Images scan with orange pixels?
 

Hey

For my job, we scan a large number of images and most scan, no problem. Lately though, some have been coming out oddly pixelated. Sometimes the pixels will be orange and other times there will be greens and blues. The settings are the same as images that scan fine, and I haven't been able to figure out what's wrong from Google.

Some images are able to be properly scanned if we set the black point to either 0 or 5 while others we can't figure out.

Also if you know a way to fix this in photoshop, that would be amazing. Thanks!

http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/error.gif

Your image was not attached to the post.

Sorry about that, must've added it to the wrong spot.

I often forget the exact technical jargon to explain this issue -- see also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_noise (salt and pepper image) -- but I know what it is.

I'm guessing that's a 1:1 (100% view) of the scan, and that's not the whole image. Notice that the noise appears only in the darker areas. Scanners are not much different than DSLRs, and that's a standard noise you'll get at higher ISOs. Scanners have the same concept, so I'm guessing the negative/slide is a bit dark or underexposed? That's the same as high ISO.

Heat and cold has affects on scanners/DSLRs, so if the issue is intermittent on the same scan, it could point to the scanner either getting too hot (overuse), or sadly breaking down. How old is it, how many hours of use does it have? Most scanners just seize up, but I've seen other components die as well. Capacitors, for example, can overheat, and it may cause this.

Some scanners have orange or white noise, and others can have red, blue, green, purple, etc. The exact color shown depends on different facts.

Also what brand/model is it? Hopefully it's something good, like Kodak or Nikon (assuming negative scanner), not one of those brand X units from the past 5-10 years. Or Epson for a flatbed.

Flatbed scanners have the same concept, but tend to use much cheaper parts, so any issue are amplified over negative/film scanning.

I've also seen scanners or software perform HDR-like behavior, and that definitely causes noise in shadows. So now the question is: What software is being used?

With various software filters, and various editing techniques, the noise can easily be removed, reduced, or at very least made irrelevant.

Thanks for responding! It is a Cortex HD iFlex flatbed that we are using. And we got it only a few months ago. It has been used a lot through the holidays, though, usually being used 6 hours a day. The problem is not on every single scan and if we scan the image for a second time, it will usually go away.

You don't know of anyway to combat this through Photoshop right? I've tried everything I can think of.

Also, the program we use is Nextimage.