Distraction Removal: Dust (Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic)

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

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. 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 the detected dust spots will automatically be removed using Content-Aware Remove. For refinement, you can select one or multiple spots to delete or refresh. Batch removal is supported as well, just 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 in the focal plane with the negative and very sharp, while sensor dust is typically out of the focal plane and not in focus.
  
• Scanned negative dust tends to show as white spots on a darker background, while perceived sensor dust tends to show 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:

[Steve C2]

Yes, the filter may not have been designed for this. Nonetheless, Adobe
asked me to provide feedback. I typically don't spend much time in the
forums. Having said this, I will now comment that I find the filter to be
a curious use of development resources. If one has a few specs of dust in
a digital image, that is easy to cure. If one has countless specs of dust,
then one likely is not taking proper care to keep one's lenses and sensor
clean.

[ExUSA]

I have a Canon 6D that has seen heavy use and has been professionally cleaned but still has sensor dust spots. Its not a lack of proper care, its using gear. And its not always easy to cure, especially when shooting large numbers of photos.

I haven't tested this feature as my 5D IV has a lot cleaner sensor, but I may have to test it out.

[Erik Bloodaxe]

Please read the original post:

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

[BoosterMrs]

i am an ICM photographer, one of many around the world. Many of us use high F stops and therefore will have dust spots visible on our photographs. I thought I would try out this new feature today. I have tried with two different camera. The first camera I used visibly I could see no spots when zoomed in close (using an F stop of F22) . However when I used the dust removal tool it did show lots of the little circles. So I was perplexed. Then I tried another camera using an F stop of F 29. All those images had visible spots when zoomed. The first image I did worked beautifully. But the next few the removal tool said there were no dust spots. And the last image I processed with the tool took away some dust spots but not all of them. I realize the Dust Removal Tool is in its early stage. But if it does work out better, the people who do Intentional Camera Movement will be very thankful.

[Aimé Feys]

het is ontworpen om stof op de lens of sensor weg te filteren, het doet in Camera RAW voor mij perfect zijn werk

[Angel Scan]

Now, after using it for a while, especially with photos from my older D750 camera, I'm very satisfied with the current state of the tool's development. It's not perfect yet (it probably never will be), but it already offers a tremendous time saving! (It would save even more time if it were finally implemented in Lightroom!!!)
Thank you,
Charly

[4applesleft]

This is great.  Such a time saver.  Dust spots are the worst!  I hope this feature makes it way to LightroomClassic as well.

[LynnGrillo]

In my case, the dust wasn't on my lens, it was on the mirror in which I was taking the photo. The filter could not identify any dust even though it is all over the photo. I know it's a crappy photo, but hey, if PS can make it better, then why not?

[jrsforums]

@LynnGrillo that does not look like sensor dust....which, in my experience, is black due to no/less light hitting sensor.  As you say, if it is on mirror, the algorithm is not designed to handle that.

[LynnGrillo]

It's not. I said as much in the post. The dust is on the mirror. (not the mirror in the camera, the mirror in the photo!)

[d_8226]

Saves me nearly an HOUR on some photos, specifically ones that are B&W conversions and gallery sized. 

[Aimé Feys]

It is a wonderful added value, hopefully this will also come to LrC

[vgf]

So it moves small specs of dust but not large blurry ones.... just in case you want to improve it

[Ronalmeida]

In this photo, the tool to remove dirt spots did not work, either separately or in batches.

[rene52]

Although I have only just started to use the Dust Removal Option, I ma finding it good but it doesn't pick up all of the spots which I know on my sensor (I do get it clreaned regualarly) that it dioesn't seem to pick up. The only orher thing I would like in the Beta option si a better preview or a slider across the image showing the spots it has picked up.  I still have to go over my image to find the spots the dust removeal has 'missed'

[Aimé Feys]

yes it is a good idea for a preview and adjust slider too

[BoosterMrs]

If you hit the eye icon just above the "early release" and then mouse

 over your image you will see all the dust spots that it has removed.

[Lendemain]

It would be great if dust and reflection corrections could be applied only to specific areas of the image, which would likely also make the AI more precise

[JBedfordPhoto]

I love that Adobe is FINALLY automating dust removal, a request I've been making for many years. 

So far, it works pretty well, but when it comes to dust spots that aren't circular in form, ACR tends to skip over them. 

I understand that this is a very complex task, but it will be nice to see this tool improve in the months and years to come. 

Great work. 

[wilhelm_1625]

For me it's very useful. It really save time to clean the fotos from dust

[craigd80112855]

PLEASE give this a keyboard shortcut in the final load (or update)

[ArtsyStudios]

Used on some lower quality pictures, tool doesnt detect the dust.

[Tilinski]

I was waiting for a tool like this for decades because Im a film shooter and high res scann always render dust and particals which i remove by hand with the heal tool but it takes ages, 

 Having said that not even one photo was recognized by the AI tool, always the same massage "no dust was found"

I always scan RAW and convert with negative lab pro, then i access camera Raw but nothing. never..

[Erik Bloodaxe]

This tool is for removing sensor dust spots.

You should read the very topmost post.

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

[Niclas Magnusson]

One thing that I would like to see in the future would be dust removal for bigger circuls from dust on the lens when shot agains strong light.