Topaz Denoise A.I (Page 2): Just downloaded last night and I got it free because I own Denoise. Perhaps because I am not familiar with the program I have my issues like watching how...

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Just downloaded last night and I got it free because I own Denoise. Perhaps because I am not familiar with the program I have my issues like watching how long it takes to develop an image and my computer is a modern one and pretty fast with lots of memory. I saw images enlarged to 400% which could be too much and I was not very impressed with the performance of the software. I set the noise reduction high and still I could see noise. I need to work more with it to really understand what it does. I am sure it is a good software. I do not know what has to be done to control color noise and debanding.
Right now I wish I could see it work faster to develop an image so I need to contact Topaz.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Dngallagher wrote:

When you round trip the raw with Lightroom it will return to Lightroom and be stacked with the original image, so yes, you can see the effect in Lightroom.

You see the effect of the sliders on screen in Denoise A.I. while working on the image, unlike DXO Prime NR, but when finished and resaving it seems like more secret sauce must be being added as it takes a little processing time.

Actually you can see the effects of PRIME noise reduction directly on your raw files as a 100% crop, one section at a time, in a small viewer only because of the intensity of the PRIME algorithm. If they are able to speed it up PRIME processing, I would expect a future version of Photolab to be able to display the effects of PRIME NR directly on the entire image in raw.

Tracy B. Loc: Indiana

I just downloaded it and used it. I already own DeNoise. It was fast and fantastic! I'm so excited!

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

mwsilvers wrote:

Actually you can see the effects of PRIME noise reduction directly on your raw files as a 100% crop, one section at a time, in a small viewer only because of the intensity of the PRIME algorithm. If they are able to speed it up PRIME processing, I would expect a future version of Photolab to be able to display the effects of PRIME NR directly on the entire image in raw.

Yes, am aware of the magnified view for PRIME, I don’t find the processing time long in DXO, but the lag between the actual export and the following auto import back into Lightroom is agonizing to me. It take 40 seconds from the completion of the export process in DXO until Lightroom wakes up and imports the image into Lightroom.

I agree a future fully viewable PRIME NR image would be great, but I would rather get rid of the lag on auto import back into Lightroom.

I will do a comparison of PRIME vs DENOISE A.I. later today.

philz Loc: Rockaway Township NJ

I have good news and interesting news. Yes, you can use it on raw files. I opened unedited a very noisy, large 48 mb, Fuji raw file shot with a brand new first time use Fuji X100F at 12,800 ISO directly into Topaz DeNoise AI. I saved it as a .dng and it did an outstanding job of cleaning it up. Processing took a while but acceptable considering the size of the file.

I also sent it from On1 Raw (same process as with Lightroom) as a JPEG and it did a good job with it as well. The .dng looked a little better but very marginal.

Now the interesting part. I shot raw plus JPEG Fine and compared that image SOOC to the others. It was the best by far not only in terms of noise reduction but appearance. That's at 12,800 ISO SOOC, with no noticeable noise! I find this amazing! I have since seen this result with other images, too.

What is in that Fuji magic sauce that does this? Anybody else have this experience with Fuji JPEG files SOOC versus the raw files?

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Dngallagher wrote:

Yes, am aware of the magnified view for PRIME, I d... (show quote)

I don't use PhotoLab with Lightroom so that's not an issue for me. I actually use PhotoLab as a Lightroom replacement. I stopped using LR around a year ago.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

philz wrote:

I have good news and interesting news. Yes, you ca... (show quote)

Does the Fuji have built in noise reduction?

philz Loc: Rockaway Township NJ

mwsilvers wrote:

Does the Fuji have built in noise reduction?

It does but I set it low at - 2, which means reduced to no noise reduction, based upon the advice of pros. Yet it performs well. No clue as to why.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

philz wrote:

It does but I set it low at - 2, which means reduced to no noise reduction, based upon the advice of pros. Yet it performs well. No clue as to why.

Maybe its magic.

In any case just enjoy it.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Dngallagher wrote:

By being a plugin to Lightroom your raw image is converted prior to sending to Denoise, just like the other Topaz plugins

Don - Respectfully, a Raw image by definition before any conversion in or out of the camera is just data (1s and 0s) and cannot be viewed.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

mikeschwartz wrote:

I've tried it but got better results using DxO Prime.

Gave it a shot at comparing Topaz Denoise A.I against DXO PRIME....

left is PRIME, right is Denoise A.I. So far Topaz wins for me....

Image was noisy at 25,600 ISO, view is 3:1

UPDATE: I note that the ISO info is stripped from the Topaz Denoise A.I. end result. Not sure if it is just an error that will be corrected in later versions, but the results look pretty impressive.

(Download)

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

mwsilvers wrote:

I don't use PhotoLab with Lightroom so that's not an issue for me. I actually use PhotoLab as a Lightroom replacement. I stopped using LR around a year ago.

I still start and end everything with Lightroom, so DXO is a plugin for me. I like that it works with the original raw from within Lightroom, but that 40 second delay at reimporting really bugs me! :)

It seems for quick basic NR, Denoise A.I. does a great job on what I have seen. Based on a test this morning, even slightly better than PRIME, without doing much slider wise in either.

I am sure that there is many more nuances that will become apparent and depending upon the image content & exposure. Nice to have several alternative tools though!

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

rjaywallace wrote:

Don - Respectfully, a Raw image by definition before any conversion in or out of the camera is just data (1s and 0s) and cannot be viewed.

Of course it is, always has been.

However, it will work as a stand alone on raw, UNCONVERTED images as well...saving the edited raw as JPG, TIFF, PNG, or DNG.

Since I always edit from Lightroom, no issue with needing to edit a raw in Topaz, round tripping it as a TIFF works fine for me...my original raws remain original. Just like round tripping from Lightroom to Photoshop or DXO for me.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Dngallagher wrote:

Gave it a shot at comparing Topaz Denoise A.I against DXO PRIME....

left is PRIME, right is Denoise A.I. So far Topaz wins for me....

Image was noisy at 25,600 ISO, view is 3:1

UPDATE: I note that the ISO info is stripped from the Topaz Denoise A.I. end result. Not sure if it is just an error that will be corrected in later versions, but the results look pretty impressive.

I'm not sure if your example is a good comparison since noise removal software can affect a lot more than just noise. Some noise reduction software can affect sharpening, fine detail and can result in giving objects a plastic look.I would prefer a test of a highly detailed image with lots of color, sharp edges, and shadow detail. The two attached images, which I happen to have at hand are close to what I'm talking about. The original raw file ISO was only at 12K. The lighting was very bad and makes the noise much seem worse than it would have been in a different setting, which was my goal. The images were not modified in DXO Photolab except for the application of PRIME NR, and the export to jpegs. The first is without NR and the second has PRIME applied. Please look at both at full resolution.

No Noise Reduction
No Noise Reduction...

(Download)

DXO PRIME NR Applied
DXO PRIME NR Applied...

(Download)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Dngallagher wrote:

Gave it a shot at comparing Topaz Denoise A.I against DXO PRIME....

left is PRIME, right is Denoise A.I. So far Topaz wins for me....

Image was noisy at 25,600 ISO, view is 3:1

UPDATE: I note that the ISO info is stripped from the Topaz Denoise A.I. end result. Not sure if it is just an error that will be corrected in later versions, but the results look pretty impressive.

For what its worth, the color on the left, which you say is the PRIME version is much more vibrant to my eyes.