URL: www.fredmiranda.com
Cost: $15
Platforms: Mac & PC
Version Tested: 2.0
This action set offers a choice of seven levels of noise reduction!
Fred Miranda also has some noise reduction actions specially tuned for
specific cameras for even better results. Details on these additional
actions can be found at his site.
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Just the lowest setting could be used on this
image (higher settings for some reason really blurred the very
tip of the large rock). But just the lowest setting did a great
job on both the luminance noise and a the chroma noise. |
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On this one I went all the way up to the highest
level (level 7) to get a nice clean image. The unsharp mask steps
included in the action did introduce a few sharpening artifacts
however. |
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Level 2 took care of the noise in the sky. As
with Digital Deluxe Toolbox, some blurring is evident between
the mountain edge and the sky. Would have prefered more noise
reduction, but higher levels introduced too much blurring. |
Pros:
- The use of an edge mask helps keep the image sharp while still greatly
reducing noise.
- Seven levels of NR to choose from.
- Cheap.
Cons:
- As with most actions, expects to run on a single layer image.
- As with DIgital Deluxe Toolbox, blurring of the mountain edge.
URL: www.mediachance.com/
Cost: Free, $35
Platforms: PC only
Version Tested: 2.0
Demo available: Yes
DCE AutoEnhance is stand-alone application that can adjust color balance,
remove color cast, remove hot pixels, sharpen and remove noise. There
is a free version that only provides basic enhancing and a $35 version
that has a lot more features such as batch processing files and setting
values based on EXIF data. For this test I turned off all the filters
except the denoiser and hot pixel remover.
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A stronger noise removal setting quickly got too
blurry. The luminance noise was reduced to acceptable level, but
the chroma noise was barely touched.
Settings:
- Noise removal: 98
- Filter repeat: 1
- All other settings turned off
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DCE did a great job here, especially on keeping
detail in the trees.
Settings:
- Noise removal: 162
- Filter repeat: 1
- All other settings turned off
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Not quite enough of the noise in the sky could
be removed before the mountains became blurred.
Settings:
- Noise removal: 102
- Filter repeat: 1
- All other settings turned off
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Pros:
- Can read the EXIF data and adjust its settings based on the ISO
speed, shutter speed and whether the flash went off.
- Great results on luminance noise.
- Fantastic UI, very clean and easy to use.
Cons:
- Did not do that good a job on chroma noise.
- Tiny, un-zoomable preview.
- Not a Photoshop plugin, so you have to filter entire image using
the same settings.
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