Digital Dustbuster
Remember when hisses and pops were part of the audio experience? Fewer and fewer people do, now that CDs have made near-perfect sound reproduction commonplace. But technology has not been as kind to our eyes. Dust, scratches and fingerprints continue to mar photographic film. Fixing these images now requires either tedious manual touch-up of the negative or slide, or electronic processing that alters the underlying image.
Austin-based Applied Science Fiction has devised a way to erase these flaws. The technique relies on a film scanner’s ability to focus precisely on each dye layer. The system produces separate signals for the yellow, magenta and cyan layers. A fourth “defect channel” is derived from light focused on the film’s surfaces. A proprietary algorithm applies this correction to yield a clean electronic image within a few seconds. Nikon has licensed the technology for its film scanners.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build
“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it
The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.
Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives
The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.
Learning to code isn’t enough
Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.