Topaz AI question (Page 2): :sm24:...

JimGray Loc: Albuquerque, New Mexico

CHG_CANON wrote:

What?? RAW give a worse outcome? Impossible.

What's important era, if the camera didn't actually destroy too much of the image data in that processing and conversion to 8-bit.

Gourmand Loc: Dallas

Since Photo AI is indeed probably all that Topaz is keeping current, I went through the YouTube tutorial of 9/12/23 titled Topaz Photo Ai 2 Complete Guide by Parker Photographic. Well done and worth watching if you want every feature explained. Good Luck!

Pokey Loc: Virginia

Gourmand wrote:

Since Photo AI is indeed probably all that Topaz is keeping current, I went through the YouTube tutorial of 9/12/23 titled Topaz Photo Ai 2 Complete Guide by Parker Photographic. Well done and worth watching if you want every feature explained. Good Luck!

I'll make it a point to watch it. Thanks!

tgreenhaw

One thing to consider is that without processing the raw files first, you may not get all the lens corrections for things like vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberration. Unless you have perfect lenses, you will want that for sure.You might try importing raw into photoshop for those but without sharpening, noise reduction, etc, and then select Topaz labs in the filter menu.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

tgreenhaw wrote:

One thing to consider is that without processing the raw files first, you may not get all the lens corrections for things like vignetting, distortion and chromatic aberration. Unless you have perfect lenses, you will want that for sure.You might try importing raw into photoshop for those but without sharpening, noise reduction, etc, and then select Topaz labs in the filter menu.

I don't have the software, but have watched the Topaz training videos. When you output the DNG from Topaz processing and bring the DNG results into Lightroom, isn't the image still eligible for lens correction profiles?

tgreenhaw

I forgot to mention that you will want to set your Photoshop Camera Raw preferences in ...Set Raw Defaults/Workflow/ColorSpace/Depth to 16 bits per pixel

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

tgreenhaw wrote:

I forgot to mention that you will want to set your Photoshop Camera Raw preferences in ...Set Raw Defaults/Workflow/ColorSpace/Depth to 16 bits per pixel

Hmmm, that's the default for Adobe Lightroom ....

tgreenhaw

CHG_CANON wrote:

I don't have the software, but have watched the Topaz training videos. When you output the DNG from Topaz processing and bring the DNG results into Lightroom, isn't the image still eligible for lens correction profiles?

I'm sure you can apply them, but those lens corrections may not work as expected after Topaz has messed with things. I don't use Lightroom and I dont move files around anymore since when you use the Topaz filter menu it handles the transfer for you. I'm not sure it even hits the disk at all and may be moving the images im memory because my disk usage doesn't spike when going to/from the Topaz filter.

tgreenhaw

CHG_CANON wrote:

Hmmm, that's the default for Adobe Lightroom ....

Could be. My setting was 8 bit for Photoshop Camera Raw until I changed it. Can't hurt to check just in case.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

tgreenhaw wrote:

I'm sure you can apply them, but those lens corrections may not work as expected after Topaz has messed with things. I don't use Lightroom and I dont move files around anymore since when you use the Topaz filter menu it handles the transfer for you. I'm not sure it even hits the disk at all and may be moving the images im memory because my disk usage doesn't spike when going to/from the Topaz filter.

You understand what a DNG is, right? A 'wrapper' of edit instructions around the read-only (unchangeable) RAW data. We'd have to run some experiments to demonstrate, not something I can do without the applicable software, but I expect the application of lens profile corrections is an action mutually exclusive from the actions of any Topaz AI module.

brentrh Loc: Deltona, FL

I take RAW files to Lightroom then to Topez for other adjustment as needed

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

brentrh wrote:

I take RAW files to Lightroom then to Topez for other adjustment as needed

I don't disagree with this approach, but the Topaz modules are now intended to operate first on the RAW file, outputting a DNG, where the DNG and original RAW should both be imported into LR, with the DNG considered the 'master' given the update instructions from Topaz wrapped around the RAW data content.

DaveJ Loc: NE Missouri

delete

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

DaveJ wrote:

I just ran an R7 file from lightroom over to Photo AI using Plug-in extras. When it returned I had to run lens correction again as it stripped it out of the raw file when it went to Topaz. I don't use Photo AI much anymore,as I like other products better at this time( DXO and Adobe LR/PS).

That a nice story, but missing a lot of relevant details to make it understandable. How did you get LR to pass the file? Did you pass the original RAW, or a DNG, or a 16-bit TIFF with both your LR changes included and the ProPhotoRGB colorspace? How would we make sense of your anecdote without these relevant details?

(BTW: I now see you've deleted this anecdote ...)

Even better: did you just start with a RAW in Topaz and output the edits to a DNG? And then, when you imported that DNG into LR, could you then apply the lens profile corrections?

These are the types of technical details that make online discussion relevant and actionable. We're not there at your computer with you to ask / point to the actions taken / missing. Let us know when you've investigated what happened in the various relevant scenarios.

DaveJ Loc: NE Missouri

CHG_CANON wrote:

That a nice story, but missing a lot of relevant d... (show quote)

I realized I did an R5 file and wanted to redo using an R7 file. When I import my RAW into LR, I have a preset that runs the lens correction.(along with some other settings, some I learned from you a couple or 3 years ago). I use the recommended function of Topaz to get a RAW into Topaz from LR using Plug-in extras. My understanding that uses the unedited RAW file. When done in Photo-AI I hit the button Save to Adobe Lightroom Classic and it returns a DNG to LR next to my original RAW file. Upon import of the DNG file, it ran the instructions in my preset including running the Lens Correction. Then I continue editing the DNG.