URL: http://knm.homeip.net:8081/Public/SmarterNR
Cost: $20
Platforms: PC Only
Version Tested: 2.2
Demo available: Yes.
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Detail was retained, even in the tip of the rock.
Settings:
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Great job removing noise and keeping the transitions
sharp. A little bit of JPG artifacts remain.
Settings:
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I switched to the advanced settings to get the
best results for this one.
Settings:
- Window size: 1
- Detail: 40
- Blackpoint: 39
- Cb size: 3
- Cr size: 3
- Blend: 75
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Pros:
- The differences between setting are very subtle, which allows you
to really fine tune the results
- In the Advanced section, the preview can show the mask, which makes
it easy to adjust the sliders so that the detailed areas are masked
just right.
Cons:
- Fixed-size preview window that can only zoom in 100%
URL: www.picturecode.com
Cost: $35, $45, $70, $80 (see here for features for each version)
Platforms: PC and Mac
Version Tested: 2.0.2
Demo available: Yes
Noise Ninja is available as a standalone program and as a Photoshop plugin. It analyses your image and produces a noise profile in similar manner to Neat Image and Grain Surgery. The best results are obtained by using pre-built noise profiles for your camera. You can build your own using a special calibration target that Noise Ninja will automatically scan and process, or download one of the pre-built ones from PictureCode website. Unique to Noise Ninja is its ability to boost color saturation (noise reduction usually results in a loss of saturation) and contrast enhancement. Noise Ninja also has batch processing capabilities and a touch-up brush that lets you paint back the original image for critical areas (although I prefer to do that with layers in Photoshop).
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Noise Ninja did great on this one, noise in the trees was perfectly eliminated while still retaining detail in the rock.
Settings:
- Olympus C4100 profile
- Luminance:
- Strength: 1
- Smoothness: -5
- Contrast: 5
- Color:
- Strength: 1
- Smoothness: 0
- Saturation: 5
- Sharpening off
- Suppress halos on
- Turbo mode off
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Noise Ninja performed flawlessly on this one. Version 2 did an even better job of suppressing JPG artifacts.
Settings:
- Minolta 7Hi profile
- Luminance:
- Strength: 5
- Smoothness: 0
- Contrast: 5
- Color:
- Strength: 0
- Smoothness: 0
- Saturation: 5
- Sharpening off
- Suppress halos on
- Turbo mode off
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Again Noise Ninja did a really good job, removing noise in the sky, but keeping detail in the mountains.
Settings:
- Minolta 7Hi profile
- Luminance:
- Strength: -3
- Smoothness: -2
- Contrast: 2
- Color:
- Strength: 0
- Smoothness: 0
- Saturation: 5
- Sharpening off
- Suppress halos on
- Turbo mode off
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Pros:
- Noise Ninja produces more natural images, leaving behind less artifacts that stand out in otherwise smooth areas.
- Ability to apply specific filtering to specific colors, which is great for applying stronger noise reduction to skies
- Noise Ninja retains more overall brightness and color saturation than the competition.
- Faster than Neat Image.
- Great documentation, with an easy to follow tutorial that helps you get the best out of the program.
- Fixed from version 1: larger preview that can now be switched between the original and cleaned image for faster fine tuning of the settings.
- Fixed from version 1: now available for the Mac and as a plugin.
Cons:
- Building a profile from an image does not produce an optimal noise profile (but the automatic profiler in version 2 is much improved over version 1), building a noise profile from the calibration target is better.
- The range and default values of the settings are different between the standalone version and the plugin
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