[shaolen]

So I currently have lightroom 3 and was thinking of getting lightroom 6. Has the noise reduction improved since 3?

[SeaRefractor]

Yes the algorithms have been improved, however Lightroom 6 does require 64bit Windows. Lightroom 5.7.1 is the last 32bit edition.

[Paul the Sunman]

You have to know how to use it though. It's not super-clever.

[mee]

The whole develop engine got a big upgrade at version 4 so it would be worth it to upgrade just for that. Plus all the new lens profiles included.

You can trial Lightroom (CC version but close to 6 standalone) for 30 days. I'm actually doing that now. It is super quick on my PC compared to version 4 which isn't really a big slouch on its own. Theres a few extra tools in the newer version too.. such as the level tool (draw a line over the horizon in the image and it will auto-correct) and basic HDR and panorama tools.

upgrade from any older version of LR full version is 80 USD.

As long as you have modern hardware (and OS -- 64 bit as others mentioned) you should be good to go. But, in this case, I recommend downloading the trial and checking first before tossing 80 dollars at it.

[WPRESTO]

I find the noise reduction in LR useful, but it cannot work miracles. Moving the "luminance" slider to a value somewhere between 10 and 20 will generally reduce noise without severely softening the image (= a reasonable trade-off between reduced noise and reduced detail).

[Paul the Sunman]

I find the noise reduction in LR useful, but it cannot work miracles. Moving the "luminance" slider to a value somewhere between 10 and 20 will generally reduce noise without severely softening the image (= a reasonable trade-off between reduced noise and reduced detail).

You can certainly go higher than that if you also push up sharpening and use the edge masking slider to limit where it is applied. You can also reduce the "color" noise reduction to under 10 with no ill effect in most cases (with the K-1 at least).

[Winder]

So I currently have lightroom 3 and was thinking of getting lightroom 6. Has the noise reduction improved since 3?

As others have said. There is a big improvement from version 4 on up.

[emalvick]

I find the noise reduction in LR useful, but it cannot work miracles. Moving the "luminance" slider to a value somewhere between 10 and 20 will generally reduce noise without severely softening the image (= a reasonable trade-off between reduced noise and reduced detail).

I agree with all the above. I find that sharpening with the masking option combined with the "luminance" NR slider between 10-20 gets me where I need to be 99% of the time. If I need more NR, then I go to photoshop and use something like Topaz deNoise. LR washes the image out too much once you exceed the 20 point on the NR, and compensating with sharpening doesn't help much.

I do suggest utilizing the [alt / opt] keys while adjusting the sharpening sliders to see how the sliders are working, especially the masking one. You can do it with the NR sliders, too, but I don't find that view does much.

[shaolen]

I agree with all the above. I find that sharpening with the masking option combined with the "luminance" NR slider between 10-20 gets me where I need to be 99% of the time. If I need more NR, then I go to photoshop and use something like Topaz deNoise. LR washes the image out too much once you exceed the 20 point on the NR, and compensating with sharpening doesn't help much.

I do suggest utilizing the [alt / opt] keys while adjusting the sharpening sliders to see how the sliders are working, especially the masking one. You can do it with the NR sliders, too, but I don't find that view does much.

How does Topaz denoise work exactly? Is it a stand alone software or does it need PhotoShop? I find high ISO images from the K-1 to be particularly grainy so hopefully this will help

[emalvick]

How does Topaz denoise work exactly? Is it a stand alone software or does it need PhotoShop? I find high ISO images from the K-1 to be particularly grainy so hopefully this will help

I don't use it stand-alone, but I believe it can be used stand-alone. I do think you can get to it directly from Lightroom. My own workflow is to go into Photoshop just because I like to create a duplicate layer of the initial image and use Denoise (or any noise removal software) on the duplicate layer. I can then use masking and/or blending to limit noise-removal to areas like the sky and protect high detail areas where noise tends to be less distracting... i.e. it just allows more control.

I would also suggest, if you don't have a noise removal software, to look into Nik dFine. I don't know if it is very good, but it is free with the whole Nik suite. It's always worth trying something that is free. Most dedicate noise removal programs are pretty good given that they only have to do one thing (or a couple if they combine sharpening).

[shaolen]

I don't use it stand-alone, but I believe it can be used stand-alone. I do think you can get to it directly from Lightroom. My own workflow is to go into Photoshop just because I like to create a duplicate layer of the initial image and use Denoise (or any noise removal software) on the duplicate layer. I can then use masking and/or blending to limit noise-removal to areas like the sky and protect high detail areas where noise tends to be less distracting... i.e. it just allows more control.

I would also suggest, if you don't have a noise removal software, to look into Nik dFine. I don't know if it is very good, but it is free with the whole Nik suite. It's always worth trying something that is free. Most dedicate noise removal programs are pretty good given that they only have to do one thing (or a couple if they combine sharpening).

Oh cool. Is that Nikon software? Where do I get this?

[WPRESTO]

Oh cool. Is that Nikon software? Where do I get this?

Nik software now owned (for some time) by GOOGLE. If you use GOOGLE, just search "Nik software."