Noise Removal Software

Is it worth getting a bespoke Noise Removal Software package? I use PSP and obviously it has noise removal on it. But, are these bespoke pacakges better?

I use Ninja myself if needed of cause

Or NeatImage, I think Ninja and Neat are the two top and comparable noise removal software.

Do you think they are necessary knowing most (if not all packages) have noise removal already built in?

I use Neat Image, which is free as a standalone for JPEG only, but I paid for the Photoshop plug in which makes things more seamless, and works on other file types.

I think programs like Neat Image, Noise Ninja etc tend to be more sensitive and controllable than the noise removal options build into applications such as Photoshop - and when I've seen comparison tests they've always come out best.

Although it's not necessary to use them terribly much with newer dSLRs unless you're obsessed about noise (a la DePressing Review for example), it's still nice to have on occasion, and they can be great with compact cams too - sometimes required even for ISO80 from my G10 if I use RAW.

I use NeatImage sometimes, 99% of this "sometimes" is when I'm submitting photo to some photo galleries with screening (these guys usually don't like noise), and photo was taken on high ISO, shows some visible noise.
Therefore I'm not using noise removal in camera or in other software.
Surely you have a much more control over the process of cleaning photo when using that software, often even at default values effect is very good, without the need to tune it (algorithm may be more advanced as well).
On the other hand noise removal build in UFRaw is not bad, sometimes I tend to use it a bit and skip the NeatImage (I use UFRaw to work on RAW files).

Is there any good one for Linux (Debian in particular, but not necessary)? When 'developing' from DNG I usually use RawTherapee, which has some noise reduction filters, but I'm not very satisfied with them.

I find Helicon Filter http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfilter.html pretty good, I've had it years since Beta and it has developed into quite a capable package.

I use Noise Ninja and its great.
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Noise Ninja does. Look here beneath this heading. Noise Ninja 2.2.0 standalone software

Hope it helps,

Martin.

Thanks Martin, I'll give it a try - they say it's for x86, but maybe it will work on amd64 (which I have) as well.