@@toosas I first cull using Photo Mechanic. Then I run all my raw through DxO, then I edit the DNG files with Lightroom. I do not keep the raw files, only the DNG files.
@@TBGTOMPHOTO gotcha thanks. I'm pretty obsessed about keeping the raws, purely because as years went by, old and not really usable super high ISO/blurry raws can now be salvaged beautifully with the latest tech advancements... but I might just make the jump to DNGs if that lets the software do the same
@@Andrea-qg5yk- mind expanding on this? Why process in DXO before processing more in Lightroom? Or is the DXO as you use it just for NR, then Lightroom for exposure and tonal refinement?
That was such an incredibly thorough comparison Unmesh! I'm blown away by Camera Raw - ashamed to say I've actually never tried using their noise removal before. Now that I've seen it in action, I'm off to run a bunch of photos through it! Humbled and honored that you used my embarrassingly noisy photo of Bootsie the Schnauzer in Vegas! :P
I use DXO Pure raw to pre-process all my images. Great noise reduction, as you say, but also great lens correction, vignette correction, and de-Bayering - all in one pass. De-Bayering was where both Camera Raw and Canon DPP were really letting me down. Thanks for a great video!
I recently discovered DxO PureRaw and i'm in love 😍I use it as a plugin in Lightroom and there's more options than what's being shown here. You can adjust the lens softness compensation, that pretty much controls the sharpness and some other things, then it creates a DNG that's automatically added to your library, allowing you to continue editing it just like the RAW file. For wildlife it's brilliant!👏I haven't used it with portraits, so I can't speak to that...
I tested Camera RAW denoise in Lightroom versus Topaz deNoise AI, which I had been using before Lightroom’s new denNoise was released. My verdict was that Lightroom was marginally better than Topaz, although a little slower. However, because I am usually processing dozens of high iso stage performance images at a time, Lightroom was clearly the winner, because it allowed me to sort images by metadata (ISO), adjust just one to my liking, and then process all of them at that ISO as a batch. I can go grab a cup of coffee, come back, and two dozen ISO 6400 images will be ready for me to process… or do the same thing with my two dozen ISO 8000 images, etc. As always, thank you for this very excellent video tutorial!
I've been happily using DxO for a year and just got Topaz cuz I thought that some images might look better in Topaz. While both work well for me, I seem to prefer DxO. What did I learn here? A few things, but I didn't even know that Camera Raw has a denoiser. Great info and excellent comparison!
I use a double denoise process. 1st one in camera raw for global adjustment and 2nd one topaz denoise (the old one) as a plugin i PS for selective denoise. Topaz is used for more agressive cleaning up background more, and my subject will still have good texture intact. Im a wildlife photographer.
I bought dxo pure raw a couple of years ago. It was very expensive but it worked really well. A few months later LR was updated with an AI denoise and I was blown away. I compared side by side and I couldn't tell the difference. Both are extremely good but there are 3 major problems with DXO. First, the price and second the awkward and complex workflow. I use LR so there is a plug in to process the files which is quicker than before instead of drag and drop but no only it takes a lot longer to process but then you end up with a new dng that loses the adjustments on the original raw files. Meaning you have to manually copy and paste settings and most of the time the colors were off. Specially skin tones.. The LR de noise is perfect and it's almost instant on my M4 Max with 60mp sony files. There is a new right next to the original raw and with the same exact settings. LR is better, quicker, easier and Free. So it's a no Brainer. Cheers!
Unmesh, great comparison video. You did not even go into the advanced settings DXO PureRaw like you did Topaz. It has a lot more control parameters than ACR. I am an aurora borealis photographer, and ACR adds artifacts in the night sky. DXO performs better for me. Thnaks for the comparison video.
I have both topaz and dxo, and dxo is the one that I usually use, it also has better distortion correction. There are cases where photo ai gives better results however, so it is always worth to test both in any given situation. I’m not a super fan of denoising ai however, if I can avoid it I do prefer. Capture One does have a pretty obsolete denoising tool, it’s more for selection based denoising, and I never really use it, there’s a feature request open but obviously has been sitting ignored for ages.
Your examples are impressive. We spend a lot of time at classical /and Jazz concerts and the light forces us often to go up to ISO 12,800 at a certain aperture and exposure time. Back in the office we then let the Denoise run the rest of the night with preset values (usually 37%) as batch, throw the CR3 files out of LR Classic in the morning and then select and edit the DNG files. You might ask yourself, why not select first? We do if we have to send results to someone the same night. Photos are simply easier to evaluate and select when they are denoised. For photo #1 of 1000, we might then make another version later with more differentiated denoising and a final edit
I am glad I saw this. I was considering purchasing Topaz. I am just a hobbyist and already have Lightroom and Photoshop. I see no reason to buy anything additional, although I must say the face recovery feature is brilliant. How about performance? I assume you speed it up in the edits but maybe that can be a factor if you are doing large batches ...
First, I wish you all the best for this new year. I use adobe stuff to work on my pictures so the best option for me is using Camera Raw, thanks for making this kind of video.
I’m using DXO photolabs. In addition to raw noise reduction, it also does a good job recovering details from slightly soft lenses. Not the greatest workflow-wise but it’s good enough for me.
Well done as always. You are a pleasure to follow as a teacher. I use Topaz Photo because of the extra features. I will give DxO another look though. Fortunately we can't do much better than Adobe's own offering.
if you decrease blend in face recovery of topaz photo ai it will look more natural if rest of image is soft, then it refines just face contures, eyes and lips, sometimes it messes up the hair and makes it oversharpened so I usually do face recovery in separate layer and apply only to certain parts of the face using mask
Nice job with the comparision of products. Your observations square with my own regarding these products. Two additional thoughts, it would useful to talk about how long each of these products takes to denoise a RAW file (realizing that every computer is different). For Canon photographers, there is also the Neural Net Image Processing Tool (subscription required) and I have found it to be as good, if not slightly better, than both Adobe Camera RAW and DXO PureRAW. However, on my computer, it takes about 25-30 seconds per photo with NNIPT versus 3-5 seconds in the other two products. When one is denoising several hundred photos, that is a big difference! Still waiting for DXO PureRAW to support the Canon R1...
ON1 NoNoise can sometimes deliver a very good result. Worth checking out. Not very impressed with Luminar overall. Often Camera Raw does the best job on Denoising. In some cases Topaz PhotoAI is a better solution due to its extra features. DxO Pure Raw is a good overall solution many times.
Stuck shooting performance images in b&w with dim lighting with Fuji. iso runs from 12,800 and up - using DXO Photolab 7 (should have gotten just the RAW because do not like working in Photolab) to do noise control and convert to dng. Results are phenomenal - wouldn't use this on other images, but for stage performance (expecially with Fuji and especially for the b&w)) it's a magic formula. Oddly, even when underexposing two stops, I leave it at 12.800 because I like my corrections better than what the camera does to the RAW.
Topaz Photo AI includes both DeNoise and Sharpening. It also includes two lighting options one to adjust lighting balance and the other to adjust tonal balance. Because of the way DeNoise impacts lighting colors you need to include the recommended tonal balance if you are trying to achieve recommended adjustments. It is part of the recommended adjustments process.
But that doesnt change the fact, that its bad at keeping details and not introducing artificial patterns and structures. I own Topaz Denoise Ai, Photo Ai and DXO Pure RAW and DXO consistently gets way better and more natural results.
@@TheTempic Totally agree! I had Topaz Denoise, then moved to Photo Ai, was using that in the past 2 years and recently got DXO PureRAW and i'll never use the other ones again! DXO is so much better, exactly as you said the results are more natural and it retains more of the small details. PhotoAI did some weird stuff...
I had upgraded my Topaz Photo AI about a month ago and was really disappointed with it's performance. As @TheTempic mentioned, it did some really weird stuff to my images plus I got those white dots all over my images just like Unmesh got in this video. Not sure what happened with this latest version but it felt like a total step backwards. I returned it. My older Topaz Denoise app does a way better job.
dxo photolab still the king denoise software for raw image, i,ve tried many software editing, topaz ai was good but color acuracy & detail texture very bad againts dxo, i usually use 2 apps when shoot above 12k ISO , denoise file raw using dxo than finishing using topaz ai
If you miss focus a lot, Topaz is the choice It has recover fave feature to bring back out of focus face on top of their raw denoise. But if you don't miss your focus and only need denoise, DXo pureraw is the choice. It all depends on what is the problem you are trying to get rid of
Amazing comparison. Didn't expect that Adobe has improved their algorthms that much. Can you do such a comparison for upscaling and sharpening an image?
Camera RAW looks to be consistently great across the board, all the others kept having weird quirks with one image or another. I also like that it can be tuned back. All of these look way overcooked to me. There's nothing wrong with a little noise. Personally, I'll eliminate chroma noise and then just do 1-3 stops worth of noise reduction. Luminar Neo did a very good job of looking natural, but not a great job of preserving colors. Everything looked pretty flat and would need more work to tune the colors.
Camera Raw was updated in October of 2024. It was long overdue, and I think they've set a new standard for noise reduction while retaining the most fine detail and correct color.
I have a ton of old slides I've been scanning and correcting, and would love to remove the film grain from them from using high ISO slide film. This couldn't have come at a better time.
I am using PureRAW4 in combination with C1. When PureRAW3 (the old version) was around C1 automatically disabled their own denoising on the imported DNG files. With PR 4 C1 wants to add their own denoising on top of the already denoised files. This makes some images look soft. Once the denoising in C1 is set to 0 the files look sharp again.
Thank you for an excellent video. I think Topaz will preserve the colors if you choose a camara specific profile before you export the photo to Topaz from Lightroom Classic as a raw file. Or have you had other experiences?
Many thanks for that interesting comprarison. LR/Camera raw and DXO make an incredible job. However, the resulting weights are not at all the same !! For instance, if the native raw is about 55 Mo, the final result with DXO is about 146 MO and unchanged with LR/Camera raw. That must be taken in account.
I use Topaz and I does in fact shift colors on some photos. Also, I've noticed it creates hot spots in the before image that wasn't there in the original and tries to deal with them in the after.
Hi Unmesh thanks for the comparison! I love CaptureOne but unfortunately it lacks AI noise reduction, it would be nice to see another comparison video between software regarding sharpening, in this area I have always found CaptureOne more natural
I tried to use AI-based denoise in my pictures but waxy edges gives neural slope vibe. After all i find digital noise more attractive and natural then ever before.
It would be good for you to talk about pricing. Some of these are REALLY expensive. The AI Denoise in Lightroom is very, very good, and included in the program, so is essentially free. Although, Topaz Face Recovery does look very good. Perhaps too good, and maybe verging on unnatural? But it's too much cash. I have the older Topaz Sharpen AI which was a lot cheaper. I don't know why they moved away from that pricing model but it's not worth the outlay IMHO.
Topaz AI with Face Recovery is amazing. I used it for some fotos and was almost magic. But to be fair i used it in combination with PS Neural Filters, "Colorize" and "Photo restoration".
I am happy with Camera Raw & LR although I tried capturture one, given the hype around it, but never really find it that mindblowing good, I mean its decent only because of its tethering capabilities.
Hey umesh sir, Do you think Photo Editing, Photoshop Manipulation, and Digital Art are slowly losing relevance? Will AI eventually take over these fields entirely? What’s your opinion on this? If I were still learning photo editing right now, what would you suggest I do? And what about those who were planning to build a career in this field and earn from it? Please share your thoughts.
Promise I'm not a Topaz phanboy… but, Photo AI has a lot of tweaks available and it makes a huge difference how things are set. It's also unintuitive how the settings interact and you just have to play around until you find out. In most cases I just use Lightroom/Camera Raw because it's more than adequate and quick. When I have an image that I don't like the results of in LR/CR, I run to Photo AI and get better results, but it takes time tweaking the settings. I think it's pretty hard to go far wrong with whichever, Topaz, LR/CR, or DXO.
Hey Umesh Sir, Do you think Photo Editing, Photoshop Manipulation, and Digital Art are slowly losing relevance? Will AI eventually take over these fields entirely? What’s your opinion on this? If I were still learning photo editing right now, what would you suggest I do? And what about those who were planning to build a career in this field and earn from it? Please share your thoughts.
Pls note, the image of the kingfisher was shot on MFT camera and underexposed. This is really great result for ACR to retain an original colors of the birds feather I prefer DXO in my workflow for noise reduction as it is 10X faster than ACR/LR NR.
I'm definitely interested in noise reduction on jpg. I sometimes have to work with images taken by others and sometimes they are noisy in a way that's hard to deal with
Your tips are always so useful - thank you. One thing i am frustrated with is the sort preferences under the view tab in LR classic. I set it to "file" each time but it always reverts back to "capture time" next time I open the program. do you know of any way to make it stick permanently to "file"? Thanks.
Now try the experiment with a noisy photo of a busy street with lots of street signage. Watch how the ai screws up all the small writing. Lightroom noise reduction is the best i have seen at preserving these details.
I am doubtless biased. DXO Pure Raw is integrated in DXO Photolab ( 8, 7 whatever... ) where more controls are available. But sure Camera Raw is a serious competitor... ... if you agree with their perpetual submission's policy.
After many years following the different options, my preferred path for maximum image quality is as follows: Open RAW in DxO Photolab 8 (better than current Pure RAW) and apply DeepPrime XD2S and lens corrections. Export as DNG and open in PS with the new Adobe Adaptive Profile. Do image editing and save. Open in Topaz Photo AI and do some final sharpening, face recovery and potentially upscale. Results are astonishing. Notes: As you have shown, Topaz is sometimes excellent, sometimes garbage. Still not fully reliable. Capture One has huge liabilities in the Sharpening and Denoise section. They have to improve urgently here, if they not totally want to rely on wedding photographers in future. Skylum is starting a myriad of features, but is not improving the different AI tools. Disappointing.
Unmesh, have you tested AIArty Image Enhancer? I'm getting some pretty incredible results from that software. I do have Camera Raw, Luminar Neo and have tested Topaz but I believe AI Arty is a very viable solution.
I have updated to the latest Camera Raw filters 17.1, & still I don't these options or the new one that includes removing camera reflection,. I also have turned on technological previews. Do I have to have the latest version of Photoshop itself to do this? If so, which version is this?
Hi @karcoms. The AI Denoise feature in Camera Raw is only available when working with genuine RAW files and not through the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop. Make sure you're opening a RAW file directly in Camera Raw, not applying the filter to an already opened image in Photoshop.
@@ct751 you are right. I figured that out last night after accidentally clicking the actual raw file from explorer since I usually send the raw file from Lr to Ps for edits. What a pain. Thank you for the response.
IF monochromatic results (for instance sepia) are the end goal, first step might be Dxo (before continuing with LR or photoshop). ? I'm foremost LR user sometimes PS forth and back to LR. BTW it seems he never mentiones LR ? Have not practiced for a wile.. Has LR now the same refinements as shown here in camera raw ? The other way around -CR interface resembling LR - I know about. Also BTW, An edited mastet file exported as Raw could thus be Ai denoised too ?
My Camera Raw Detail tab looks different. It only has the luminance and color slider. The denoise has not a checkbox but it's a button. And yet it is 17.1 version. Any suggestions?
I open Camera Raw 17.1 from Adobe Bridge as that's my workflow. I don't see the new 'Denoise' box to check. I only have Noise Reduction then the box for Denoise but it makes a new .dng file. How can I get the version show in the video?
Update your Camera Raw- if you have a high enough operating system. I’m on Catalina still on my laptop (Mac OS 10.15.6) and can’t go beyond Photoshop or LR 2022, until I update my OS, I don’t have DeNoise option.
Capture One is known by users to not be good at noise removal. Many of us do our raw processing in C1 after turning off de noise and sharpening then send a tiff to photo ai to clean up noise and do the sharpening. You left out Iridient from the comparison. Any reason why? Other thing is C1 is aimed at studio professionals and with the lighting right they don't get noise, so its probably not a major issue for them.
Add DXO PL 8 with Denoise Prime XD2. Perhaps it has improvement over PureRAW 4. I need 5 minutes using I5 3470 to process 18 mp RAW EOS M 2012 (the first EOS M). I have GTX 750 Ti with 2 GB, unfortunatelly even though it has 1,5 GB VRAM in task manager, DXO 8 still refuse use it and complain that it need 1 GB VRAM available. Also add demo photo with a bit dark photo of group people photo at iso 25K old cam. Let see how good there are denoising the faces.
@@PiXimperfect ....Right. I often have to denoise jpgs and I have found the best is Topaz. Your thoughts? And as always I very much enjoy your videos - great lessons!
Hey mate thanks for this tutorial but i would like to ask you, am using the same version that you are using but mine doesn't have the denoise option and i would like to know how i can make the option visible
Is the file you are testing with an actual RAW file? The AI Denoise in Camera RAW only works on RAW files and only shows up for that. I just tested on my setup and if you open a jpg f.ex., the Denoise is not grayed out like described in this video, it does actually not show up at all (at least not for me) However if I open a RAW file the Denoise option is there. Update: worth to mention is that I am on Windows, and Unmesh is using the Mac version in the video so maybe Denoise is grayed out on a non RAW file on Mac, but it is not even showing up on Windows version. I am not able to test that atm
@@HavensSkillshub - definitely, if that image is just a jpg/jpeg or png file and not a RAW file (f.ex. a (. CRW (Canon), . NEF (Nikon), . ARW (Sony), . RAF (Fuji) & . DNG (Adobe)) file ) the Denoise option would not be there
I've been using DxO Pure Raw since v.2 and I am hooked. I don't even bother with anything else regarding denoise.
how do you use it in your workflow? what is your main editor? is it a batch process job or? do you keep the originals as well?
@@toosas process everything thru dxo before importing into lightroom. then edit the improved files
@@toosas I first cull using Photo Mechanic. Then I run all my raw through DxO, then I edit the DNG files with Lightroom. I do not keep the raw files, only the DNG files.
@@TBGTOMPHOTO gotcha thanks. I'm pretty obsessed about keeping the raws, purely because as years went by, old and not really usable super high ISO/blurry raws can now be salvaged beautifully with the latest tech advancements... but I might just make the jump to DNGs if that lets the software do the same
@@Andrea-qg5yk- mind expanding on this? Why process in DXO before processing more in Lightroom? Or is the DXO as you use it just for NR, then Lightroom for exposure and tonal refinement?
That was such an incredibly thorough comparison Unmesh! I'm blown away by Camera Raw - ashamed to say I've actually never tried using their noise removal before. Now that I've seen it in action, I'm off to run a bunch of photos through it! Humbled and honored that you used my embarrassingly noisy photo of Bootsie the Schnauzer in Vegas! :P
I use DXO Pure raw to pre-process all my images. Great noise reduction, as you say, but also great lens correction, vignette correction, and de-Bayering - all in one pass. De-Bayering was where both Camera Raw and Canon DPP were really letting me down. Thanks for a great video!
I recently discovered DxO PureRaw and i'm in love 😍I use it as a plugin in Lightroom and there's more options than what's being shown here. You can adjust the lens softness compensation, that pretty much controls the sharpness and some other things, then it creates a DNG that's automatically added to your library, allowing you to continue editing it just like the RAW file. For wildlife it's brilliant!👏I haven't used it with portraits, so I can't speak to that...
I tested Camera RAW denoise in Lightroom versus Topaz deNoise AI, which I had been using before Lightroom’s new denNoise was released. My verdict was that Lightroom was marginally better than Topaz, although a little slower. However, because I am usually processing dozens of high iso stage performance images at a time, Lightroom was clearly the winner, because it allowed me to sort images by metadata (ISO), adjust just one to my liking, and then process all of them at that ISO as a batch. I can go grab a cup of coffee, come back, and two dozen ISO 6400 images will be ready for me to process… or do the same thing with my two dozen ISO 8000 images, etc. As always, thank you for this very excellent video tutorial!
I've been happily using DxO for a year and just got Topaz cuz I thought that some images might look better in Topaz. While both work well for me, I seem to prefer DxO. What did I learn here? A few things, but I didn't even know that Camera Raw has a denoiser. Great info and excellent comparison!
You are absolutely the best teacher of PS. Thanks for all of your tips tricks and knowledge ❤️👍
This makes me so happy, since I already have Camera Raw. No need to look at the others just yet.
Absolutely brilliant idea to have video about how to save damage digital camera .jpg from 90's. Thanks for the great content Unmesh!
I use a double denoise process. 1st one in camera raw for global adjustment and 2nd one topaz denoise (the old one) as a plugin i PS for selective denoise. Topaz is used for more agressive cleaning up background more, and my subject will still have good texture intact. Im a wildlife photographer.
I bought dxo pure raw a couple of years ago. It was very expensive but it worked really well. A few months later LR was updated with an AI denoise and I was blown away. I compared side by side and I couldn't tell the difference. Both are extremely good but there are 3 major problems with DXO. First, the price and second the awkward and complex workflow. I use LR so there is a plug in to process the files which is quicker than before instead of drag and drop but no only it takes a lot longer to process but then you end up with a new dng that loses the adjustments on the original raw files. Meaning you have to manually copy and paste settings and most of the time the colors were off. Specially skin tones..
The LR de noise is perfect and it's almost instant on my M4 Max with 60mp sony files. There is a new right next to the original raw and with the same exact settings.
LR is better, quicker, easier and Free.
So it's a no Brainer. Cheers!
Topaz Denoise works well on High ISO, which I often prefer for my editing. I tried Topaz Photo AI, but it didn't impress me much.
That's how a test should look like. Thank you for the good work!
Unmesh, great comparison video. You did not even go into the advanced settings DXO PureRaw like you did Topaz. It has a lot more control parameters than ACR. I am an aurora borealis photographer, and ACR adds artifacts in the night sky. DXO performs better for me. Thnaks for the comparison video.
I have both topaz and dxo, and dxo is the one that I usually use, it also has better distortion correction. There are cases where photo ai gives better results however, so it is always worth to test both in any given situation. I’m not a super fan of denoising ai however, if I can avoid it I do prefer. Capture One does have a pretty obsolete denoising tool, it’s more for selection based denoising, and I never really use it, there’s a feature request open but obviously has been sitting ignored for ages.
"I was already watching your video, and now you've uploaded a new one-wow!"
Your examples are impressive. We spend a lot of time at classical /and Jazz concerts and the light forces us often to go up to ISO 12,800 at a certain aperture and exposure time.
Back in the office we then let the Denoise run the rest of the night with preset values (usually 37%) as batch, throw the CR3 files out of LR Classic in the morning and then select and edit the DNG files.
You might ask yourself, why not select first?
We do if we have to send results to someone the same night.
Photos are simply easier to evaluate and select when they are denoised.
For photo #1 of 1000, we might then make another version later with more differentiated denoising and a final edit
I am glad I saw this. I was considering purchasing Topaz. I am just a hobbyist and already have Lightroom and Photoshop. I see no reason to buy anything additional, although I must say the face recovery feature is brilliant.
How about performance? I assume you speed it up in the edits but maybe that can be a factor if you are doing large batches ...
First, I wish you all the best for this new year. I use adobe stuff to work on my pictures so the best option for me is using Camera Raw, thanks for making this kind of video.
What about ON1 No Noise? Where does it stack up?
I find it amazing how bad Topaz did when it seems to be the one that everyone talks about.
I’m using DXO photolabs. In addition to raw noise reduction, it also does a good job recovering details from slightly soft lenses. Not the greatest workflow-wise but it’s good enough for me.
Fiinally someone who differs between iso and other noise and makes a vide about it. 👌
DxO PureRaw is the best for what I do!
Well done as always. You are a pleasure to follow as a teacher. I use Topaz Photo because of the extra features. I will give DxO another look though. Fortunately we can't do much better than Adobe's own offering.
CameraRaw and Dxo 👌
Sir! Your every video is amazing I am loving Photoshop just because the way you teach.. Love from Pakistan
if you decrease blend in face recovery of topaz photo ai it will look more natural if rest of image is soft, then it refines just face contures, eyes and lips, sometimes it messes up the hair and makes it oversharpened so I usually do face recovery in separate layer and apply only to certain parts of the face using mask
Great video but I wished you had added On1 to the mix
Nice job with the comparision of products. Your observations square with my own regarding these products. Two additional thoughts, it would useful to talk about how long each of these products takes to denoise a RAW file (realizing that every computer is different). For Canon photographers, there is also the Neural Net Image Processing Tool (subscription required) and I have found it to be as good, if not slightly better, than both Adobe Camera RAW and DXO PureRAW. However, on my computer, it takes about 25-30 seconds per photo with NNIPT versus 3-5 seconds in the other two products. When one is denoising several hundred photos, that is a big difference! Still waiting for DXO PureRAW to support the Canon R1...
ON1 NoNoise can sometimes deliver a very good result. Worth checking out. Not very impressed with Luminar overall.
Often Camera Raw does the best job on Denoising. In some cases Topaz PhotoAI is a better solution due to its extra features. DxO Pure Raw is a good overall solution many times.
fantastic as always. thanks so much for all that you share/teach/inspire. yes please, JPG noise removal comparison.
Stuck shooting performance images in b&w with dim lighting with Fuji. iso runs from 12,800 and up - using DXO Photolab 7 (should have gotten just the RAW because do not like working in Photolab) to do noise control and convert to dng. Results are phenomenal - wouldn't use this on other images, but for stage performance (expecially with Fuji and especially for the b&w)) it's a magic formula. Oddly, even when underexposing two stops, I leave it at 12.800 because I like my corrections better than what the camera does to the RAW.
Topaz was wild 😅 that extra face is crazy 🤣 good thing they let you deactivate it. Looks amazing.
Topaz Photo AI includes both DeNoise and Sharpening. It also includes two lighting options one to adjust lighting balance and the other to adjust tonal balance. Because of the way DeNoise impacts lighting colors you need to include the recommended tonal balance if you are trying to achieve recommended adjustments. It is part of the recommended adjustments process.
But that doesnt change the fact, that its bad at keeping details and not introducing artificial patterns and structures. I own Topaz Denoise Ai, Photo Ai and DXO Pure RAW and DXO consistently gets way better and more natural results.
@@TheTempic Totally agree! I had Topaz Denoise, then moved to Photo Ai, was using that in the past 2 years and recently got DXO PureRAW and i'll never use the other ones again! DXO is so much better, exactly as you said the results are more natural and it retains more of the small details. PhotoAI did some weird stuff...
I had upgraded my Topaz Photo AI about a month ago and was really disappointed with it's performance. As @TheTempic mentioned, it did some really weird stuff to my images plus I got those white dots all over my images just like Unmesh got in this video. Not sure what happened with this latest version but it felt like a total step backwards. I returned it. My older Topaz Denoise app does a way better job.
dxo photolab still the king denoise software for raw image, i,ve tried many software editing, topaz ai was good but color acuracy & detail texture very bad againts dxo, i usually use 2 apps when shoot above 12k ISO , denoise file raw using dxo than finishing using topaz ai
Exactly the comparison video I've been looking for, thank you.
If you miss focus a lot, Topaz is the choice
It has recover fave feature to bring back out of focus face on top of their raw denoise.
But if you don't miss your focus and only need denoise, DXo pureraw is the choice. It all depends on what is the problem you are trying to get rid of
Amazing comparison. Didn't expect that Adobe has improved their algorthms that much. Can you do such a comparison for upscaling and sharpening an image?
I have no problems with colors in topaz photo AI, because I use tiff format. Great results are possible!
Thankyou for this phantastic comparison!
Hey there! What about the videos? On my Olympus EM1 Mark III, I’m seeing noticeable noise starting from ISO 5000. 🤔
+1 for JPEG noise reduction! Work with a lot of photos from prior photographers who have very noisy photos.
Camera RAW looks to be consistently great across the board, all the others kept having weird quirks with one image or another.
I also like that it can be tuned back. All of these look way overcooked to me. There's nothing wrong with a little noise. Personally, I'll eliminate chroma noise and then just do 1-3 stops worth of noise reduction.
Luminar Neo did a very good job of looking natural, but not a great job of preserving colors. Everything looked pretty flat and would need more work to tune the colors.
Camera Raw was updated in October of 2024. It was long overdue, and I think they've set a new standard for noise reduction while retaining the most fine detail and correct color.
I wish On1 was included, otherwise great tutorial!
I have a ton of old slides I've been scanning and correcting, and would love to remove the film grain from them from using high ISO slide film. This couldn't have come at a better time.
I am using PureRAW4 in combination with C1. When PureRAW3 (the old version) was around C1 automatically disabled their own denoising on the imported DNG files. With PR 4 C1 wants to add their own denoising on top of the already denoised files. This makes some images look soft. Once the denoising in C1 is set to 0 the files look sharp again.
Thank you for an excellent video. I think Topaz will preserve the colors if you choose a camara specific profile before you export the photo to Topaz from Lightroom Classic as a raw file. Or have you had other experiences?
Many thanks for that interesting comprarison. LR/Camera raw and DXO make an incredible job. However, the resulting weights are not at all the same !! For instance, if the native raw is about 55 Mo, the final result with DXO is about 146 MO and unchanged with LR/Camera raw. That must be taken in account.
Please define Mo, claubob3207.
I use Topaz and I does in fact shift colors on some photos. Also, I've noticed it creates hot spots in the before image that wasn't there in the original and tries to deal with them in the after.
Hi Unmesh thanks for the comparison! I love CaptureOne but unfortunately it lacks AI noise reduction, it would be nice to see another comparison video between software regarding sharpening, in this area I have always found CaptureOne more natural
this is a great comparison. you should do another vid to compare the upscaling
Always awesome content
Thanks for sharing ❤it
I tried to use AI-based denoise in my pictures but waxy edges gives neural slope vibe. After all i find digital noise more attractive and natural then ever before.
It would be good for you to talk about pricing. Some of these are REALLY expensive.
The AI Denoise in Lightroom is very, very good, and included in the program, so is essentially free.
Although, Topaz Face Recovery does look very good. Perhaps too good, and maybe verging on unnatural? But it's too much cash. I have the older Topaz Sharpen AI which was a lot cheaper. I don't know why they moved away from that pricing model but it's not worth the outlay IMHO.
When you make the jpg comparison,then please add Hitpaw Fotorpea and On1 NoNoise. Thanks for all the great video's Unmesh!
Is camera raw the same as the denoise in lightroom?
for Topaz, you have to disable the autofixing of luminosity and color (that's why the bird picture went bad)
i use DXO Photolab. There you have settings for the AI-Noise removal in RAW-pictures. And a Standard-Denoise in JPG. ;)
Topaz AI with Face Recovery is amazing. I used it for some fotos and was almost magic. But to be fair i used it in combination with PS Neural Filters, "Colorize" and "Photo restoration".
I am happy with Camera Raw & LR although I tried capturture one, given the hype around it, but never really find it that mindblowing good, I mean its decent only because of its tethering capabilities.
I use Topaz Denoise and Topaz Ai - both really good
Hey umesh sir,
Do you think Photo Editing, Photoshop Manipulation, and Digital Art are slowly losing relevance? Will AI eventually take over these fields entirely? What’s your opinion on this? If I were still learning photo editing right now, what would you suggest I do? And what about those who were planning to build a career in this field and earn from it? Please share your thoughts.
Promise I'm not a Topaz phanboy… but, Photo AI has a lot of tweaks available and it makes a huge difference how things are set. It's also unintuitive how the settings interact and you just have to play around until you find out. In most cases I just use Lightroom/Camera Raw because it's more than adequate and quick. When I have an image that I don't like the results of in LR/CR, I run to Photo AI and get better results, but it takes time tweaking the settings. I think it's pretty hard to go far wrong with whichever, Topaz, LR/CR, or DXO.
Hey Umesh Sir,
Do you think Photo Editing, Photoshop Manipulation, and Digital Art are slowly losing relevance? Will AI eventually take over these fields entirely? What’s your opinion on this? If I were still learning photo editing right now, what would you suggest I do? And what about those who were planning to build a career in this field and earn from it? Please share your thoughts.
Great comparison. Would love to see a comparison for JPGs.
Pls note, the image of the kingfisher was shot on MFT camera and underexposed. This is really great result for ACR to retain an original colors of the birds feather
I prefer DXO in my workflow for noise reduction as it is 10X faster than ACR/LR NR.
Good job on showing software comparison!!!
I'm definitely interested in noise reduction on jpg. I sometimes have to work with images taken by others and sometimes they are noisy in a way that's hard to deal with
Agine great Info. thanks! By the way, you can also do face recovery in photoshop in the Neural filters in the "photo restoration" tab
Your tips are always so useful - thank you. One thing i am frustrated with is the sort preferences under the view tab in LR classic. I set it to "file" each time but it always reverts back to "capture time" next time I open the program. do you know of any way to make it stick permanently to "file"? Thanks.
Now try the experiment with a noisy photo of a busy street with lots of street signage. Watch how the ai screws up all the small writing. Lightroom noise reduction is the best i have seen at preserving these details.
I am doubtless biased.
DXO Pure Raw is integrated in DXO Photolab ( 8, 7 whatever... ) where more controls are available.
But sure Camera Raw is a serious competitor...
... if you agree with their perpetual submission's policy.
the plus with Topaz is that it also works on non RAW images. Very important thing.
Thank you for this 2025 raw denoise comparison!!! always welcome and please yes do a jpg standoff as well.
Thank you!
Q:
What about pipelining the raw into DxO then into Camera Raw?
After many years following the different options, my preferred path for maximum image quality is as follows: Open RAW in DxO Photolab 8 (better than current Pure RAW) and apply DeepPrime XD2S and lens corrections. Export as DNG and open in PS with the new Adobe Adaptive Profile. Do image editing and save. Open in Topaz Photo AI and do some final sharpening, face recovery and potentially upscale. Results are astonishing.
Notes: As you have shown, Topaz is sometimes excellent, sometimes garbage. Still not fully reliable. Capture One has huge liabilities in the Sharpening and Denoise section. They have to improve urgently here, if they not totally want to rely on wedding photographers in future. Skylum is starting a myriad of features, but is not improving the different AI tools. Disappointing.
Im impressed with Camera raw AI
Unmesh, have you tested AIArty Image Enhancer? I'm getting some pretty incredible results from that software. I do have Camera Raw, Luminar Neo and have tested Topaz but I believe AI Arty is a very viable solution.
I have updated to the latest Camera Raw filters 17.1, & still I don't these options or the new one that includes removing camera reflection,. I also have turned on technological previews. Do I have to have the latest version of Photoshop itself to do this? If so, which version is this?
a review on fones for Jpegs would be great. 🙂
Just wondering why you chose DxO PureRAW for the comparision and not DxO PhotoLab?
In my Photoshop v26 I don't even see the Denoise AI option in Camera Raw dialog. Do I need to enable something?
Hi @karcoms. The AI Denoise feature in Camera Raw is only available when working with genuine RAW files and not through the Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop. Make sure you're opening a RAW file directly in Camera Raw, not applying the filter to an already opened image in Photoshop.
@@ct751 you are right. I figured that out last night after accidentally clicking the actual raw file from explorer since I usually send the raw file from Lr to Ps for edits. What a pain. Thank you for the response.
IF monochromatic results (for instance sepia) are the end goal, first step might be Dxo (before continuing with LR or photoshop). ?
I'm foremost LR user sometimes PS forth and back to LR.
BTW it seems he never mentiones LR ? Have not practiced for a wile.. Has LR now the same refinements as shown here in camera raw ? The other way around -CR interface resembling LR - I know about.
Also BTW, An edited mastet file exported as Raw could thus be Ai denoised too ?
My Camera Raw Detail tab looks different. It only has the luminance and color slider. The denoise has not a checkbox but it's a button. And yet it is 17.1 version. Any suggestions?
Same. I can't figure out why. Let me know if you figure it out.
I have two questions
• will this work with EXR file format ?
• which of these softwares can denoise batch or bundle of photos at a time ?
What is the best for iPad only workflows?
I open Camera Raw 17.1 from Adobe Bridge as that's my workflow. I don't see the new 'Denoise' box to check. I only have Noise Reduction then the box for Denoise but it makes a new .dng file. How can I get the version show in the video?
Update your Camera Raw- if you have a high enough operating system.
I’m on Catalina still on my laptop (Mac OS 10.15.6) and can’t go beyond Photoshop or LR 2022, until I update my OS, I don’t have DeNoise option.
Capture One is known by users to not be good at noise removal. Many of us do our raw processing in C1 after turning off de noise and sharpening then send a tiff to photo ai to clean up noise and do the sharpening. You left out Iridient from the comparison. Any reason why? Other thing is C1 is aimed at studio professionals and with the lighting right they don't get noise, so its probably not a major issue for them.
Thanks for the video on this topic
We would like a video on jpeg too
Add DXO PL 8 with Denoise Prime XD2. Perhaps it has improvement over PureRAW 4. I need 5 minutes using I5 3470 to process 18 mp RAW EOS M 2012 (the first EOS M). I have GTX 750 Ti with 2 GB, unfortunatelly even though it has 1,5 GB VRAM in task manager, DXO 8 still refuse use it and complain that it need 1 GB VRAM available.
Also add demo photo with a bit dark photo of group people photo at iso 25K old cam. Let see how good there are denoising the faces.
how do you get the ai denoise slider on photoshop?
I noticed you did not include Photoshop in your test. Is that because Ps is the same as Camera RAW?
Camera Raw is a part of Photoshop.
@@PiXimperfect ....Right. I often have to denoise jpgs and I have found the best is Topaz. Your thoughts? And as always I very much enjoy your videos - great lessons!
Please share a video for iPhone photo noise reduction
Happy new year . I am interested in de noise jpg vidéo. Thank you for this fantastic vidéo. So , same with jpg😊😊😅
Bro! Can you help me with your Lower Third (The Purple one).. PLEASE
Thanks ❤
Is there an Android app that you recommend to treat noise? (I use a Fuji XT-5)
Just imagine all the Noisy and blurry million pictures of Aliens, UFO's and Bigfood that now can recover!
🤩
I have the Camera Raw 17.1 plugin and I don't see the "denoise" option. do you know why?
Same. Let me know if you figure out why.
Its working on .raw files
Hey mate thanks for this tutorial but i would like to ask you, am using the same version that you are using but mine doesn't have the denoise option and i would like to know how i can make the option visible
Is the file you are testing with an actual RAW file? The AI Denoise in Camera RAW only works on RAW files and only shows up for that. I just tested on my setup and if you open a jpg f.ex., the Denoise is not grayed out like described in this video, it does actually not show up at all (at least not for me) However if I open a RAW file the Denoise option is there.
Update:
worth to mention is that I am on Windows, and Unmesh is using the Mac version in the video so maybe Denoise is grayed out on a non RAW file on Mac, but it is not even showing up on Windows version. I am not able to test that atm
The denoise option is not there yet am using the lastest version of photoshop
Can this be the problem coz i just downloaded a sports image of a player from Instagram
@@HavensSkillshub - definitely, if that image is just a jpg/jpeg or png file and not a RAW file (f.ex. a (. CRW (Canon), . NEF (Nikon), . ARW (Sony), . RAF (Fuji) & . DNG (Adobe)) file ) the Denoise option would not be there
@@RelaxingRainVideos ohh thanks for the clarification am really grateful for the time and work
I cannot find Camera Raw on my PS Mac version, I have the latest version. Help!!