Noise Suppression?

Hi all.

I am wondering about opinions on some software to help with digital noise. More and more I am shooting flora subjects and I need a bit more SS so I shoot at a higher ISO. Then there are also times like today where I love some of the shots that I got, but I mistakenly shot them at ISO 800. I would much rather get it right in camera, but as I say, sometimes I need the higher ISO. I would also like to salvage the shots that I got today (as much as possible).

Is Noise Ninja the best? (or are they just the ones with the most noise about them? (buh dum dum...pun intended)).

Any suggestions appreciated.

Nathan

I can't speak to many different programs, but I'll speak to what I can

Noise Ninja does an amazing job on a variety of images. I have used it on D2X images shot at 800 ISO and it does a more than acceptable job at smoothing out the grain without removing a significant amount of detail.

I've played around with PS CS2's noise reduction as well, and find that it's not as comprehensive as NN, removing more detail and leaving more grain.

Your mileage may vary, this is just my experience.

I also use Noise Ninja, and agree that it's much better than CS2 at noise reduction. I shoot a lot of indoor sports with a 20D and 1D MarkIIn at iso1600. I use NN to make them nicer for the newspaper (180 dpi), and have found that the photo prints (300 dpi) are quite nice, too. When you buy it, which you can do instantly online and download it and get right to work, you also can download profiles for most of the major cameras, and when you tell NN to profile the image, it automatically searches for and uses the correct profile to maximize noise reduction while maintaining sharpness and detail. I got the pro version, not the consumer version.

I also use it selectively on underexposed shadowed portions of my wildlife images shot at iso100 to 400. While noise is virtually absent from properly exposed portions of the image at those iso settings, there's always some noise in the shadows, and when I drop levels or use curves to bring out more detail in the shadows, noise shows up, so I lasso the offending portion and zap it with NN.

I don't use noise suppression software, one of the perks of using te Canon 5D. However my last issue of Photographers monthly had an article comparing several software. Noise Ninja came out on top. Photoshop was pretty useless.

Here's what the-digital-picture.com had to say about 5D noise: "Noise performance is similar to the 1-Series Mark II bodies and very slightly better than the 20D."

5D or not, if you ramp up the iso to 800 or higher, you will get noise. Same with the underexposed portions of an image.

Another vote for Noise Ninja.

I'll have to throw a vote in for Neat Image, which I started using because a friend had it. I haven't used Noise Ninja, but from some initial reading, they seemed pretty comparable. (I haven't seen the article Kah Kit Yoong mentioned.) Having a small sensor camera (Canon S2 IS) I tend to get lots of noise in some situations, so I find myself using the software quite a bit, and like it a lot.

And you can get demo versions for download of both programs if you want to just try them out.

I don't know about Noise Ninja, I hear it is a very good program. I started using CS2 recently and it is a powerful program. But! I have been using Corel Paint Shop Pro for some time and I think the two noise reduction features in that program beat CS2 hands down. One is an auto noise reduction feature which works well for most of my shots. But, if you need some heavy duty noise reduction, the manual feature will let you select amount of reduction and in addition, the option to select different areas of the photos to apply the amount needed. This feature and a few others keep me coming back to Paint Shop Pro to make certain adjustments and because the ease of use. You can find new boxed Corel Paint Shop Pro XI on the internet and some stores for about $60.00 or less after rebates. Also, I think you can download a free 30 trial at the Corel web site.
MK

Nathan, if you use RawShooter Premium, their noise reduction algorithms are some of the most amazing ones I've seen, IMHO just as good as Neat Image. I've tried the Neat Image freeware version, and didn't find any problems with it, but in the end I stuck to RSP since it was all-in-one.

I can't say Noise Ninja is the best. I bought it based on recommendations and haven't bothered to do my own comparison with others. No complaints.

I like the option of using their custom camera profiles, which vary with ISO, or quick autoprofiles generated for each image. I usually compare the results of doing it both ways and select the best tradeoff between noise reduction and loss in detail.

As Steve noted, applying the noise reduction selectively to sky &/or shadows will allow you the most aggressive noise reduction without damaging critical areas of your image.

I don't need it often, but it's a great utility to have around.

Steve, have you used a 5D? With images I've compared with the 1Ds MKII they are pretty noise free at 400ISO, even in shadows, and just as good at 800ISO. Both perform better than the 1D MKII and 20/30D with noise and with the 5D's ability to capture 3/4 stop more range than both the 1Ds & 1D MKII does make is a little better with noise issues in the shadow areas. 3/4 stop doesn't sound like a lot but it really is substancial when you see images side by side.

Hi Jerry: I have used a 5D, though not extensively. The full frame makes a difference with noise, for sure, and there's no doubt it's a low-noise camera. I shot it at iso800 and 1600 just to seew how it did, and noted enough noise, a little bit in most exposures and more in underexposed/shadow areas, to make me want to NN it. However, it having a slow burst rate, it's not a likely sports shooter's camera, and it's in that environment (indoor sports) that one typically needs to bump iso, even with a fast lens. A landscape shooter, for example, which type of photography I think is an ideal match for the 5D's capabilities, need have no noise issues at all, shooting at low iso from a tripod and bracketing an unevenly lit image if needed to later blend them in PS.

I guess it was the suggestion (my interpretation of it) that 5D shooters need not worry about noise that I allowed to compel me to point out my point. Probably that sounds a bit contrarian just for the sake of being contrary, and if it does, sorry.

And sorry to take this further off-topic. Once again, I vote for Noise Ninja.

I am a fan of NeatImage, works very well for me, I have the full 16 bit Photoshop plug-in. Easy to use and reasonably quick.

cheers

Sean

Well, I have been using Noise Ninja and like it a lot. I tried the download trial of Neat Image and found it to be about equal. For some reason I find the interface better for my use in NN. However I don't think you could go wrong with either. FWIW, I find the noise reduction in CS2 to be kind of useless.

I was surprised how poorly the CS2 noise reduction functioned. You'd think the premium photo manipulation program would have something better.

Thank you all!

Nathan