Recovering color from old, faded slides

[Bruce J]

Lightroom Version Number

Classic 9.2.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

Years ago I scanned and processed a large number of old color slides and color negatives. I used a Photoshop plug-in to help with the initial recovery of color for those slides that were faded; I think the plug-in was called Digital ROC (or something like that), and was available from Kodak. I've now come across another batch of scanned slides which need to be processed. The PS plug-in stopped working several versions ago. So, here's the question:

Does anyone know of a similar plug-in for either LR or PS that will help to restore color to faded-slide scans? Or a method of using the old plug-in?

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

Did you find this maybe?
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/40937215

 

[Paul_DS256]

I've just scanned a bunch of slides and negatives but only as small thumbnails. I know I'll have to tackle the colour correction issue at some point.

My Epson scanned has a colour restoration feature but I have not tried that.

One option I will be looking at is using Vuescan. It says it works with Photoshop. It also seems to have profiles for different film types.

 

[Bruce J]

Did you find this maybe?
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/40937215

Thanks Roelof for the link. I did take a look at it and tried to follow the advice. But, because it was from 2012, it apparently no longer applies. It relies on a 32-bit version of PS, which no longer seems to be part of the package (at least I can't find it on my computer). It did get me thinking though, and I dug up an old CD that had PSE 8 on it. I installed that on my system, and loaded an old copy of the Digital ROC plug-in. It seems to work! Of course, since it's PSE, I can't automate the plug-in with an Action (and a Droplet) like I did previously in PS. Lots of tedious clicking, etc., but it is working. I also tried several other color recovery apps, but none seemed to do the job. Thanks again for your help.

 

[BryonManning]

Hello. Try using Photoshop. It has the function of returning a black and white photo to color.

 

[Bruce J]

Thanks, Bryon, for the suggestion. I did manage to make my way through a couple thousand scans using a combination of LR, PSE, and Digital ROC. Project is now finished. I hope I don't have to do it again, but if I do, I'll take a closer look at the PS options.