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Rikk Flohr_Photography
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 10, 2025
Question

Distraction Removal: Dust (Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic)

  • July 10, 2025
  • 172 replies
  • 18374 views

This post applies to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic.

 

Dust Removal is no longer in Early Access status and can be found in the Remove edit panel for Camera Raw & Lightroom Classic. Dust Removal helps with removing distracting spots on an image that may be caused by dust on a camera's sensor.

 

Once enabled, your image will be scanned, and any detected dust spots will be automatically removed using Content-Aware Remove. For refinement, you can select one or multiple spots to delete or refresh. Batch removal is also supported; simply select the "Dust" checkbox under "Remove" in the copy settings dialog.

Please note that scanned negatives are not in the scope of this feature at this time. 

 

  • Dust spots on scans tend to be located in the focal plane, with the negative and very sharp, while sensor dust is typically positioned out of the focal plane and therefore not in focus.
  • Scanned negative dust typically appears as white spots on a darker background, whereas perceived sensor dust tends to appear as dark spots in lighter areas. 

 

We would love to hear your feedback on Dust Removal! Please give it a try and let us know what you think:

  • How is it useful?
  • How could it be more useful?
  • What could we do to improve your experience?

 

Lisa Ngo, Product Manager


Also see this video by @brianmatiash where he demos the feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwpUX4b6igY 


Posted by:

172 replies

Participating Frequently
October 30, 2025

Please add the ability to remove dust from scanned negatives... an actual real issue photographers face, unlike people just not cleaning their lens/sensor.

JBedfordPhoto
Inspiring
October 30, 2025

Very happy to FINALLY receive Dust Spot Removal in LRCC15! 

It's working relatively well so far, but I would llove to see implemented more dust removal for scans, not just dust spot removals for digital sensors.

Participant
October 30, 2025

Why does this feature not apply to 100%? It detects 20% of the sensor spots. A sensitivity slider might be an improvement. And the spots weren't removed completely. It looks like it works with reduced coverage of 80%.


Participant
October 30, 2025

I usually don't care much about AI features, some are cool, but removing dust?
BOY IT'S MARVELOUS!
I have countless photos that I left on my archives, waiting for this day.
So far, so good! Thanks guys, this is the way!

Participant
November 1, 2025

LOL same there were pictures I haven't edited, sitting there for several years cause I was too lazy to manually edit out each dust / smudge spot.

Participant
October 29, 2025

está buenísimo esta actualización de remover manchas!

Participating Frequently
October 29, 2025

Please do the same with laser burn pinnk dead pixels !

Participant
October 29, 2025

Dust removal is an excellent addition to LrC. From what I can see, it works well. 

Participating Frequently
October 29, 2025

"Unable to find dust spots".  Several images checksed had several  dust  spots.  Program was unable to find them.

Participant
October 28, 2025

Well done !

 

Next step/idea remove hotpixels for long exposure !

Known Participant
November 1, 2025
It would be very nice if there was a backscatter remover for underwater
photographers too.
Participating Frequently
October 28, 2025

Please improve this so it works for dust/dirt/lint/scratch removal for film photographers. Specifically, automatic detection and removal from film negative and positive scans. This is a serious problem for people that use digital cameras to scan film. It's also a problem for black and white film photo photographers the flat bed scan film since there is no "digital ICE" for B&W. I'm happy to help test or develop the feature. Thank you!