NOISE.

Free program for removing noise

I downloaded a program called "Picture Cooler" a few weeks ago from Ronnie Kroonenberg in Holland. I am very impressed with it so far. I have processed some images that I had taken at 1600 and 3200 ISO and they look very good  
Here is a link to the website;
http://denoiser.shorturl.com/
There are limited controls on the program but it is still under development and I already have seen a few revisions to the program. Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

Bob,

I would recommend both Noise Ninja (http://www.picturecode.com/index.htm) and Neat Image (http://www.neatimage.com/). Both are available as PS CS plugins and are very effective at reducing high ISO noise. I use them both (not on the same image) because sometimes one is more effective than the other depending upon the type of noise encountered. Both are much more effective than the noise reduction built into Capture.

 

Bob,

There have been three noise plug-ins mentioned most frequently. Neat Image, Noise Ninja and, I think, Noiseware. The first two seem to be the most popular, especially now that NN has announced a PS plug-in. I prefer NI simply because I've used it for a while. I'd suggest trying NI and NN and see which you like. I know Yves uses NI.

I've wasted a lot of time and money, on a fruitless search for the ultimate sharpening utility. Each new one supposedly "blows away" the others. When I get into it, if it is actually better it s by a slim shade; a case where you need to go to 300% to see any difference.

Rich

 

Rich,

My search for the ultimate sharpending utility ended when I found Fred Miranda's Intellisharpen Pro II. It's a PS CS plugin that works on 16-bit images and allows the user to adjust parameters sufficient to get tack sharp images. I've tried everything else on the Web and it is way better than anything else I've found. Have you tried it?

 

Surprise, surprise, I do actually have it. I"ll install it and give it a try. However I'm jaded. I even have NIK sharpener which costs quite a bit. There is another one which costs $100 and involves three separate sharpening passes....but I have a life and three sharpening passes don't make it to the top of my life's most important things list. For me that fits in the same category as "preconditioning" NiMH batteries. (Would you believe some people actually take the time to pre-condition memoryless batteries?)

Thanks for the reminder. I'll try it; I trust you can help if I have any questions?

Rich

 

And NIK Sharpener Pro seems to oversharpen if you let it analyze the image and choose the settings automatically.

Believe it? I spent 30 years at Bell Labs, the safe harbor for anal retentives.

I'll go one better and send you a screen shot of my settings as a starting point. Is e-mail OK?

 

Bob, I couldn't agree with you more on this statement, I said exactly the same to some friends of mine the other day. I shoot a lot of HS Sports, and this is the norm, right on up to 1600.

For Noise I use Noise Ninja in PSCS. I have used Neat Image and Noiseware, for me the NN interface is more intuitive, they all look great. The noise reduciton in Raw Magick is, well, quite a piece of work. I am one of the folks who is using this as a Beta now, a huge learning curve for me in regards to basing things on Curves-by the way this a GOOD THING. Once this is "ready for prime time" I think we are all going to be quite amazed.

As to sharpening, I use 2 things these days. The first is Photokit Sharpener, that "3-pass" PS Automation, which is quite amazing. If you look at where it comes from, it is no surprise as to why it does what it does. The other is FocalBlade, which is quite amazing in it's own right. I showed this to a friend who had some Elk Antlers that were a touch OOF. FocalBlade fixed things up quite nicely without screwing up the rest of the image.

Now, one can spend forever and fourteen days trying to figure out which "are the best". Me, I just spent forever and 2 days and then gave up :wink: .

Let me know if you would like to see some "before and after" at high ISO from my D2H, I'd be happy to pass them along for your perusal.

 

I just came across this........

Article on the different Noise reductions programs. I thought it might be of some help. I apologize if this is old knowledge.
http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise_print.html

 

E-mail is fine, thanks!

Rich

 

Re: I just came across this........

Good link. Thanks Dave.

 

Joe

If you coudl email me also I wudl greatly appreciate it

 

Rich & Mike,

I sent e-mail with my Intellisharpen settings. Let me know if you did not receive it. Some spam filters block messages with embedded images.

 

Joe, I too use Intellisharpen II Pro and would be interested in what you use as settings. If you don't mind could you shoot me an Email as well. It is in my profile.

 

For noise- the latest up-date to the

PICTURE COOLER

is really fantastic. Does not degrade your image.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers
Gale

 

Use neatiimage sometimes but less and less now.

What can I say...

"embrace the noise"  

To be fair some genres are better served by clean photos. But I really think we fuss over it too much and in prints it's not that big a deal.

I guess for wildlife it's a fair issue - need the high shutter speeds but want clean nature shots.

Hasn't Yves done a ton of testing on different programs?

 

Here's another link to a good comparison of noise reduction tools: http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise.htm . Probably more than you ever wanted to know but useful to reference.