by hand with the Smart Brush. Originals are never modified.
What kind of scans does it work on?
Any scanned image, whatever it started as: slides, converted negatives, Kodachrome, and black-and-white film, including traditional silver B&W that Digital ICE can’t clean. You choose whether the dust looks dark or light on screen; convert negatives to positives first.
Does it work on flatbed scans?
Yes. It works on JPEG and TIFF files (8-bit and 16-bit) from flatbeds, film scanners and camera scans. Flatbed scans tend to be softer; you may need to disable Focus-Based Filtering in Advanced Settings if dust is being missed.
Does it work on digital camera sensor dust?
No. DustMagic is built for film scans, not for sensor-dust spots on digital photographs.
Does it need a GPU?
No. DustMagic runs entirely on your CPU. More CPU cores mean faster batches, but no graphics card is required.
How does pricing work?
- Trial — full app, unlimited images; output is watermarked.
- 12-month license — $59, one payment, no auto-renewal. Removes the watermark.
Where do cleaned files go?
A cleaned/ subfolder inside your source folder. Review detection masks in-app with the Mask Only and Split views. Originals are never modified.
Does it support batch processing?
Yes — Process Batch cleans every image in the current folder in parallel, in the trial as well as the licensed version (trial output is watermarked).
Does it integrate with Lightroom?
Yes — a Lightroom Classic plugin is bundled. Install it from Help → Lightroom Integration. See 3.1: Lightroom Integration Guide.
Does it integrate with Photoshop or other editors?
Photoshop: a script included with DustMagic (installed from Help → Photoshop Integration, then File → Automate → DustMagic Batch…) sends the open image, or every open image, to DustMagic and back, and works in Photoshop actions for whole folders. Any other editor, such as Capture One, works through TIFF files. See 3.2: Photoshop & Other Editors and 3.4: Photoshop: Batch Cleaning, Actions and Layers.
Does it modify my originals?
Never. Cleaned files are written to a separate cleaned/ subfolder.
Can I touch up individual images manually?
Yes. Press B for the Smart Brush Tool. Left-click adds dust to the mask, right-click removes false positives, scroll-wheel resizes. Click Export This Image to save the touched-up image.
What does the Conservative (DM default) profile do?
Conservative is the built-in default and the recommended starting point — high precision, low false positives. For older or dustier scans where it misses real defects, nudge Sensitivity right and save the result as your own profile.
Why isn’t dust being detected on a sharp scan?
Try disabling Focus-Based Filtering in Advanced Settings. On uniformly tack-sharp scans, the sharpness gap between dust and image content narrows and this filter can suppress real dust. See 5.4: Troubleshooting Bad Results.
Why are false positives appearing on faces or skies?
Raise Texture Penalty (for skin) or Minimum Contrast (for skies) in Advanced Settings. See 5.4: Troubleshooting Bad Results.
How big can my image files be?
DustMagic handles very large scans — multi-hundred-megapixel TIFFs are routine. RAM and disk speed become the limit before pixel count does.
Where do I get help?
Help → Report a Problem in the app. Three tracks: improve detection quality (auto-sent), report a bug (creates a zip), license question (opens email).
Next Steps
- Get going — 1.2: Your First Batch.
- Tune the detection — 2.3: All Settings Explained.
- Diagnose a problem — 5.4: Troubleshooting Bad Results.