[Jonathan Mac]

I just got the Ultimate edition of this software & haven't been able to find opinions on how good the noise reduction is? As a K200D user, high ISO is a difficult area for me, though it's handily forcing me to learn to use bounce flash.

I didn't get it for the noise reduction, but it would be a bonus if it's decent. I don't want to splash out again for an add-on such as Topaz DeNoise, which would cost more than the Corel did.

Many thanks

[Lowell Goudge]

I just got the Ultimate edition of this software & haven't been able to find opinions on how good the noise reduction is? As a K200D user, high ISO is a difficult area for me, though it's handily forcing me to learn to use bounce flash.

I didn't get it for the noise reduction, but it would be a bonus if it's decent. I don't want to splash out again for an add-on such as Topaz DeNoise, which would cost more than the Corel did.

Many thanks

i have played quite a bit with noise reduction, and also with Noise Ninja (a plug in)

What I find a little discouraging, is that Noise reduction is done using 8 bit images, as a result, you need to consider doing your other color and saturation / contrast adjustments first, then reduce the color depth to 8 bit, then do noise reduction in your work flow.

I find the most useful NR in PSP to be the salt and pepper reduction,

You can play with the diameter and usually I keep this within about 2-3 pixels. You do not want to over do it.

You can also use the edge preserving and texture preserving modes depending on the type of noise and the image

Overdoing the noise reduction can make the image look plastic, just as sharpening can make it look over processed.

[klh]

I haven't used NR in PSP since X2, so I can't say if it has improved. It was ok for mild noise, but could easily be overdone. In order to improve the dark areas, it made the highlights look like plastic. That meant using a duplicate layer with masking - too complicated for me.

I bought Topaz Denoise after trying the free trial and find it well worth the money.

[pacerr]

Imagenomic's Noiseware SE seems fairly good and is inexpensive. The interface takes a bit of study but offers in depth options for control of everything I understand and then some. There's a freeware version that's only slightly irritating but the Standard Edition isn't expensive.

Imagenomic - Best Plugins for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple Aperture

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