Topaz Denoise -- wow!!

[PeterAit]

I tried this program because of a glowing review on Mark Smith's photo website. And was he ever right! I am astounded by the results. See the examples below. It's not perfect, of course, nothing can replicate low ISO shooting. And some people have reported color shifts, although I have not experienced any. Well worth a try, me thinks.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Any noiseware program can remove noise. The question is at what detail expense. Not quite clear from your examples.

[langier]

One technique I've found that works is to run the NR software on a separate layer and maybe go a little overboard. Once the filter runs, it's very easy to lower the opacity of the layer and create just the right balance between "plastic" (over processed) and "grain (noise)."

[kers]

One technique I've found that works is to run the NR software on a separate layer and maybe go a little overboard. Once the filter runs, it's very easy to lower the opacity of the layer and create just the right balance between "plastic" (over processed) and "grain (noise)."

I just tried denoise and i am not impressed; maybe i tried not lang enough or well enough...
At this point i find Neat image better; it keeps a more normal photo after processing.
The suggestion to mix a noisy and a denoised layer might be a solution in some cases indeed.
Anyway- the noise problem- is mostly when viewed at 100% of the original. You use that large image in print - and in print noise is much less than on screen.
In general the noise i see on screen is almost gone in print.

[Martin Kristiansen]

I still use Neat Image as my go tool solution when needing to remove noise. A quick fix for social media and so on I just use LR. I have Topaz Denoise but never really got on with it. Could be someth8ng I’m not doing correctly.

[JaapD]

+1. I have similar experiences with Denoise and NeatImage. By the way this also counts for Topaz Sharpen AI versus FocusMagic where I get in general better, more realistic results with FocusMagic. But I have high hopes that AI will get better in the end…

Regards,
Jaap.

[MauriceRR]

Topaz denoise is interesting. On the other hand, it's not the most interesting of ai product from topaz. Gigapixel is clearly the best of all, with sharpen (défocus and stabilize option).

Topaz denoise requieres jpg/tiff in input. It does a great job if you don't have acces to raw files. However, if you own the raw files, a good demosaicing+denoising in raw domain will be more efficient (even with conventionnal algorithmes).
Of course you can manage with both for fine tuning.

[PeterAit]

+1. I have similar experiences with Denoise and NeatImage. By the way this also counts for Topaz Sharpen AI versus FocusMagic where I get in general better, more realistic results with FocusMagic. But I have high hopes that AI will get better in the end…

Regards,
Jaap.

I agree about Focus Magic--I am not very impressed with the TOPAZ sharpening tool.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I agree about Focus Magic--I am not very impressed with the TOPAZ sharpening tool.

It was good for a short time, so it is possible, but then they used a differently trained model and now it's not good anymore.
So when they retrain the AI models, things will improve again.

But it would help if masking capability was added, so the sharpening can be applied selectively.
The same goes for Denoise AI, which does a nice job, but is too heavy handed on dark tones.

Cheers,
Bart

[brandon]

It was good for a short time, so it is possible, but then they used a differently trained model and now it's not good anymore.
So when they retrain the AI models, things will improve again.

But it would help if masking capability was added, so the sharpening can be applied selectively.
The same goes for Denoise AI, which does a nice job, but is too heavy handed on dark tones.

Cheers,
Bart

I haven't re-tried the software on the same images with each update but anecdotally I do find that the "focus" module causes big artifacts (on tiffs ex Capture One, sharpening disabled) at default settings more than I first recall, whereas "stabilize" seems to be quite remarkable at auto setting, but I still often turn down the settings. Re "sharpen",  again I wonder if its not so good now (I compared the first version directly with focus magic in trial mode and purchased Topaz). How much is "post honeymoon" and how much is actual worsening Im not sure. Has it been to make the software faster? Bart, you have beta tested haven't you..so I guess you have directly seen comparisons of the versions?
Can one roll-back to earlier versions with the installation approach that Topaz uses?

[Wolfman]

It was good for a short time, so it is possible, but then they used a differently trained model and now it's not good anymore.
So when they retrain the AI models, things will improve again.

But it would help if masking capability was added, so the sharpening can be applied selectively.
The same goes for Denoise AI, which does a nice job, but is too heavy handed on dark tones.

Cheers,
Bart

If you use Denoise or Sharpen on a layer couldn't you use blend-if and protect the shadow areas?

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

If you use Denoise or Sharpen on a layer couldn't you use blend-if and protect the shadow areas?

Yes, but :
1) it shouldn't be necessary with Denoise (especially) when the image has moderate amounts of noise, to begin with
2) if obe uses a plugin to do the job, it shouldn't be necessary to use another application to finish the task.

Sharpening could be a bit different, but would still benefit for workflow reasons if everything could be done within the plugin. Another thing they could add, if that works well with the AI, is an Apply button, which would allow doing multiple runs on the same source image without having to save and reload the intermediate results.

All of these have been requested by beta testers, so over time it might be added, we'll have to wait and see.

Cheers,
Bart

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I haven't re-tried the software on the same images with each update but anecdotally I do find that the "focus" module causes big artifacts (on tiffs ex Capture One, sharpening disabled) at default settings more than I first recall, whereas "stabilize" seems to be quite remarkable at auto setting, but I still often turn down the settings. Re "sharpen",  again I wonder if its not so good now (I compared the first version directly with focus magic in trial mode and purchased Topaz). How much is "post honeymoon" and how much is actual worsening Im not sure. Has it been to make the software faster? Bart, you have beta tested haven't you..so I guess you have directly seen comparisons of the versions?
Can one roll-back to earlier versions with the installation approach that Topaz uses?

Yes, I've been beta testing, which is why I said that it was good at one point, and is not as good now. But that also means that it can be better. I'll keep pointing it out to the developers, so someday they might listen ... 

There is no rollback to previous point release versions possible.