Noise removal

My recent foray into high-ISO photography (by which I mean 800 ISO on the K10D) meant that I had to do something I never normally do, and that is to invoke Silkypix's NR facilities.

Going back a couple of years, one used to hear quite a lot about Noise Ninja, and similar products. More recently, I don't think I've heard any reference to noise reduction other than in relation to what is provided in SP and similar programs.

So is what SP and the others do just as good as Noise Ninja et al, or is there still a benefit in using discrete NR software? And if so, which?

G

Overwhelmed, as I have been, by the repsonses to this question, I conclude that most people find the NR in Silkypix et al to be all that is needed.

But I'll wait for Matt to speak before I make that conclusion final.

G

I use neat image
Its just generally awesome
Compared to photoshops NR at least, I have never used SP.
The trial only runs images 1024x1024 and smaller but as a plugin in photoshop you can just split the photo into chunks and run the filter on those 1024x1024 sized chunks.

I work with Aperture and there is a new plug-in from the makers of noise ninja......
sorry I got nothing that would work for you
George.
maybe this:

http://flickr.com/photos/arena5/sets/72157605032098773/detail/

Just to show how neat image works:




from the "worst" photo on that link you just provided don
( http://flickr.com/photos/arena5/2488957524/sizes/l/in/set-72157605032098773/ )

it can get rid of banding but it looses detail, and the bokeh doesnt always look that nice, but you couldnt do anything like that in Photoshop.

I haven't tried the built in NR on silky, but I find NoiseNinja is superb. Neatimage used to have the advantage of a free version, but from the sound of it they have now crippled that to an unusable extent so NoiseNinja is my pick.

Also NN is available for both Windows and Linux.

George,
I used to use NeatImage... now I find that SP does what I need. If you pushed NI too far you end up with a plastic-wrap look. There may still be some noise left after SP, but it's very film-like.

And I regularly use ISO1600, and even "push" processed ISO3200 and 6400 And still stick with just SP's nr... but maybe it'd be better with SP+NeatImage... I don't know!

Maybe I should upgrade and retest NeatImage... if I have time
Sorry I can't help much more!
Matt

The noise I hate most is the speckly colour type. Silkypix is good at minimising the false colours via "False color ctrl" - with little side-effect.

Otherwise Silkypix's NR is not great, IMO. I'd rather have noise than loose detail. Some other programs claim to reduce noise without loosing detail. That sounds too good to be true, to me.

Aparently, early model revisions of the K10D have higher noise than later ones. I have one of the earlier ones

You ain't usin' it right
Matt

I've tried using it in various ways, but it doesn't do very much without a noticeable loss in detail or sharpness. So I use a very small amount or none (with the exception of False Colour Control).

Matt, can you (or others) please describe how you have achieved your best results with Silkypix's NR?

Thanks!

The manual contains the information (albeit in Japlish). Section 10.1.8 - "Creating Extremely Clear Image".

There is no "one slider does it all" with SP - it's a case of learning how to guide the multiple options (which may be too daunting to some).

The thing is, the noise removal of NI and SP use different techniques. NI tackles noise using an FFT (think graphic equaliser of hifi). SP effectively has access to more information - it's working at the RAW level directly. Because of the differences, your best solution would probably be a combination of both

However, as I said, even for ISO6400 "pushed" images, I find that SP does a perfectly good job of reducing the noise while retaining detail.

One project for a rainy day would be to create a set of "tastes" for SP that cover the K10D at various ISO settings...

Matt

I have downloaded the original noisy image and I tried to get it to be as clear as the example cleaned in Neat Image but I couldn't get near with Silkypix.

Can this be because it is a JPEG image to start with? There are a number of options not available for JPEG processing in Silkypix.

Ah! Almost certainly
I'm only referring to RAW image conversion...

Yes, with a JPG, NeatImage is a formidable tool, and worth the money. It's just, as I said, in practice I find I can't remember the last time I used NeatImage...

Matt

I've spent ages reading the instructions and playing with the controls, but still I see a reduction in sharpness or detail with noise reduction or "noise cancelation".

There is no such thing as perfection.