AI face unblurring software

[tbcass]

Photo AI seems to lack an explicit choice of focus blur models, unlike Sharpen.

Not true. It offers several choices.

I'm not the first to whine about the loss of some adjustability that was present in the old Sharpen, Denoise, and Gigapixel trinity.

That's not true. It offers everything that old individual programs did and then some. They are there but you have to choose the function to reveal the choices.

No, there are many fewer options than in the old products. The capabilities may still be there under the hood, but not the manual controls to select them.

Not from what I can see. The extra choices available with Sharpen AI for example are available with other parameters.

Where is the Focus option you mentioned?

The lens blur option in Photo AI works at least as well if not better.

They were removed from sharpen because they would duplicate capabilities available under, for example, noise reduction. There is nothing I can do with the individual apps that can't be done with Photo AI and photo AI does them better IMO.

That’s probably true, but there are fewer user options to control the processing. That doesn’t bother me, because I assume the capabilities were merged.

There are, of course, several new capabilities not available at all in the old products.

I never use the individual aps any more.

If I had of upgraded to v2 I'd likely be using Photo AI over the individual apps as well. Adobe introduced Denoise AI and I don't keep too many files that are OOF. I use Sharpen AI for files that are special to me. I pre-cull using Canon's DPP which shows a RAW file as a finished Jpeg so it is easy to evaluate.

I'm at v3 of Photo AI. There have been major improvements since v1.

--
Tom

 

[Zeee]

Photo AI seems to lack an explicit choice of focus blur models, unlike Sharpen.

Not true. It offers several choices.

I'm not the first to whine about the loss of some adjustability that was present in the old Sharpen, Denoise, and Gigapixel trinity.

That's not true. It offers everything that old individual programs did and then some. They are there but you have to choose the function to reveal the choices.

No, there are many fewer options than in the old products. The capabilities may still be there under the hood, but not the manual controls to select them.

Not from what I can see. The extra choices available with Sharpen AI for example are available with other parameters.

Where is the Focus option you mentioned?

The lens blur option in Photo AI works at least as well if not better.

They were removed from sharpen because they would duplicate capabilities available under, for example, noise reduction. There is nothing I can do with the individual apps that can't be done with Photo AI and photo AI does them better IMO.

That’s probably true, but there are fewer user options to control the processing. That doesn’t bother me, because I assume the capabilities were merged.

There are, of course, several new capabilities not available at all in the old products.

I never use the individual aps any more.

If I had of upgraded to v2 I'd likely be using Photo AI over the individual apps as well. Adobe introduced Denoise AI and I don't keep too many files that are OOF. I use Sharpen AI for files that are special to me. I pre-cull using Canon's DPP which shows a RAW file as a finished Jpeg so it is easy to evaluate.

I'm at v3 of Photo AI. There have been major improvements since v1.

I should have been more specific. If I had of upgraded to v2 I would upgraded to v3 as well. I have been reading about the progress from v1 to v3. I just decided Adobe’s NR was good enough for me.



I stopped using v1 because I know v2 and v3 would be better. I’m one who likes all the latest tech can offer so knowing this I can’t bring myself to use v1. I have the latest and last upgrade of Sharpen AI. It has not been upgraded since 2022 but it is a pretty mature product. For the amount I need or use deblur I couldn’t justify spending money for new Photo AI versions.

i was a big supporter of Topaz when v1 was released. It was not quite ready when released but I could see the potential.

 

[madbrain]

If I had of upgraded to v2 I'd likely be using Photo AI over the individual apps as well. Adobe introduced Denoise AI and I don't keep too many files that are OOF. I use Sharpen AI for files that are special to me. I pre-cull using Canon's DPP which shows a RAW file as a finished Jpeg so it is easy to evaluate.

I am one who kept most of my OOF photos over the years. I don't really know why I kept them. I certainly never thought AI could fix them in the future. But I'm so glad I did !

It's not just film era photos. It's also the many times I handed out my DSLR to a stranger, and they couldn't even find the viewfinder at first. Surprisingly, even people decades older than me, who grew up in the film era, as I did. Forget about them being able to tell what the central focus point was, that they needed to point on my face. So, I got a significant number of photos on which my face is OOF, and the background is sharp. Photos like these one from 2013 that I previously rated 2 due to the focus issue.

It probably would have deserved a 1 rating if I was the only subject, but my spouse is also in the photos and not as quite as OOF, I'm just not showing those parts of the photos. Note that I did several adjustments in Topaz Photo in them, not just "recover faces" but also "Sharpen" and "Upscale".

I find the result on this one really impressive.



Not quite as impressive on this one, but still great.



These are just a few examples of OOF DSLR photos from my Pentax K-30 .

 

[Zeee]

If I had of upgraded to v2 I'd likely be using Photo AI over the individual apps as well. Adobe introduced Denoise AI and I don't keep too many files that are OOF. I use Sharpen AI for files that are special to me. I pre-cull using Canon's DPP which shows a RAW file as a finished Jpeg so it is easy to evaluate.

I am one who kept most of my OOF photos over the years. I don't really know why I kept them. I certainly never thought AI could fix them in the future. But I'm so glad I did !

For me it’s the challenge. While I appreciate the tech the new cameras and software have I want to still work at it.

It's not just film era photos. It's also the many times I handed out my DSLR to a stranger, and they couldn't even find the viewfinder at first. Surprisingly, even people decades older than me, who grew up in the film era, as I did. Forget about them being able to tell what the central focus point was, that they needed to point on my face. So, I got a significant number of photos on which my face is OOF, and the background is sharp. Photos like these one from 2013 that I previously rated 2 due to the focus issue.

It probably would have deserved a 1 rating if I was the only subject, but my spouse is also in the photos and not as quite as OOF, I'm just not showing those parts of the photos. Note that I did several adjustments in Topaz Photo in them, not just "recover faces" but also "Sharpen" and "Upscale".

I find the result on this one really impressive.



Not quite as impressive on this one, but still great.



These are just a few examples of OOF DSLR photos from my Pentax K-30 .

--
I roll with pleasing colour

 

[madbrain]

I was fairly impressed with the ability of Topaz Sharpen AI to reduce small focus errors.

Unfortunately, Photo AI seems to lack the focus deblur controls of Sharpen. And Sharpen AI is no longer supported.

I didn't know that. I have Sharpen AI and access to Photo AI v1. Since Adobe Denoise AI came out I stopped using Photo AI and kept Sharpen AI around. Last time it was updated was in 2022 and not is it supported any longer, you can't purchase it either. It is a mature product so it works well.

This is what Photo AI v1 did when it was just released in 2022. I realize it has changed a lot since then which includes v2. I'm surprised there would be less control.

Photo AI has four sharpening choices, Lens blur, motion blur, standard and strong. In addition, there are 2 sliders that allow adjustments for each one individually. All in all, there a lot more controls than there were when you bought v1 in 2022.

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices. I think the refocus one is the most useful so far for me. Some have reported anomalies with the Lens blur v2. I have not experimented much with it yet.

 

[madbrain]

Refocus is now in Photo AI 3.2.0 which was released Friday.

 

[madbrain]

I think you mean "recover faces". And yes, I found it to do a very good job. I purchased Photo AI 3 on Thursday night. The next day, they released version 3.2.0 .

AI face unblurring software

Photo AI seems to lack an explicit choice of focus blur models, unlike Sharpen. Not true. It offers several choices. I'm not the first to whine about the loss of some adjustability that was present in the old Sharpen, Denoise, and Gigapixel trinity. That's not true. It offers everything that...

www.dpreview.com

 

[madbrain]

I fed your site numerous pngs and jpgs, and it would "unblur" them and let me download them, but I could not open the site's jpg files it gave me in Photoshop (ver 25.11).

Very unusual. I wanted to compare them side by side with my input and output and with Topaz Photo AI with motion blur correction, but like I stated I could not open the output jpgs in Photoshop. Error was "Could not complete your request because of a program error." I can open the jpg in every other software. Also, as I am adding images to this post, DPReview won't recognize the Free AI Unblur jpg either,and will not let it be uploaded to this post.

Anyway, to my eyes, I found the output from $$ Topaz AI, superior to the free AI tool.


Topaz AI, before left, after right


Original jpg


Free AI Unblur

I think the site actually emits HEIC files under the wrong extension. Sigh.

 

[madbrain]

...by about 10%.

Why does it do that?

You would have to ask them, unfortunately. I had no luck when I tried last month. I finally settled o Topaz Photo AI.

 

[BobKnDP]

I was fairly impressed with the ability of Topaz Sharpen AI to reduce small focus errors.

Unfortunately, Photo AI seems to lack the focus deblur controls of Sharpen. And Sharpen AI is no longer supported.

I didn't know that. I have Sharpen AI and access to Photo AI v1. Since Adobe Denoise AI came out I stopped using Photo AI and kept Sharpen AI around. Last time it was updated was in 2022 and not is it supported any longer, you can't purchase it either. It is a mature product so it works well.

This is what Photo AI v1 did when it was just released in 2022. I realize it has changed a lot since then which includes v2. I'm surprised there would be less control.

Photo AI has four sharpening choices, Lens blur, motion blur, standard and strong. In addition, there are 2 sliders that allow adjustments for each one individually. All in all, there a lot more controls than there were when you bought v1 in 2022.

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices. I think the refocus one is the most useful so far for me. Some have reported anomalies with the Lens blur v2. I have not experimented much with it yet.

Interesting. I had 3.2.0, but without the 3 new AI models.

Topaz appears to have released a newer version, still labelled 3.2.0, with the new models. I have that, now.

Thanks. That may eliminate one of my complaints about Photo AI.

 

[ishwanu]

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices.

Interesting. I had 3.2.0, but without the 3 new AI models.

I don't think that's possible. v3.2.0 was just released three days ago with the new sharpen models prominently featured and demonstrated:

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/photo-ai-v3-2-0/76692

'We are excited to announce a major update with Photo AI v3.2.0 releasing today!'

People reported using the new models that same day, within hours.

 

[madbrain]

I didn't know Luminar had this. They call it SuperSharp AI.

https://skylum.com/luminar

Yes. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my original post, Luminar SuperSharp AI does a really poor job on some photos. Whereas Topaz AI does great.

The side by side below shows what Topaz Photo AI 3.2 did to my parents' wedding photo :



And here is what Luminar Neo SuperSharp AI did, using the "Face enhancer". There is no side by side view in Luminar.

Unfortunately, they look like different people, to me.



I have one day left on my Luminar trial. I am going to see if I can use it for something else, like removing specs of dust and scratches on photos that are even older than that one.

 

[Digital Nigel]

I didn't know Luminar had this. They call it SuperSharp AI.

https://skylum.com/luminar

Yes. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my original post, Luminar SuperSharp AI does a really poor job on some photos. Whereas Topaz AI does great.

The side by side below shows what Topaz Photo AI 3.2 did to my parents' wedding photo :



And here is what Luminar Neo SuperSharp AI did, using the "Face enhancer". There is no side by side view in Luminar.

Unfortunately, they look like different people, to me.



I have one day left on my Luminar trial. I am going to see if I can use it for something else, like removing specs of dust and scratches on photos that are even older than that one.

The Neo dust removal tool works quite well; I’ve not tried it on scratches.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I think you hit the major ones. What didn’t you like about Topaz Photo AI? Did you just use the auto settings or tune them to your taste? You can mask for to areas you want to unblur.

Topaz Photo AI is an amazing utility. I have had very good experiences simply using the default settings and batch adjusting photos.

 

[Zeee]

I didn't know Luminar had this. They call it SuperSharp AI.

https://skylum.com/luminar

Yes. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my original post, Luminar SuperSharp AI does a really poor job on some photos. Whereas Topaz AI does great.

The side by side below shows what Topaz Photo AI 3.2 did to my parents' wedding photo :



And here is what Luminar Neo SuperSharp AI did, using the "Face enhancer". There is no side by side view in Luminar.

Unfortunately, they look like different people, to me.



I have one day left on my Luminar trial. I am going to see if I can use it for something else, like removing specs of dust and scratches on photos that are even older than that one.

Thanks for the info.

--
I roll with pleasing colour

 

[tbcass]

I think you mean "recover faces". And yes, I found it to do a very good job. I purchased Photo AI 3 on Thursday night. The next day, they released version 3.2.0 .

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/67887084

You are right. I've been using Topaz since v1 and I think originally it was caused Facial AI or I'm getting it mixed up with another program.

 

[BobKnDP]

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices.

Interesting. I had 3.2.0, but without the 3 new AI models.

I don't think that's possible. v3.2.0 was just released three days ago with the new sharpen models prominently featured and demonstrated:

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/photo-ai-v3-2-0/76692

'We are excited to announce a major update with Photo AI v3.2.0 releasing today!'

People reported using the new models that same day, within hours.

I'd be inclined to agree.

However, I originally updated to 3.2.0 using a download. I forget the source, but this page is from the same date (August 14, 2024):

Topaz Photo AI Download - 3.2.0 | TechSpot

The download there still works. The resulting file size is 792MB.

The direct 3.2.0 download from Topaz is 926MB.

The August 14 download does not include the 3 new models.

I have no explanation for this.

I just went into my secondary PC. Photo AI updated from within the app. 3.2.0, with all 7 models.

 

[lacogada]

These are just a few examples of OOF DSLR photos from my Pentax K-30 .

Artguru ai (unblur)

 

[ishwanu]

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices.

Interesting. I had 3.2.0, but without the 3 new AI models.

I don't think that's possible. v3.2.0 was just released three days ago with the new sharpen models prominently featured and demonstrated:

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/photo-ai-v3-2-0/76692

'We are excited to announce a major update with Photo AI v3.2.0 releasing today!'

People reported using the new models that same day, within hours.

I'd be inclined to agree.

However, I originally updated to 3.2.0 using a download. I forget the source, but this page is from the same date (August 14, 2024):

Topaz Photo AI Download - 3.2.0 | TechSpot

The download there still works. The resulting file size is 792MB.

The direct 3.2.0 download from Topaz is 926MB.

The August 14 download does not include the 3 new models.

I have no explanation for this.

I just went into my secondary PC. Photo AI updated from within the app. 3.2.0, with all 7 models.

I downloaded the file from TechSpot and examined its Properties in Windows:



Despite the filename being 3.2.0, the actual internal name is 3.11.2.4516, which is the internal name for the v3.1.2 installer ... so you presumably also received the v3.1.2 installer.

Probably best to avoid third party downloads going forward.

 

[BobKnDP]

In fact, as of Friday's Photo AI 3.2.0 release, there are 7 now sharpening choices.

Interesting. I had 3.2.0, but without the 3 new AI models.

I don't think that's possible. v3.2.0 was just released three days ago with the new sharpen models prominently featured and demonstrated:

https://community.topazlabs.com/t/photo-ai-v3-2-0/76692

'We are excited to announce a major update with Photo AI v3.2.0 releasing today!'

People reported using the new models that same day, within hours.

I'd be inclined to agree.

However, I originally updated to 3.2.0 using a download. I forget the source, but this page is from the same date (August 14, 2024):

Topaz Photo AI Download - 3.2.0 | TechSpot

The download there still works. The resulting file size is 792MB.

The direct 3.2.0 download from Topaz is 926MB.

The August 14 download does not include the 3 new models.

I have no explanation for this.

I just went into my secondary PC. Photo AI updated from within the app. 3.2.0, with all 7 models.

I downloaded the file from TechSpot and examined its Properties in Windows:



Despite the filename being 3.2.0, the actual internal name is 3.11.2.4516, which is the internal name for the v3.1.2 installer ... so TechSpot actually gave you v3.1.2.

Probably best to avoid TechSpot's downloads going forward.

I've forgotten where I got the download, but it wasn't Techspot. It probably appeared at about the same time (14 August), though.

The version it gave reported 3.2.0 in the app. (Upper right corner of the window.)

The bogus Techspot installer was almost the same size as the Topaz 3.1.1 one. If the installer I got elsewhere was the same, I presume that someone hacked it to present as 3.2.0. More changes than simply renaming the file. Their motive isn't obvious.

I don't plan to investigate any further.