Favorite noise reduction software

[scottanderson]

I am ready to make yet another software purchase and have noooo experience with

any type of noise specific programs. Whats your favorite, how much, and if you

have a sample and it isnt too much trouble I would love to see a real life

example of what it can do. I have Photoshop CS and lightroom 1.1 which do a

good job on fair amounts of noise but when you get one of those duds a couple

stops underexposed it becomes questionable. Thank You much for any responses!

 

Scott

[stephen dohring]

Lightroom's noise reduction is improved but not all that usefull - try the demo of neat image. It is really easy and amazing you can get the standalone program or a plug in for PS for a little more. For Nikon users it beats changing over to canon.

 

http://www.neatimage.com/download.html

[trunfio]

Do a search here and you will find various opinions.

 

The most recent discussion was this:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00Lebe

 

I have found Noiseware to be MUCH MUCH better than Noise Ninja at least at the default settings. I didn't like the interface of Neatimage.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Noiseware or Noise Ninja.

[pete w]

Noiseware Pro. I have some 3200 iso images posted here you can view.

Take Care, Pete

[swenson]

I use Noise Ninja, but I picked it more than a year and a half ago. There could be better produts released since then. I've found that I really don't need to use it any where as often as I thought that I would. Maybe 3 o 4 times since I got it.

[patricklavoie]

<...but when you get one of those duds a couple stops underexposed it becomes questionable..>

 

i found that the best plugin available to get rid of the noise is *exposed correctly 1.1*, and shoot at the lowest ISO if/when possible.

 

Also turning OFF any sharpenung in a RAW development could help alot, since they have a bad habit of sharpening too much.

 

Not using unsharp mask as a sharpening tool also could help.

 

And lastly, Noise Ninja could be good IF well use. Many people show me the before after image, the one without the noise seem blury vs the unretouched that look way more sharp...loosing detail in my image to get rid of noise i got because i dont know how to expose (or because the ligth situation),is not a option for me. That why i suggest you learn how to properly expose first, and in need use a software...or use a Canon 5D that have almost no noise at 800ISO with a 85mm f1.2.

 

; )

[scottanderson]

Thanks everyone for the responses so far. Steve I tried the community vrsn you referred to I think it does do a very good job with the noise but the interface is no good. Not bad for free:) I also tried the pro version which is good in PS as a plugin and a bit nicer interface. I'll check out the noiseware as well did they have a trial?

 

Also Patrick, If only to save face, I make it a point to expose correctly and Overexpose by 1/2 2/3 then bring down in pst prcssng. ..But every once in a while a "dud" comes through wether it be operator error or flash not recycling quick enough, or like more recently- no flash allowed in dim catholic wedding so all pics at 3200 or 1600 which makes for more noise than I care for.

 

The only fear I have is like all noted the pics lose sharpness with the noise reduction. Do you guys find this to be an issue when you get reprints up to 8x10 or so? (20d 1-2 stops underexpsd)

[roger krueger]

I use Neat Image, a decision I made a couple of years ago when I couldn't get Noise Ninja

to run more than a half-dozen frames into a batch without crashing. I also own Grain

Surgery, mainly because it had a Mac version when the others didn't, and I still think it

does a better job on film grain, but it is sloooow. And there hasn't been an update in

years.

 

To me the big secret to getting good results is masking--you want a lot of NR in out-of-

focus backgrounds, much less in faces and in-focus textured areas. Sometimes setting the

denoise layer to "darken" helps maximize the denoise/damage ratio.

 

I usually have two denoise layers--one chroma-only that I apply to the whole image, and

one with heavy luminance denoising that I mask as described above, I do the denoising in

overnight batches and perform the masking later. But I'm dealing with more noise than

most folks--EI 6400 and up shooting punk in small dark clubs.