This article is for the photographers, and nerds. The issue of high ISO, and noise in photographs came up in a recent Owl article here. I had the same conversations with my friend David Ramage one afternoon, he is a current user of Topaz DeNoise.
And so…
Above is the RAW image, in DeNoise, after being selected from the ‘edit in’ Lightroom option. I use DeNoise as a plug in. (click above to see screen options)
ISO in the above is 12,800! Huge. DeNoise previewed the photo in a zoom when opened, it shows an image that is ready for the ‘delete’ key. Great shot, but horrid ISO.
In the above I do not have Topaz set to ‘auto-update’ the image on changes, it takes time so I click the button when I want it.
I also do not have the ‘auto-detect’ selected. I use it, it can work.
The software is simple, it should be, it’s a tool.
Notice in the above there are two types of noise options. DeNoise and Clear. Clear is the simple, and somewhat faster method. It works many times.
Above is a photograph ‘cleaned up’. Click to review the results.
In the sample I let the program do the work. I also used the Clear option and the Auto-Detect. Next I clicked the Auto-Update button, let it ‘chug’ a little, and this is what I have.
Version 2.1.2 is what I use. There were some significant updates. The software is faster. Hey, it uses AI and various algorithms to get results so it is still slow. Previous versions were so slow it was the option of last resort. It’s better now.
The standalone software is full price US $ 80.00. There are discounts available. If you are interested download the trail, use it, and a coupon should come your way.
Important !!! You must create an account (no credit card) to download. That’s normal, however… do not lose the account info or change anything prior to purchase. The account and software will get confused.
To end here;
I don’t use any other Topaz products. I try to keep things simple, never do composites, rarely HDR. ISO is always an issue with nature photography. I use Lightroom first, then NIK Define or Topaz.
Hope this helps.
Once again, thank you for sharing Ted. Going to try out AI.
Fits a need for me, thanks.
Ted, thank you very, very much for sharing how to use Topaz DeNoise.
I downloaded the trial of this software and I am going to buy it when the trial will be over. My Photoshop is old but I found Topaz DeNoise in my plug-ins in LightroomCC. That is a great software and it’s not complicated to learn how to use it. THANK YOU!!!
Good for nature shots in the dark, which half usually are 😂😀.
Hey Ted. Glad you have found it useful! Nice how to article.
Thanks 👍. Now we can go back through the bamboo shots we saved. Talk to you later 😀
Thanks for this review, Ted, going to look into this program!
I used it again a little while ago. I’m impressed with what it can do. A bad photograph will never be good, but if noise ruins a good one this certainly helps.
Great information! I have also found that the camera really matters as well. My old Nikon D 7000 looked terrible at ISO above 6400. But my D500 can produce great shots way above that. So I’ll have to try this software along with my D500. Thanks!
The camera, and image itself counts that’s for sure. My Canon 7d2 has a better handle on ISO than my other crop sensor bodies do. That said, I have tried DeNoise on multiple files. As always a bad photo is not going to get better 😂😂
And on another note, it is good to never delete if you can save the files. I’ve learned things in processing over the years and was able to go back to old photos and really improve them.
I delete about half my days work. Borderline I keep. Any given year I use a minimum of 1.5 Terabytes.