JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I have been going back a reprocessing a number of pictures taken with several cameras and lots of different lenses, and I have to conclude that Topaz has hit it out of the park.

For example, I have a Pentax K3ii and just two kit lenses for that camera - a 18-55mm and 70-300mm lens. In reprocessing some images, my jaw dropped at the improvement. Noise eliminated and the pictures sharpened to the point I was wondering if I was using pro lenses.

Then my efforts with Olympus m4/3. Same results. I have some pro lenses and I have some older four thirds lenses I use with an adapter. Same effect. Noise gone. Images nice and sharp even at 100%.

Then my Sony bodies, and a collection of lenses including modern Tamron lenses, older Minolta lenses, and even my collection of old m42 Pentaz Takumar lenses. Same results. I am stunned at how clean and sharp the images turn out.

There are still some things that Topaz will most likely try to fix in future releases. For instance, Chromatic Aberrations (CA). They claim that it works on CA too. But I find that it doesn't do as good a job as does Lightroom. So this will likely be worked on in future releases.

And lens diffraction such as I see on the Nikon P1000 when shooting at 3000mm (effective) focal length. So far, I haven't found any SW that does a good job on this.

I have also been comparing AI Clear against DxO's Photolab 2 Elite Prime noise removal. Now DxO is really, really good at removing noise, but in looking at the best I can do with DxO vs the best I can do with AI Clear, I think AI Clear is winning. Still have more work to do here.

DeanerNiker Loc: Lakewood, Colorado

I totally agree with your thoughts on Topaz AI Clear. One of the best additions to post processing that I have recently seen. Going through some of my older photos and cannot believe the difference it makes.

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

Is this software just a noise reduction solution or does it do other PP adjustments as well?

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Does Topaz AI Clear work directly on raw images like DXO PRIME,which then have to be exported to see the result? Canon you post comparative images for both PRIME and Topaz AI Clear?

DeanerNiker Loc: Lakewood, Colorado

It is an add-on to Topaz Studio which does PP. Topaz Studio is a free download but most of the pro adjustments are additional purchases.

ottercreek Loc: Southwest Ohio

I agree re Topaz AI Clear. Can't believe how it can rescue some marginal photos. Almost too good to be true!

Nikon1201

I use Topaz DeNoise and if you red the reviews most say that DeNoise does a better job. Research before you buy.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

It does more than reduce noise. For one, it manages to sharpen an image, and even pull into focus parts of the image that were only slightly out of focus. I don't think this is regular sharpening. It appears that the AI part of the program is somehow reconstructing the fine detail.

This program has to be tried to fully appreciate what it can do.

DxO prime is good at sharpening, and it is good at other things as well. But I am getting better results with Topaz AI Clear. Certainly, this is going to cause DxO to do something to stay competitive.

Nikon1201

I salvaged a photo shot in very very low light with NikonD610. AI removed a lot but DeNoise actually made it a decent photo.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Here is the write up by Topaz on AI Clear. If using it from Lightroom, it is suggested that Lightroom's pre-sharpening be turned off first.

https://topazlabs.com/introducing-ai-clear/

Also, here is a review of the product:

https://www.photographyaxis.com/post-processing/topaz-ai-clear/

A 15% discount can be obtained at: http://plugsandpixels.com/blog/unadvertised-special-topaz-ai-clear-reminder/

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

Any examples to show?

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Here is an example taken at the LA Zoo a month ago. I did a heavy crop to get the closeup of the gorilla. Leaves me wondering just what is this gorilla is thinking about me as I shot the image.

I was using an Olympus EM5ii along with the 40-150mm lens that they sometimes offer for $99. The pro version of the lens would certainly be better in low light. But for this example, didn't need that low light ability.

The second image is using a Pentax K3ii with a 50-300mm kit lens taken at 500mm hand held. A crop is also provided to see the detail.

Full sized image processed with AI Clear

(Download)

Heavy crop of above image

(Download)

Full sized image processed with AI Clear

(Download)

Heavy crop of above image

(Download)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

We cannot tell the advantage of Topaz this way. Can you post the same images without Topaz AI Clear so we can compare the effectiveness of using it? Could you also post the images with noise reduced up by DXO PRIME since you indicated Topaz does a better job? Thanks.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

This example is pushing things a bit. This shed, or whatever it is, was about 1 mile away, and the image was done using a Nikon P1000 at max zoom (approx. 3000mm equiv. focal length). The 2nd image is treated with Topaz AI Clear and also Topaz Precision Clear to bring out more detail. Keep in mind that the P1000 has a tiny sensor, and at 3000mm, the widest aperture is f8. Thus, it is subject to additional lens diffraction. Topaz did the best it can. But I don't think it really can overcome the lens diffraction issue.

Original RAW converted to JPEG in Lightroom

(Download)

Processed with Topaz AI Clear and Precision Detail

(Download)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

While the Topaz processed image is certainly much improved, what I am seeing is mostly haze removal, increased edge contrast and sharpening. However, I'm not seeing very much noise in the original image to start with so I'm not sure from your example how effective this tool is when reducing noise in a high ISO situations.

Additionally the first image is very problematic to start with. It is very soft, which is not surprising give the camera and zoom level used. It is a very nice little camera, but it does have its limitations. I usually delete marginal images like that one and do not try to repair them unless there is some compelling reason to do so. Even the processed version is soft although obviously superior to the first

For me the real key to the effectiveness of a noise reduction tool, and indeed post processing in general, is not it's ability to fix marginal images and make them usable. It's real value is the ability to take a good image and make it much better by significantly reducing noise levels to almost zero without adding visual artifacts.

Topaz AI is probably grest noise reduction software, and I'm very glad that you are enjoying using it, but I would still love to see an example of its ability to remove High ISO noise cleanly without adding the unnatural plastic effect that over using some noise reduction software can have when set too high.

Finally, I'm not sure what in this example what would lead you to believe that Topaz does a better job than DXO PRIME reducing noise. Perhaps it does, but I would love to see comparable results showing the effect of both on noisy High ISO images.