Greetings All,

After reading some recommendations on this board, I've experimented with Neat Image for noise reduction and have been impressed with its capabilities. But, I'm also testing the new noise reduction filter in Photoshop CS2.

I'm interested in hearing from folks out there who've tried both. Which solution do you find better for dealing with noise -- Neat Image/Noise Ninja or the native CS2 noise reduction filter?

A.

As much as I love CS2, I find both NI and NN have more flexibility and dynamic range than the noise filter in CS2.
Regards, Murray

The consensus among threads I've read here and there backup what Murray said. NN and NI are preferred over the Photoshop functionality.

Regarding "Which is better: NN or NI?" [another popular question]

Opinions seem to be about 50-50. It's like Nikon vs. Canon, Ford vs. Chevy, Miller vs. Bud. Each has its strong group of supporters. Either will serve you well.

If you haven't yet, Google: "Neat Image" vs. "Noise Ninja"

You'll get a whole lot of links to more discussion/opinions to read and consider.

~Danny~

You might even throw Imagenomic Noiseware (http://www.plugsnpixels.com/noiseware.html) into the mix. My experiment (http://www.plugsnpixels.com/misc/noisechart.jpg) using a severe (100% size) crop of a film-based image shows it ranks right up there with Noise Ninja and Neat Image, and is perhaps slightly better than Neat Image in this example.

I used a film example because it was much grittier than the vast majority of my digital photos, except for one set of digital images (time exposures of a forest fire at night). Obviously I pushed each plug-in to the best of its ability when cleaning the sample image.

Just finished evaluating the new Version 4 of Noiseware by Imagenonic. The performance far exceeds that of Neat Image and Noise Ninja. The automatic mode produces near perfect results for most images. The fine tuning option and the flexibility to restrict adjustments to tone, color, luninosity, and noise frequency are exceptional. The algorithms do the best job of noise removal with minimal blurring of the details. Results on noise removal of digital cameras and high ISO film grain are far superior to anything else I have played with. It also works on 8 & 16 bit, LAB Color, and Grayscale. At the price, it is a superb deal, and if you are a NAPP member, there is a 20% discount.
Regards, Murray

I've seen a post on RetouchPRO a while back re: noise reduction software that can take into account noise profiles generated by a particular camera (they have profiles for Canon, Panasonic etc). Unfortunately I did not bookmark the page, can not find that post.

would someone remember that post or that noise reduction program?

Neat Image has a library of camera/scanner specific profile. See..

http://www.neatimage.com/profiles.html

Thanks a lot.
So, it was Neat Image after all.

Pavel

Just finished evaluating the new Version 4 of Noiseware by Imagenonic. The performance far exceeds that of Neat Image and Noise Ninja. The automatic mode produces near perfect results for most images. The fine tuning option and the flexibility to restrict adjustments to tone, color, luninosity, and noise frequency are exceptional. The algorithms do the best job of noise removal with minimal blurring of the details. Results on noise removal of digital cameras and high ISO film grain are far superior to anything else I have played with. It also works on 8 & 16 bit, LAB Color, and Grayscale. At the price, it is a superb deal, and if you are a NAPP member, there is a 20% discount.
Regards, Murray


Well, it seems that we have a new competitor... I will wait for the Limewire's version :lol: [just kiddin' I don't do that anymore since a couple of years ago] I will get Noiseware!