Lots of yucky crap. Let's see what SRD can do...
Not too bad! With SRD you can select areas to avoid applying SRD to or make masks to highlight other areas to which you would apply stronger treatments. Now let's see what a raw scan of this neg would look if I had taken the ten seconds to blow it off with canned air before scanning:
This is much better. I got rid of that big one at the bottom! Let's run it through SRD again:
This is pretty decent and didn't take much time to do. Compare this image to image number 2. In my first attempt to use SRD I did not de-select the eyes and the software treated the highlights in the eyes as defects. You decide what you like best.
SRD works on real B&W film and Kodachrome in addition to C-41. Digital ICE and Canon's FARE only work on E-6 and C-41. Also, SRD does not soften the image like Digital ICE. I've read the Canon's FARE also does not soften the image.
Carl Smith sent me the following note. Carl has done a wonderful review pitting the Nikon against the Canon scanner:
"I would make clear the differences between SRD and ICE/FARE. ICE on the Nikon 4000 is a problem but FARE on the Canon is unbeatable. SRD doesn't make use of actual separate scan data and in my experience can be a tad less reliable and the quality is a step below FARE. SRD equivalents are avaliable for the Nikon, Canon or any scanner as well. Polaroid has developed a good plugin that is pretty good although it requires more input."
You can read Carl's review at http://www.rit.edu/~cgs2794/comparison.htm