Just curious to who has Neat Image and what version, pros, cons and so on. So share your thoughts and alternatives.

Pro +, just upgraded from Home + when I got a new scanner that does 48 bit scans. It makes restorations much easier...

I have the Pro edition. With my Nikon D100, I've programmed in profiles from 200 ISO up to Nikon Hi2. So far I'm pretty happy with the results although there are images where I end up with less than stellar results. I need to learn more about adjusting the settings. Wasn't aware of the Photoshop plugin version. Will check it out.

Cheers
Dave

Those of you with a plus version. Is it worth the extra money to have it as a PhotoShop plugin vs. just opening the program separately?

I prefer Noise Ninja (http://www.picturecode.com), so can't respond to your poll. A Mac version has just been released, but it doesn't have a plugin version as yet.

I use ASF (now Kodak) Digital GEM.

This might be an excellent opportunity to compare the various outputs. Anyone have a noisy yet detailed image to post? We can all run it through our various magic filters.

Great idea Doug! I'll post two images later this afternoon, one with noise and the other with a moire pattern. I will also start a new thread for this comparison.

~T

The advantage of having the Neat Image plugin, is most notably, that you can keep your image in lossless, psd format. It's also much more convenient.

I have the pro version and have found that it provides numerous controls to adjust/fine-tune it's effects. In some cases the results have been extremely impressive, in other cases good to very good. I like the ease and convienence of the plug-in.

Alan

I have the Plus version, and I think the convenience and automation that comes from having a plugin makes it worth the money. I've tried Noise Ninja, and was very impressed. But it could not match Neat Image on my test images. Except for one, where Noise Ninja's local contrast adjuster gave it the edge. I am also very impressed with NoiseWare. The ease of use is great. And on one image I actually preferred the way it handled the chroma noise. So it is now in the toolkit too.

Paint Shp Pro 9 has a noise reduction filter built in. I haven't seen it yet (the beta download is too big), but have heard some good comments about its capabilities.

I just recently upgraded to the Pro+ version :)

I have only testet the demo version on a noise image from my d70 at iso 1600 and there it reduces the noise to an aceptable amount. if i took some time in Photoshop afterwards, then it could proberply be removed almost if not completly. i would like to use the plugin version, but i havent got money for it, jet.
But Photoshop itself can handle noise pretty well, although it takes some time to correct.
But yeah i could submit a couple of noisy test shoots too.

/Lasse

Big Al
Thanks for the tip about Noise Ninja. I just tried the demo and immediately placed my order for the Pro version!! Geezz.. I couldn't believe how great this plugin is!!

When i had the other computer i had the neat program but then the harddrive died on me after having this new pc for 4 months, so can someone tell me where i can re obtain the NEAT plugin for photoshop please?

I just purchased Neat Image Home+ last week. The plug-in version is a huge convenience - and means if you want you can apply the filter to sections of an image, a particular layer etc while still in PSD which is really handy. And you have all the advantages within photoshop of undo, fade etc.

Can we include a test sample with paper texture in our 'noise filter shoot out' as well? (Happy to supply one if needed)

Elle, you can buy Neat Image at http://www.neatimage.com/purchase.html

Caitlin thank you for the link :)

After trying a number of noise removal softwares, I have come to the conclusion that Noisware makes the best solution to the problem. Its fast, accurate, easy to use and cheap.

Chris

And what about GRAIN SURGERY??? I tought it was the best Noise removal plugin... :bawling:
http://www.visinf.com/gs/ps/

And what about GRAIN SURGERY??? I tought it was the best Noise removal plugin... :bawling:
http://www.visinf.com/gs/ps/

Looks interesting - but a whole lot more expensive than Neat Image!

Grain Surgery is good, but overly complicated in what it needs to get done.
Noisware Pro is as good if not better, but much simpler to use. It attacks noise from amany different directions and tells you where the worst noise is in the image so that you don't need to affect that portion. It also very quickly gives you a "Variations" choice to start with if you need it.

Chris

use ASF only

First post here, new version of Neat Image is out. Seems to be a improvement over previous version for as much as I have used it so far. :pleased:

With all the discussion about different noise reduction software that seems to have arisen, I thought this may be of interest. It compares the different types available. Some of it is out of date, but generally a good overview and examples for comparison.

http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise.htm

Paris

Supposedly the new Neat Image 5.0 is a huge step forward in noise reduction. I haven't tested it out myself so I am not sure.

pro + , i was using NoiseNinja but now I prefer NeatImage

the plugin in Adobe is very praticle, i normally prefer corel photopaint but no plugins for it

i used to use neat image a lot, but since Paint Shop Pro 10 i've been using its 'digital camera noise removal' more. very similar to neat image and allows for multiple sampling areas within the same scan.

Craig

I used to use Noise Ninja a lot, but since I got the hang of the PSPX NR tool (was in PSP9 as well), it's really superior for most situations. Amazingly smooth results combined with excellent detail preservation. It's also got an excellent user interface for protecting certain color ranges from NR.

I still use Noise Ninja (plugin version) for images that are really bad (such as when I'm trying to stretch my camera's ISO by intentionally underexposing shots and then brightening them in Paintshop).

If Corel decides to allow the PSPX NR tool to have noise profiles, I think Noise Ninja and Neat Image will be in trouble. NN and NI still have one other advantage--they run much faster.

Bart

i normally prefer corel photopaint but no plugins for itPlugins are generally written to Photoshop standards. Programs like Photo-Paint, Paintshop Pro, etc. are written to so they can use plugins conforming to these standards.

Unless a plugin specifically excludes Photo-Paint, I'll bet there's a high likelihood it would work. Can't hurt to try.

I have a separate folder for third party plugins, which allows me to easily share them between Photoshop and Corel Painter. Should be the same deal for Photo-Paint.

Just yesterday I did a little chart comparing the various noise-reducing plug-ins on a 100% size detail from a 35mm scanned image. In my experience with this particular image, Noise Ninja did the best job, followed closely by Noiseware, Neat Image and Digital GEM Pro. Some others merely turned the grain to mush in the name of reduction.

http://www.plugsnpixels.com/misc/noisechart.jpg

I did not try Grain Surgery (I have it, but to install it requires quitting all running apps, and that's never convenient unless you plan ahead...).

I don't have any digital-source files that are that noisy, except for a few long exposures of a distant forest fire at night. Again, Noise Ninja and Noiseware did the best job on it.

Mike

I believe that was the year. I first started with the demo version; very powerful in its own right, but I wanted lossless capabilities. If memory serves me correctly, the Home version (wasn't called Home at that time as I recall) was around $20; a bargain for sure. I didn't opt for the plugin version (maybe or maybe not a wish list issue). Since I have the home version, I can copy to clipboard and paste the result anyway, so it really wasn't that much an inconvenience. I know that a lot of noise reducing programs exist, but my heart's with NeatImage. They've freely given me free updates since I first purchased this gem and this weighs a lot for my support for this product. :)

Just yesterday I did a little chart comparing the various noise-reducing plug-ins on a 100% size detail from a 35mm scanned image. In my experience with this particular image, Noise Ninja did the best job, followed closely by Noiseware, Neat Image and Digital GEM Pro. Some others merely turned the grain to mush in the name of reduction.

http://www.plugsnpixels.com/misc/noisechart.jpg

I did not try Grain Surgery (I have it, but to install it requires quitting all running apps, and that's never convenient unless you plan ahead...).

I don't have any digital-source files that are that noisy, except for a few long exposures of a distant forest fire at night. Again, Noise Ninja and Noiseware did the best job on it.

MikeThanks for sharing your results, Mike.

FWIW here's another analysis on these types of programs/plugins. The content is a little out of date, but it's still a pretty interresting read:

http://www.michaelalmond.com/Articles/noise_print.html

~Danny~

about one week ago I installed Demo version of Neat Image
to proof how it works and if it works at all .
I use Linux only.
But it works without any complications, so now I will
test it on some horribly noised images :)
and compare with other Open Source tools.