# Anyone know any good Noise Reduction programs?



## Synomis192 (Mar 9, 2013)

I have Lightroom 3*, Photoshop Cs4, and Canon's DPP software. I'm just curious to what you guys think is the best NR program out there. I'm also curious on how to use NR correctly. 

Just a simple question this time haha 

*jk, I have LR3 not LR4 sorry


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## csc (Mar 9, 2013)

Adobe products are great tools to reduce noise. There was a huge improvement from Photoshop CS4 to CS5. Due to the fact that Photoshop and Lightroom use the same processing engine - Lightroom since version 3 is great, too.
To get the best results with less noise, the sharpening radius in the raw processing should be set to minum (0.5). To compensate sharpness it's better to increase the amount of sharpness (but keep the radius small).


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## LostArk (Mar 9, 2013)

I've personally used Lightroom, PictureCode Noise Ninja, and Imagenomic Noiseware, with the latter striking me as being superior to the other two. 

http://imagenomic.com/nw.aspx

Specifically, I found Noiseware did a much better job at retaining fine detail (hair for example) when using aggressive NR on high ISO files. 

That being said, the differences between modern noise reduction software are so minimal you'd be fine just using eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

I like to reduce chroma (colored) noise aggressively, and I go easy on the luma noise since it's what gives the image detail and isn't all that objectionable if you've ever looked at push processed or "high ISO" (800-1600, lol) film.


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## siegsAR (Mar 9, 2013)

I've used PictureCode's Noise Ninja plugin on PS before, but not extensively though.

It was good, but usually makes the image soft if used too much.


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## Atonegro (Mar 9, 2013)

Noiseware is excelent, but most of the time i am using Neat Image.

http://www.neatimage.com/

Good control and pretty powerfull, You can use it to clean up the sand from the beach.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Mar 9, 2013)

One of the improvements in LR4 is that you can selectively apply NR by using the brush. This lets you sharpen only the features that benefit such as hair, eyes, etc.
Photoshop has layers that let you do this and has had for years.

The dedicated sharpening software works well, being able to apply it selectively is something to look for when you try them.


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## Atonegro (Mar 9, 2013)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> One of the improvements in LR4 is that you can selectively apply NR by using the brush. This lets you sharpen only the features that benefit such as hair, eyes, etc.
> Photoshop has layers that let you do this and has had for years.
> 
> The dedicated sharpening software works well, being able to apply it selectively is something to look for when you try them.



Most of the software is available as a plug-in for Photshop, so you always can mask and paint it in the same way as any other filter.

But even when you have the dedicated software, you always can export a layer to your dedicated software, do the things you want to do, and import the result as a layer in Photoshop.
Then you can mask and paint the effect by adding a layer-mask.


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## agierke (Mar 9, 2013)

i can endorse Noiseware as well. very good program and pretty intuitive UI. Imagenomic also has a very good program in Portraiture for smoothing skin tones.


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## digital paradise (Mar 9, 2013)

Lr4 and CS6(ACR) are very good. Both the same. I have Dfine and Topaz and don't use them anymore. I noticed that you mentioned Lr3. Not familiar with it as I did not get into it until Lr4. Liked it so much I started using CS6 as well.

As how to use it correctly. ISO 12,800. No NR applied. The image looks both noisy and the colour is splotchy. LR and ACR colour noise defaults to 25 so put it back to zero for this demo. 







First you adjust the colour noise until the colour no longer looks splotchy. When you achieve this stop as there are no benefits to go any further. DPP calls it Chrominance which is technically the correct term.






Then you adjust the Luminance until the noise or grain is acceptable to you. This adjustment effects image sharpness. The higher you go the less sharp. It is a juggling act between the two and it is to your taste.






Final results


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## digital paradise (Mar 9, 2013)

Same process applies when using DPP. I stopped using 3rd party NR software because it just slowed down my workflow. Using Lr or ACR I can just adjust one image the way I like and just sync the rest or in DPP's case use the recipe. Careful when using DPP recipes as it will make across the board changes if you make any other changes to the original image. Using Lr/ACR you can select which adjustment or adjustments you want to sync.

Oh yeah. Do NR adjustments at 100% like in the sample images.


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## joshbennett (Mar 10, 2013)

I use LR 4. Its great for noise reduction. 8)


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## charlesa (Mar 10, 2013)

Nik Dfine


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## agierke (Mar 13, 2013)

LR 3 started to have pretty good NR and i hear it got even better in LR 4. if i am batch processing in LR 3 then i just use the NR there. if i am dealing with a couple of images and am already in PS i use my Noiseware plugin.

both are very good.


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## RS2021 (Mar 13, 2013)

I use LR4 and used LR3 before... works for what I need. When I experimented with extreme ISO, Topaz deNoise was suggested to me and it seems to do a great job as well.

But LR4 is my go-to workflow program...very happy with it.


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## rpt (Mar 13, 2013)

I am assessing Topaz DeNoise. So far I can do NR in LR4 just as well as DeNoise. A few weeks more of trial and if I change my mind I'll repost here.


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## digital paradise (Mar 13, 2013)

That is the whole thing. LR/ACR NR is excellent. You might be able to a difference that the pixel level but at the end of the day will another person notice the difference. I have not touched either NIK Dfine or Topaz in a year. Workflow is so much easier working with Adobe products.


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## CarlTN (Mar 13, 2013)

This is a very useful topic!

*Digital Paradise*, your examples are very nice, great job! However, your results don't look like they're any better than I could have done with CS5, and I want something _very superior to CS5_. I want to reduce chrominance and luminance noise significantly more, yet preserve far more detail. From some of the other comments, I'm beginning to wonder if that's even possible with "third party" software or plugins. I would rather not spend money on software unless it is clearly superior...since you can't legally re-sell it later, as you can photo hardware.

Maybe there will be a new generation of NR software this year?

*For example, my cousin's 5D3 files at ISO 4000, via LR4 (presumably "better" than CS5?), were NOT able to reduce luminance noise much at all, without putting the slider well above 80%, which severely softened the image.* The 5D3 seems to produce luminance with a very large grain, perhaps 4 to 7 pixels diameter (seems larger and more harsh than even the 1D4's files). 

By contrast, my older crop camera produces luminance noise with a much smaller diameter (3 pixels or sometimes less than 2 pixels diameter)...so I am able to reduce this noise much better via CS5, even with the slider well below 35%. (Of course key to preserving detail, are the luminance detail and contrast sliders...and the chrominance detail slider.) 

My biggest problem with CS5, is it will not reduce "color banding noise" at all, whereas Topaz supposedly does. I've also not seen any evidence that CS6 / LR4 are superior for color banding...

I disagree with the practice of sharpening at .5 pixel radius in ACR (in the hopes it will preserve detail downstream). It's far better to find the ideal radius and optimize that (without over-doing it), and then export to whichever program will do further processing. Also, the "detail" slider (maybe it's better to call it the "global detail slider"...in the sharpening section of ACR) is highly effective on images that are already very sharp. If an image is already sharp and _also noise free_, it's best to push the detail slider as far as possible, while using the sharpening slider only near minimum (besides making its radius as small as possible...which is not always .5 radius).


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## digital paradise (Mar 13, 2013)

No problem. This was my mission. The OP asked how to use NR correctly so that was what I demonstrated. I did not use ACR NR when I had CS5 so I can't compare but I believe you. 3rd party might slightly be better but not at the level you are looking for, I don't think anyway. Hopefully what you are seeking will come out.


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## TexasBadger (Mar 13, 2013)

Photoshop CS6


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## FTb-n (Mar 14, 2013)

Noise Ninja was my primary NR software until I learned how clean up noise with Lightroom 4. I now use Lightroom 4 exclusively. Note that I'm shooting grade school sports and figure skating with a 7D and ISO typically between 2000 and 4000, sometimes 6400.

I've been very satisfied with Lightroom 4 and, in particular, it's ease of use. I particularly like that Lightroom 4 offers noise reduction when converting from RAW to JPEG. Noise Ninja won't work directly from RAW images.

To be fair to Noise Ninja, there is a lot to the software that I have yet to learn. It could have offer more to offer than Lightroom, but I'm not past the learning curve yet.


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## stefsan (Mar 14, 2013)

In most cases where there is only light noise in the picture (i.e. no banding noise) I use DPP's noise reduction functions. It does a decent job if you use it very moderately. I never push the luminance NR slider higher than 5 because it is a bit heavy handed and you lose quite a lot of detail. For noisier pictures I use NIK Dfine 2 (available as stand alone app or as plug-in for PS, LR, and Aperture). Dfine has a lot more options than DPP. For instance it lets you define where in the picture noise is measured. It is also rather good in retaining detail even if you have to apply stronger luminance NR. Dfine also lets you tackle banding noise but I am not too happy with that function: although it removes (most) of the banding patterns it tends to introduce its own artifacts, especially along contrasty edges. But all in all it is the best NR application I ever used.


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## gkaefer (Mar 14, 2013)

NR on multiple files:
"PhotoAcute Studio processes sets of photographs taken in continuous mode to produce high-resolution, low-noise pictures that (...)" (source: welcome Screen after starting demo)
and Oloneo Photo Engine also does allow NR on multiple imput files. 
Georg


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## crasher8 (Mar 14, 2013)

5D3


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## J.R. (Mar 14, 2013)

Topaz DeNoise ... try out the 30 day trial. You might just like it.


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