Noise 'silencer'

loves_guitar

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Hey everyone,

This post has no audible content aside from the catchy title.

I'm curious what people use to help reduce noise in images? What's some good programs? Not good programs? What about filters for Photoshop? Any free ones that are good?

I have only learned of said programs and filters recently through this forum.

Thanks.
 
I use Neat Image. It's ok, dont' expect anything miraculous.
 
Noise Ninja is another option.
I haven't had the need to use it in the past couple of years though.
 
Not trying to be a smart a&& here, but the first thing I do to remove noise is use the lowest possible ISO for the given situation and dead on exposure. Alot of people are going to read that and think to themselves "Well Duh." However, in my experience I have found that some people shoot for the lowest ISO possibe for the given situation and then forget about getting the exposure dead on. Close is good enough. Close however adds noise.

I have seen from others and shot some great stuff at 1600 with dead on exposure and noise was just not an issue.

For noise touch up I use Noise Ninja.
 
I have seen from others and shot some great stuff at 1600 with dead on exposure and noise was just not an issue.
I agree. Noise is not at all an issue now with these new toys.
 
Well digital is leaps and bounds cleaner than ISO 1600 film.
 
I use a tripod.

And ask the wildlife to sit still so you can use ISO 100? ;)

Sw1tchFX, absolutely digital is cleaner than film of equivalent sensitivity - I certainly retain more detail with digital than with film. IMO the difference is that film grain, whether large or small, is an integral part of the image and with the silver printing process the grain isn't necessarily that unpleasant. Digital noise on the other hand is just ugly. But gryphonslair99 is spot on - get the exposure right and noise is much less of an issue (I've made prints from 1600 ISO without any noise reduction, and that's with one of those supposedly terrible Sony CCDs).

To answer the original question, NeatImage, although I'm only using presets so far, so I can't really tell you its full capabilities except to say it does an ok job with the presets; reduces noise but obviously reduces detail too.
 
I´ve seen a review somewhere that said Helicon Filter is the best.

There´s a free version as well as a pro version. I have the pro...it´s not expensive (about US$40 I think) and it´s excellent for a bunch of things.

Link http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconfilter.html
 
Use fast lenses at low ISO, the best noise killer ;)
If needed, I use NR in DPP during RAW->Jpeg process.
Noise was never an issue.
 
And ask the wildlife to sit still so you can use ISO 100? ;)

Sw1tchFX, absolutely digital is cleaner than film of equivalent sensitivity - I certainly retain more detail with digital than with film. IMO the difference is that film grain, whether large or small, is an integral part of the image and with the silver printing process the grain isn't necessarily that unpleasant. Digital noise on the other hand is just ugly. But gryphonslair99 is spot on - get the exposure right and noise is much less of an issue (I've made prints from 1600 ISO without any noise reduction, and that's with one of those supposedly terrible Sony CCDs).
With film, the grain is more random and organic, there's nothing organic with digital noise.
 
Switch that also depends from camera to camera. I found the D200 had a nicer noise to look at than some other cameras I looked at. I found the D70 was very nasty in this respect. Some cameras look grainy some look noisy.

Either way an image without either grain or noise just looks very fake to me. It's part of the process. I use neat image for noise reduction but I rarely apply it strong enough to eliminate all the noise.
 
The D80's/D200's I've found have less noise than the D70, since they can go to ISO 100, and they have more aggressive NR at high ISO's.
 
And ask the wildlife to sit still so you can use ISO 100? ;)

It does take some negotiation at times. I've shot almost all my wildlife images with ISO 100 transparency film in the old days ------ with a tripod. No kidding. I've been shooting on several occasions with expert wildlife photographers who also used ISO 100 film for almost everything. I never liked the look of ISO 200 film. That 500mm f4 Nikkor ED sure helped a lot. It weighed as much as the tripod.
 

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