noise reduction when scanning old slides - help

[efiste2]

scanning some old slides into my PC and the colour ones appear to have a speckled effect when put through the basic AUTO mode in PS Effects. is there a filter I can apply or a basic function I could use to make this at least a little bit better, obviousley its a blurred shot, but it would be great to enhance it as much as possible, with my limited PS knowledge.....:redface:

 

[Tom Mann]

Before we get into after-the-fact repairs, can you tell us exactly how you scanned them, ie, what scanner, what software, what settings? Also, did you at least try to blow some of the dirt off of them before you scanned them?

Tom M

PS - There is much more popcorn noise on that scan than is normal. If the slide was considerably underexposed and you had to brighten it in software, after the scan, that would explain it, if not, your scanner has very poor noise characteristics. This sort of noise is easily distinguishable form film grain (which is also present, but is much less intrusive).

 

[Tom Mann]

FYI, below is a before-after comparison of about the best one can hope for in noise reduction (ie, using over a half-dozen separate, different, state-of-the-art NR steps to avoid as much image softening as possible). You would absolutely NOT want to have to go through this for more than the occasional image. Saving up for, and purchasing a new scanner would be much less painful, LOL.

HTH,

Tom M