Topaz Photo AI artefacts/issues vs. LR AI Denoise

[MarkG]

I wanted to share my experience of some issues with Topaz Photo AI (TPAI) that users may want to be aware of.

These issues have been filed as "bugs" with Topaz and I am waiting for their response. Screenshots of the issues are attached. I've been using TPAI for a while now on my MBP M1/16GB/1TB machine. Latest version of the TPAI. The photo used is a 24MP ARW file from A9II/200-600 shot over a long distance, so some atmospheric and heat haze effects reduce the sharpness of the original RAW file despite low ISO.

1. Edge/halo artefacts when using RAW Denoise NORMAL, but less so with STRONG

Problem: RAW Denoise Normal is ON, but the sliders are all the way down to 1 (minimum setting). One can see very noticeable edge artefacts/halo. This effect is there even when all other processing blocks are disabled.

Another snapshot in the series shows what happens when NORMAL is switched to STRONG. Again, sliders all the way down, but now, counterintuitively, the edge artefacts/halo are less pronounced.

Last screenshot shows RAW Denoise OFF. No visible artefacts.


2. The CROP tool in TPAI is NOT working

Crop tool is very important to avoid large output file size when Denoising/Sharpening AND increasing Resolution (x2, x4 etc.).
The ideal workflow for me is to crop in TPAI and output smaller, but upscaled file.
However, as the snapshot below shows, the crop does not affect the correct part of the image and does weird things when viewed in LR - cut out subjects and incorrect placement of the crop rectangle. Unusable.


LR AI Noise Reduction + Super Resolution

For some inexplicable reason, LR AI NR does not allow it being combined with Super Resolution (upscale) in one step. Then, once the image is De-noised, it cannot be processed again in Super Resolution.

Has anyone found a way to combine LR's AI De-noise with Super Resolution? Thanks.

Mark

 

[bleirer]

No I don't think there is a workaround for super resolution. The Adobe options would be to resize with enhance details 2.0 or super-zoom ai in Photoshop, or something like Gigapixel AI.

 

[bleirer]

No I don't think there is a workaround for super resolution. The Adobe options would be to resize with enhance details 2.0 or super-zoom ai in Photoshop, or something like Gigapixel AI.

Or another way to use super-resolution would be to output the file as a tiff, then apply super-resolution to the tiff.

 

[MarkG]

Or another way to use super-resolution would be to output the file as a tiff, then apply super-resolution to the tiff.

That's a good approach, I will try it.

 

[BarkingBeans Coffee]

FWIW my experience with Topaz is that it’s like a boat floating on water. For each release something new but something tips the other way. I think they are a bit overwhelmed trying to get all the different RAW formats and readouts to work.

They don’t have the stability of Adobe which I expect will continue to improve their offering.

I was reluctant to upgrade Photo AI from 1.2 to 1.3 since there were so many reports of things gone wrong.

After this current trip I will compare again but the instability in releases does cause me pause.

Also they claimed they were adding Nikon HE* support, but haven’t seen it and now with Adobe it makes it so much easier.

 

[MarkG]

FWIW my experience with Topaz is that it’s like a boat floating on water. For each release something new but something tips the other way. I think they are a bit overwhelmed trying to get all the different RAW formats and readouts to work.

They don’t have the stability of Adobe which I expect will continue to improve their offering.

I was reluctant to upgrade Photo AI from 1.2 to 1.3 since there were so many reports of things gone wrong.

After this current trip I will compare again but the instability in releases does cause me pause.

Also they claimed they were adding Nikon HE* support, but haven’t seen it and now with Adobe it makes it so much easier.

They should have photographers do some Beta testing before each major release, IMO. Adobe may improve their offering over time, but at the moment it lacks fine control and can't do upres + denoise in one step, which is limiting its usefulness.

 

[bleirer]

They should have photographers do some Beta testing before each major release, IMO. Adobe may improve their offering over time, but at the moment it lacks fine control and can't do upres + denoise in one step, which is limiting its usefulness.

I don't see the super resolution as something I'd need or want that often. I'd have to think about why I'm not getting enough pixels per duck. It does combine the enhance details automatically with the denoise ai, which is good. If one must up rez despite its disadvantages I'd say Gigapixel is the best but there are other options within Lightroom and Photoshop.

 

[MarkG]

I don't see the super resolution as something I'd need or want that often. I'd have to think about why I'm not getting enough pixels per duck. It does combine the enhance details automatically with the denoise ai, which is good. If one must up rez despite its disadvantages I'd say Gigapixel is the best but there are other options within Lightroom and Photoshop.

I often crop heavily due to distance, even with A7R4 60Mp sensor it may be 4-10Mp output, so super resolution would be very useful for my needs. Would you use Gigapixel before or after other enhancements/adjustments?

 

[bleirer]

I often crop heavily due to distance, even with A7R4 60Mp sensor it may be 4-10Mp output, so super resolution would be very useful for my needs. Would you use Gigapixel before or after other enhancements/adjustments?

I agree sometimes there is no choice. Overall it is better to be closer and have the right focal length since the cropping and enlarging reduces quality, but alas budgets don't cooperate. I guess you get your raw as shipshape as possible except for sharpening, send that to Gigapixel then finish up in Photoshop with adjustment layers if needed. Others might have better ideas, would be a good topic.