I am testing VueScan with my Nikon Coolscan 4000ED.

The first thing I notised was that some of the scans had a lot of dust. Quite expected. But in Nikon Scan, I can use the ICE function to get rid of some of the dust and scratches. But there is no RAW function here. Seems I can not get both...

Does anyone know of a way to get best of both worlds? Actually, I think that a scanprogram for RAW without any processing option would be a nice thing. And should be quite easy to make (meaning cheap)...

I know I will have to get some airbottles to get the dust off before scanning.

A properly-exposed slide can capture more detail and exposure range than any scanner can capture, so a totally unprocessed scan would actually be a hindrance. And white balance, etc., isn't an issue with a properly-calibrated scanner. Plus ICE would contradict the concept of "no processing" (at least the 2nd and 3rd components of ICE, that have nothing to do with dust).

I'd stick with the Nikon scan software.

The purpose for the RAW scan program would only be one thing. Ge the data on file directly as correct and fast as possible. Then leave it to Photoshop and other programs to do the processing.

The processing power and capabilities of dedicated hardware will always be bypassed by the host processors of the computers and the software running on them, and it is nice to be able to take advantage of that. But the first step of ICE would be nice to add. It makes a tremendous difference!

UPDATE - After sending a mail to the author of VueScan I got a reply that it is possible to apply the first step of ICE (infrared dustremoval) and save as RAW. So I guess I have to go for it and get back with the results here.