Favorite noise reduction software?

[moses_sparks]

<p>I've searched through some threads, but with some of the recent product releases available I wanted to find out what are the favored noise reduction applications among this group.<br>

I shoot with Nikon D3 cameras and process the RAW files in Lightroom 2.7. Lightroom has a version 3 in the works that will supposedly have a much better noise reduction algorithm, but it's anyone's guess when it will be available in a production version.<br>

Files from my cameras are very nice up to ISO 3200, at 6400 they're still very usable, but there's a distinct grain to them that I would like to reduce without softening the image too much.<br>

The apps that have been recommended to me are Noise Ninja and DXO. NN is very reasonably priced at about $80 but I haven't been knocked out by previous versions I've used. I hear DXO is very good, but it's about $300 and has a lot of features I may or may not ever use.<br>

I need to download both and test of course, but what is YOUR favorite?<br>

Thanks.</p>

[monkeybarstudios]

<p>I use nik software... they have a lot of great plug-ins for photoshop that I have used... I highly recommend.<br>

<a href="http://www.niksoftware.com/dfine/usa/entry.php">http://www.niksoftware.com/dfine/usa/entry.php</a></p>

[py-photography]

<p>What I used before DxO, was noiseware very good at noise reduction.<br>

Since I got DxO, nothing seems to beat it for hi iso noise.. at least IMO.<br>

I was able to get the standard version which is has a more reasonable price tag.<br>

I suggest you give DxO a 30 day trial.. You just might decide that it is worth the money...<br>

Side note LR 3 Beta is a free public trial and well worth the time to install and use until the final product is released. I find myself using it more then LR 2.7...</p>

[francisco_disilvestro]

<p>If you cannot wait for LR3 then I will also recommend Nik DFine 2.0. You can download a 15 day free trial and test it.<br>

I'm a user of DXO also, but I find that the NR for very noisy images gives an unpleasant look (very noisy for me is nikon D300 at ISO 3200), so I prefer DFine.<br>

The new NR in LR3 (ACR 6) looks really good. </p>

<p> </p>

[moses_sparks]

<p>Peter / Francisco,<br>

Do you find the beta of LR3 to be stable? I was worried about using it for client work (I'm a commercial photographer)<br>

If the noise reduction is really good I would definitely prefer using Lightroom rather than a separate piece of software since I already do all my RAW conversion, processing, and editing in LR.</p>

[francisco_disilvestro]

<p>I haven't had any issues so far, but I'm not a pro, so my volume is not high. Make sure you use the beta 2. Another consideration is that Adobe says you would not be able to migrate your LR3B2 catalog to the final release, so it is possibile that you'll need to reprocess them in the final release. </p>

<p>What you could do is to use it only for the very noisy images (depending on what percentage of your images are that way) . Also make sure you have a backup of your RAW files just in case.</p>

[jacopo_brembati]

<p>PhotoDenoising.</p>

[david_poole1]

<p>Noiseware</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>I've used the Nik plug-in with Lightroom and find it works really well, but when LR3 is released, I will use that. I have tested it with the beta and found it to be reasonably close to the Nik software, although the Nik software allows for more control, but the big advantage of using the LR3 noise reduction is that you don't have to make a TIF file to do the noise reduction. This isn't Nik's fault, it's the way Adobe makes third party plug-ins work, but it does complicate things.</p>

[Brad_]

I've been using Lightroom 3 beta and am very pleased with the results.

[eric merrill]

<p>I like Noiseware. Search the web and you'll be able to find a coupon code.</p>

<p>I downloaded the trials for Noise Ninja and Noiseware. Couldn't tell much difference between the two. I went with Noiseware because I'm happy with Portraiture, which is made by the same company.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Oh, and the other reason I went with Noiseware is because I couldn't find the camera profile for Noise Ninja for my camera model on their site. I didn't want to wait for them to finally produce one.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[arvind_vermani]

<p>Noise Ninja is brilliant for me.<br>

When LR3 is out - I'll probably use it for all but the worst cases.</p>

[Larry_G1664882113]

<p>I use Imagenomic's Noiseware Standard. This works great with Nikon digital cameras. Check it out at www.imagenomic.com</p>

[bruce_ashford]

<p>I use NoiseNinja with images from my D3. It's noise reduction seems to be as good as anything else and its 'halo free' USM implementation makes it very good for capture sharpening at the same time. (I typically use a radius of 0.4 to 0.6 and an amount of 240 to 300.)</p>

[don_bryant2]

<p>I've bought and test Noise Ninja Pro, Neat Image Pro, Noiseware Pro, & Nik Dfine. All are capable of very good results.</p>

<p>LR 3 beta 2's NR for RAW files is extremely impressive and that's what I'll probably use for digital captures. For film scans any of the above products can work well. Check out the test write ups on Glen Mitchell's site the Lite Is Right for Noise Ninja, Neat Image, and NIK define.</p>

[robert_k1]

<blockquote>

<p>I've bought and test Noise Ninja Pro, Neat Image Pro, Noiseware Pro, & Nik Dfine. All are capable of very good results.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Agreed. As with many such tools (raw converters, sharpeners, stitchers, etc.), once they all reach a certain maturity, they can all do a fine job. The operator's ability to understand what to tweak in the tools and what they expect the results to be then play a much more important role.</p>

<p>Here's one person's comparison between these tools:<br>

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/reviews/NoiseReductionPlugins.pdf</p>