Lightroom Classic Update - introduces Denoise-AI powered noise reduction.

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David Berry said:
Have I just thrown away US$129 by purchasing DxO PureRAW 3 earlier this week?

Background: I use LrC and shoot with Canon R5 (CR3) and Leica Q2 (DNG).
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I feel the same way! I liked the results from PureRAW 3 but it has not worked consistently on my PC. I can process a few images then it will hang while processing and the remaining time will just continue to climb, I have to restart LrC in order to get it to process again. I have contacted DXO but I have not been able to resolve the problem. It has just not become part of my regular workflow yet.
 
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David Berry said:
Have I just thrown away US$129 by purchasing DxO PureRAW 3 earlier this week?

Background: I use LrC and shoot with Canon R5 (CR3) and Leica Q2 (DNG).
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I have the full PL6 package and I'll continue to use it for certain work because of some of it's features and the fact I don't end up with a separate DNG file for the files I process. Plus, I can work with those files in one package. If I were using PureRaw and not PL6, I might feel differently.

Right now I'd say that my usage of PL6 will diminish somewhat, how much will depend on further testing and where Adobe takes this technology in the future.
 
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One other minor detail that I just noticed that I haven't seen mentioned...the size of the DNG files created by the denoise feature. That cat photo that I posted went from a Lossless Compressed NEF of 64MB to a 211MB DNG...yikes! 😫

And upon further testing, a RAW HE, 9.5MB DX format file swells to a whopping 73MB DNG after Denoise...there is no free lunch!
 
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I just tried it. It works great, The best so far. It also take the longest to process. You need a powerful computer with a fast GPU.
 
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I just gave the new LR Denoise feature a go on some high ISO files and it's pretty impressive though as others have pointed out it's not fast.

Here's an ISO 25,600 image from my Z6 II

Processed LR, no additional noise reduction:
Z62_5159--20210909.jpg
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Same image run through Topaz DeNoise AI:
Z62_5159--20210909-Edit-2.jpg
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Same image after Lightroom's new Denoise feature:

Z62_5159--20210909-Enhanced-NR.jpg
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To my eyes the LR Denoise version retained better detail in the hummer's throat feathers and the backlit hairs on the flower's stem while still substantially reducing the noise.

The output DNG files are pretty big and processing isn't fast but so far this seems like a pretty big addition to LR functionality
 
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I used the new LRC Denoise AI, 50 percent. I am new to LRC and have developed maybe 12 photos total. First one using this. That is a decent amount of crop and at iso 4000.
After seeing the image in LRC when culling, I was a bit deflated cause I really enjoy seeing this hummer at my feeder and wanted to capture the image of it.
Glad I didn't delete it.
 
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sh1209 said:
what wayI tried it today on several images and I think it’s extremely good and so much better than topaz. I’ve been using dxo products for the last year or so and in my opinion it’s as good or better than dxo. The beauty of it is never having to leave Lightroom. They’ve also finally added the tone curve to masking which is nice.
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In what way is it better than Topaz Photo AI? They seem roughly equivalent to me. I have Topaz and the latest LRC update.
 
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MarkG said:
In what way is it better than Topaz Photo AI? They seem roughly equivalent to me. I have Topaz and the latest LRC update.
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I don’t use photo ai and only use denoise. I do not like photo ai at all and honestly think it’s terrible. It oversharpens and does weird things with the colors on Sony files. Photo ai is the reason I started using dxo products. If this works out with Adobe, then not having to leave Lightroom alone is the best feature yet. I think topaz needs to go back to the three program model imo. Also I can still work on images in Lightroom which isn’t possible with any of the topaz products. Either way, I’ll be using Adobe or dxo.
 
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@sh1209 Topaz feels like a bit of boat to me, it rocks back and forth, with each change. To me this is a game changer as I don't see Adobe doing that. The color issue was present with Nikon as well.

Below is an ISO 25,600 image I ran, and I would like suggest another test for everyone as well. Take a cat image if you have it (I used a leopard), not a high ISO, (I used 1000) and see if you like what LRC does. It didn't need the noise reduction but the sharpening it did was great. And for Z9 users - yes confirmed it works on HE*.

For those exciting about this - worth reading the Notes which suggests run it before other tools:

  • Denoise can run only on Bayer and X-Trans RAW images.
  • We recommend to Denoise your image before applying other tools, including AI masks and Content-Aware, as using Enhance might change the result of the tools used.
  • Once the image has been enhanced with Denoise or Super Resolution, it can't be processed again. However, enhanced Raw Details DNGs can be processed with Denoise.
  • Denoise is a GPU intensive feature. Therefore, a faster GPU is recommended to Enhance images quickly.

Also if you want to automatically add your keywords etc -"You can automatically add Keywords to images enhanced using Denoise, Raw Details, and Super Resolution. Go to Edit > Preferences, select the File Handling tab and check the Automatically add keywords to Enhanced images box. Select OK to make the changes."

25600 Lion test - _MDH4456 - November 19, 2022.jpg
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25600 Lion test - _MDH4456-Enhanced-NR - November 19, 2022.jpg
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BarkingBeansCoffee said:
@sh1209 Topaz feels like a bit of boat to me, it rocks back and forth, with each change. To me this is a game changer as I don't see Adobe doing that. The color issue was present with Nikon as well.

Below is an ISO 25,600 image I ran, and I would like suggest another test for everyone as well. Take a cat image if you have it (I used a leopard), not a high ISO, (I used 1000) and see if you like what LRC does. It didn't need the noise reduction but the sharpening it did was great. And for Z9 users - yes confirmed it works on HE*.
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Here is a high ISO leopard pic taken at dusk in Sabi Sands. I'm really liking the results I'm seeing with LR denoise. 1st image adjusted, second original no sharpening. Didn't do any other adjustments other than using the LR "Auto" function.
_8510859-Enhanced-NR.jpg
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_8510859.jpg
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Viseguy said:
Here is a high ISO leopard pic taken at dusk in Sabi Sands. I'm really liking the results I'm seeing with LR denoise. 1st image adjusted, second original no sharpening. Didn't do any other adjustments other than using the LR "Auto" function.
View attachment 59494View attachment 59495
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Looks like it did a fantastic job and that’s what I’m finding as well. I have been thoroughly impressed with the images over and threw it so far.
 
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The new LRC denoise feature is a huge step in the right direction. But it doesn't hold a candle to DxO on images taken with a camera/lens combo for which DxO has a module. And even without a module I still give the edge to DxO "Deep Prime" NR. That said between the masking tools and now the new NR feature I can process 80-90 percent of what I shoot completely with LRC.
 
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NorthernFocus said:
The new LRC denoise feature is a huge step in the right direction. But it doesn't hold a candle to DxO on images taken with a camera/lens combo for which DxO has a module. And even without a module I still give the edge to DxO "Deep Prime" NR. That said between the masking tools and now the new NR feature I can process 80-90 percent of what I shoot completely with LRC.
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(y)

I was about to upgrade to DXO Pure RAW 3, but now I'm still waiting. In a quick test, I found that if the camera and lens are supported by DXO, DXO Pure RAW is slightly better. Now it depends on how quickly DXO provides the long Z lenses.
 
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NorthernFocus said:
The new LRC denoise feature is a huge step in the right direction. But it doesn't hold a candle to DxO on images taken with a camera/lens combo for which DxO has a module. And even without a module I still give the edge to DxO "Deep Prime" NR. That said between the masking tools and now the new NR feature I can process 80-90 percent of what I shoot completely with LRC.
Click to expand...

On the pictures I ran, I found that the two were quite comparable as long as I turned off sharpening in DXO but that sharpening in DXO yields more artifacts. I have only tested 5 images so that view may evolve but I just like that LR seems more light-handed in its approach, leaving more room for adaptive sharpening.
Considering that it's their first attempt and it's part of the LR price - they are definitely on the right tracks.
Topaz was consistently worse in my trials when used in full automatic - but if you fiddle with the settings you can get close. What's impressive with DXO and LR is that they get there without futzing.
 
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JoelKlein said:
When am I applying some "Detail recovery" before or after the De-noise?
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If you are doing it in LR it doesn't matter as the denoise function will create a new DNG file and will carry over any sharpening-adjustments you made to the non-denoised version.
That said, I find it easier to sharpen after removing noise (allows you to more accurately assess how much masking is right), but there is no right or wrong answer on that one.
 
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As a data point for the processing speed, the estimated speed is typically shown as 9-sec and I'm seeing about 10 seconds or less on a lossless compressed 45MP Z9 file from the time "Enhance" is pressed until the finished file shows up in my filmstrip and can be viewed. During processing, CPU usage runs about 18-25% (there are email and browser apps open in background) and GPU usage is bouncing around between 85 to 100%, mostly closer to 100%, using about 16GB of available 24GB GPU memory. There is some additional time spent in creating a "Smart Preview" file, but that's about another 5-7 seconds, it seems.

This is running on an older Gigabyte Z390 based system, Win 10, I7-9700K, 4.2GHz, 64GB, OS drive Samsung 950 Pro. GPU is nVidia RTX3090 w/24GB VRAM. The image files and LRC preview and library files are all stored on a USB-C 10 gigabit, attached 1TB SSD which is where I keep my current working files.

It seems that Adobe has highly optimized this feature to utilize every bit of GPU that you can throw at it and if you plan on processing a lot of photos with the denoise feature, tilting your hardware investment more towards GPU performance than CPU may be a wise approach. That approach has paid dividends for me with this system for video editing, with DaVinci Resolve, as well.

Cheers!
 
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MotoPixel said:
This is running on an older Gigabyte Z390 based system, Win 10, I7-9700K, 4.2GHz, 64GB, OS drive Samsung 950 Pro. GPU is nVidia RTX3090 w/24GB VRAM. The image files and LRC preview and library files are all stored on a USB-C 10 gigabit, attached 1TB SSD which is where I keep my current working files.



Cheers!
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Can I ask what monitoring software are you using?
 
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Windows Task Manager, Performance Tab. I have the window set up to show the graphs of GPU usage % and memory usage and the left hand column scrolled to show CPU usage % and memory usage. Window is set to "Always on Top" mode, so I have it over LRC when running the test...sized so that it takes up about 1/6th of the screen.
 
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