What is DustMagic?
A desktop app for Windows and Mac that detects and removes dust, fibres, and scratches from DSLR-scanned film. Originals are never modified.
What film types does it work on?
- Yes: colour negatives (C-41) and slides (E-6) scanned with a DSLR or mirrorless camera.
- No: traditional silver black-and-white film (HP5, Tri-X, Delta, FP4) — the silver grains read as defects. Use C-41 chromogenic B&W (Ilford XP2, Kodak BW400CN) instead.
- No: Kodachrome — same reason.
Does it work on flatbed scans?
It works on JPEG and TIFF files (8-bit and 16-bit TIFF) and is optimised for DSLR 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.
- Licensed — removes the watermark. $49/year.
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 Capture One?
Not via plugin. Both work cleanly via TIFF round-tripping. See 3.2: Photoshop & Capture One Integration.
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), licence 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.