Which Noise Reduction sofftware?

[JasperD]

I really don´t know. I am waiting for the Mac version of DxO to make up my mind, but I really like its simplicity and the way it integrates into Aperture (eventually also PS and Lightroom). DxO also brings other stuff not competing in this area, guess I´ll end up having both, after careful massage of she who controlls the purse.

It has been discussed a few times in this forum, but you can get a demo here (besides very short trials, so don´t install them all at the same time... ):
http://www.niksoftware.com/completecollection/en/entry.php?tab=3

 

[keith Bennett]

i think these products do stand alone or at least with nn or ni as plugins . . . so . . .

horses for courses, ie. it depends on the shot - the exposure/quality of the lens used/resolution/contrast/picture content/grey scale etc, all of which effect the quality of the noise - so -

raw conversion in either dxo or raw developer, both of which do noise reduction - then if more nr is necessary either noise ninja or neat image or both with, for difficult shots, different settings for the dark greys and medium greys - if the light parts need nr i've generally given up long before this point -

generally if a sharp high contrast lens has been used (cz maybe?) and the shot is in focus i get quite reasonable and sharp results at even high iso - however if a lens of somewhat less contrast and bitingly sharp resolution has been used then the results will be softer and i'll be unhappy but a picture will come out
--
keith

 

[Wolfgang2]

I use Neat image as plug in with Aperture works very well and it worked well in my Windows times as well
a friend dose use Nik he is also fine with it.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nurwolfgang/
http://picasaweb.google.com/nurWolfgang
If you enjoy live let other enjoy there live too

 

[HK photographer]

whether those software can RETAIN DETAIL AFTER NR. One need to compare to and fro before on can notice the quality of the software. That is why I am rather disappointed with Capture NX that came with my D300.

I think that should be th standard that NR SOFTWARE has to be judged because they all remve noise well.

 

[RichV]

Nik Dfine is one of the products I use most (their U-point technology is great!), but it's not standalone software - it's a plug-in (and that's why I didn't mention it).

Sony might have the dubious honor of supplying the worst image-editing software of any of the major manufacturers. You might be better off choosing a lower-end editor that allows plug-ins, and getting one of the major NR packages.

--
Rich

Pledging not to hide EXIF!

http://philosurfer.zenfolio.com/

 

[GaryMiller1951]

Honestly, with the high volumes of photos I do and the fact that I shoot RAW exclusively, I can't imagine my work flow without LR now. Even the thought of saving as .tiff, shelling out a NR program and then importing back into LR just seems really awkward and time consuming. And then the bother of keeping track of all the various versions. I am really excited about the new level of NR that will be coming out with the final release of 3.0 and is right at your fingertips.

My biggest concern when I jumped on board (when 2.0 first came out) was committing everything to a LR database and not having 'finalized' jpeg or tiff copies of all my processing work. Now I feel the opposite and am really glad that I only have one copy of each file and all the variety of change flavors I have done are all sitting in one easily searchable place.

 

[Adrian Harris]

I do not own a Sony900, but do own a Sony A100 (as well as other camera brands) and the Sony certainly has a noisy sensor at higher ISO's. I have found the best approach to reduce noise while still keeping the maximum possible detail - and I am very fussy about this, was to use a RAW converter that was best suited in the first place. After trying many, I now use a free download version of Phase One's Capture One4. The detail extraction/noise removal control really does an excellent job. The final bit of very fine luminance noise which remains is easily removed with Neat image without harming even very fine contrast detail.

After trying quite a few methods and systems I believe that just using a noise removal tool after conversion by a less suitable program is not the best way to go.

--
Adrian

http://www.t1000.co.uk/photography/gallery1/ (New Gallery)
http://www.t1000.co.uk/photography.htm

 

[HK photographer]

The original question was WHICH NR SOFTWARE SUITS SONY BEST. U use A100 which should be terribly worse than other newer Sony's as far as noise is concern and I am sure you should have tons of experience.

 

[berleconi]

http://www.focusforensic.shorturl.com/
It is now updated Picture cooler 2010.
very good Noise reduction.
Berl.

 

[flexigav]

I just downloaded this version (2010 or 4.5). It looks good, but the initial free locked version only seems to save images in JPEG format at 72 or maybe 96 ppi! Anybody else noticed that? Will getting it unlocked resolve this issue?