Topaz AI

[Viathelens]

I was curious just how high the ISO on my D850 could go, within reason, and I could still have Topaz DeNoise AI remove the noise. I happened to shoot yesterday at ISO 12800 (auto ISO), this was wide open on my Nikon 500PF at 1/3200 sec. I am amazed at how well the denoise software worked. I did tweak the sliders a little bit to increase the change above what the auto did. After I used DeNoise I used LrC Transform to increase the subject size, PS to remove a feeder, LrC to again increase the size and a little bit of processing with the LrC brush tool. Not bad for an end result. This is a screen shot to show the settings. I've always pondered the whole high ISO thing instead of a dark image and trying to bring up the shadows, bringing up the shadows has never worked that well for me as I did not like the artifacts that could develop, and now technology has made it possible for us to actually shoot at very high ISO settings and still get good results.

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

Very interesting. I have come to the same conclusion that I can shoot just about any ISO and still get a reasonable image with Topaz DeNoise.

Obviously, the best quality shots are at low ISOs, but there is no reason not to take that late dusk shot when most of the time you can save it with DeNoise.

That's a great shot no matter what the ISO was!

 

[NorthernFocus]

It is amazing what can be done nowadays. If DxO has a profile for the camera/lens combo IMO it does even better than Topaz. When shooting landscapes or static subjects I set the camera to auto ISO and fire away.

Long ago I did some testing and convinced myself that shooting properly exposed at high ISO was preferable to holding ISO down and under exposing. It doesn't create less noise but it's the quality of the noise and ability to remove it. Properly exposed at high ISO tends to result in more luminance noise whereas under exposing creates more color noise. Software seems to deal with luminance noise better and creates a more natural looking image. But that's purely subjective based on my experience. Also an opinion formed with older software and older camera bodies. It's been working for me so I haven't bothered to do similar testing in recent years.

 

[Viathelens]

It is amazing what can be done nowadays. If DxO has a profile for the camera/lens combo IMO it does even better than Topaz. When shooting landscapes or static subjects I set the camera to auto ISO and fire away.

Long ago I did some testing and convinced myself that shooting properly exposed at high ISO was preferable to holding ISO down and under exposing. It doesn't create less noise but it's the quality of the noise and ability to remove it. Properly exposed at high ISO tends to result in more luminance noise whereas under exposing creates more color noise. Software seems to deal with luminance noise better and creates a more natural looking image. But that's purely subjective based on my experience. Also an opinion formed with older software and older camera bodies. It's been working for me so I haven't bothered to do similar testing in recent years.

I think you've figured out the difference and I agree with you. I'll have to experiment with higher ISOs and see what happens.

 

[Woodyg3]

I have been amazed at the noise reduction capabilities, as well. I find that color rendition still suffers at really high ISOs, though. Dynamic range will suffer as well. Still, software is certainly extending the usable ISO range quite a bit.

 

[DRwyoming]

Long ago I did some testing and convinced myself that shooting properly exposed at high ISO was preferable to holding ISO down and under exposing. It doesn't create less noise but it's the quality of the noise and ability to remove it. Properly exposed at high ISO tends to result in more luminance noise whereas under exposing creates more color noise. Software seems to deal with luminance noise better and creates a more natural looking image. But that's purely subjective based on my experience.

That's my experience as well.

On a related note, reviews and online charts tend to show the Z6 II being neck and neck with the D5 for noise and DR at mid to high ISO but in practice I find my Z6 II has a lot more chroma noise at high ISO than the D5 and that makes it easier to remove noise from high ISO D5 shots. IOW, the testing shows maybe a half stop difference in DR between the D5 and Z6 II at high ISO but the quality of the noise is quite different and it makes it easier to remove noise from D5 images. It's as you say, the noise reduction SW seems to deal with luminance noise much better than it deals with chroma noise.

 

[Wapiti]

Well done. I use Topaz AI Denoise routinely with high ISO's.

 

[Whiskeyman]

I was curious just how high the ISO on my D850 could go, within reason, and I could still have Topaz DeNoise AI remove the noise. I happened to shoot yesterday at ISO 12800 (auto ISO), this was wide open on my Nikon 500PF at 1/3200 sec. I am amazed at how well the denoise software worked. I did tweak the sliders a little bit to increase the change above what the auto did. After I used DeNoise I used LrC Transform to increase the subject size, PS to remove a feeder, LrC to again increase the size and a little bit of processing with the LrC brush tool. Not bad for an end result. This is a screen shot to show the settings. I've always pondered the whole high ISO thing instead of a dark image and trying to bring up the shadows, bringing up the shadows has never worked that well for me as I did not like the artifacts that could develop, and now technology has made it possible for us to actually shoot at very high ISO settings and still get good results.

Well done. I use Topaz AI Denoise routinely with high ISO's.

For my clarification, are you each using the denoise function within Topaz AI, or are you using Topaz Denoise AI?

 

[Viathelens]

For my clarification, are you each using the denoise function within Topaz AI, or are you using Topaz Denoise AI?

DeNoise single program, not the new one that contains it all.