Because they use metallic silver for the image record, black and white negatives present interesting challenges in the control of dust and scratches during scanning. Unlike color negative film which uses dyes that are invisible to infrared light, black and white negatives use metallic silver and therefore cannot be pre-scanned with infrared light for dust and scratch removal. We will present a paper on an innovative method for scanning black and white negatives with a unique film gate that uses alternatives to the IR pre-scan algorithms commonly used with color negatives and reversal films.