Topaz Labs, known for offering amazing plugins like Adjust, just updated DeNoise, their noise reduction program. The most significant difference in this version is speed improvements with claims of up to 2x faster. I downloaded their latest and greatest, version 5, and did a few comparison tests on my iMac with a 3.06GHZ CPU w/8GB ram, against version 4 and found speed increases to be closer to 50% instead of the claimed 100% but I am not complaining. In the latest version processing speeds for 12mp, 16 bit files was approximately 50 seconds on my computer. Of course results will vary depending on the settings one uses, the detail in the file, and the processing power of your computer, but nonetheless this is the fastest version to date.
When I first testing DeNoise it was version 2 with a very different interface but results were great, better than Noise Ninja which I was using for years. However, that version could take over 5 minutes to process and the control sliders were annoyingly sluggish making the task of noise removal closer to 10 minutes per file - but I was also using a much slower computer. Fortunately I rarely need to use noise reduction even though I do not use the cleaner full frame FX sensor bodies. It is rare that I need to shoot at ISO 800 and extremely rare when I need ISO 1600 or 2200 but when I do need to remove noise DeNoise is easily my preferred tool. As a side note, Topaz Adjust includes a lighter version of DeNoise built in which can be extremely useful to control some of the noise that comes from aggressively working a file. Last year I was able to clean up a handheld nightscape photo, see above picture, captured at ISO 2200 from my Nikon D300 which went on to be finalist in a major competition. - see photo above. This year I mistakenly took a landscape at ISO 2200 and cleaned it up and it too became a finalist in a semi-major competition (about 3,000+ landscape entrees). Most recently I used DeNoise to clean up an old Nikon D200 photo taken a while back at ISO 800 from a birding shoot and just learned that it is currently in the final round of judging for Natures Best Windland Smith Rice Awards (over 20,000 entries). Prior to DeNoise my success with noise removal would never have all let these images get this far in any serious competition.
Almost two years ago I fell in love with power of DeNoise but it was annoyingly slow. That is no longer the case and although I rarely need to remove high ISO noise this is the only plugin I would use and recommend. I didn’t even bother to load my former NR software when I upgraded my computers earlier this year. If you are not perfectly happy with your current noise removal software, or don’t own one at all, I strongly suggest you take DeNoise for a test drive to see for yourself. Topaz offers 30 day free trials on all of their software.
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