Looking for the best free “noise reduction” software

Craig,

Welcome again to OPF!

Start with a good camera and adequate light! But that's another matter!

What software do you currently on and what is your level of experience? PC or Mac platform makes a difference. Are you an experienced Photoshop users for examplle?

In any case, why free software if you are doing stock? What equipment are you matching with this? You have a 1DsII or what other camera? You can do stock on any camera, even a digicam, but some idea of what you have to work with and why you are limiting yourself to free software would be helpful. If it's budget, then I understand, but will you have enough funds to do the work at all?

Almost all software is free to download and test for some trial period. "Easy to use" depends
on your own experience with photoshop and images in great part.

Reliable is tough? Do you mean has not a lot of bugs, the company is viable or they have good support? All of these characteristics usually require a software that is supported by income or else part of an open source movement like Linux or GIMP.

I'd like to see what software is suggested! We all want to user high ISO and abolish noise and this will be useful information anyway!

Asher

you'll get what you'll pay for…

go to Noise Ninja.

The only free one, that I´m aware of, is Noiseware Community Edition from Imagenomic.

Try my own PhotoDenoising.
A low cost but high quality denoiser.

Neat Image do a plugin for PS, but the free version will only process images smaller than 1024x1024. for larger images you have to pay. Better than Noise Ninja though IMO.

Stuart

Here I go again. What is this perceived need for free software? No offense, Craig.

We get what we pay for, and no offense to your offer, Giovanni.

Yikes! I've been using Noise Ninja for a year or so.

I get aggravated by the need for "free" tools. Sorry, no offense intended....to anyone.

We pay for glass, we pay for bodies, printers, etc, yet we think processing software should be free? Balderdash.

-Greg

Greg Rogers said:

Here I go again. What is this perceived need for free software?

[snip]

We pay for glass, we pay for bodies, printers, etc, yet we think processing software should be free? Balderdash.

-Greg

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What about for those of us who shoplift all of our gear? Surely, we can think our software can be free?

Roger "Light Fingers" Lambert

I do not think that Craig was actually asking for free software.

I am doing some stock photography and I have been recommended to quite a few noise reduction website's but I would like to find out not only which one is the best overall

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I suspect he wishes to try it for himself -

but also may have the following characteristics.

- is free to download and use.
- Is easy to use.
- Is reliable.

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Some folk here have different priorities with how they spend their money, how important photographic gear is is compared to shoes for their kids, for example, and there is in fact a lot of legally free software available that is very, very good. (and if you ask the right people, the same can apply to hardware.)

I do not know of any specific sharpening software, however.

Best wishes,

Ray

Ray West said:

I do not think that Craig was actually asking for free software.

I suspect he wishes to try it for himself -

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Upon second reading, that seems to be the case (although he wouldn't mind if it was free, but then who would object to that?).

I can only recommend what I know from personal experience, and that's Neat Image. It's very good and also very flexible to use for other purposes that involve periodic frequency related 'noise' sources.

I do not know of any specific sharpening software, however.

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That's a very different type of tool, although Neat Image also allows to do some by boosting (instead of attenuating) certain spatial frequencies.

For dedicated sharpening tasks, I find FocusMagic to be an effective and easy to use tool. It doesn't boost edge contrast, but it actually restores resolution that got spread thin over neighboring pixels. The only real issue I've encountered with it is that it crashes Photoshop when used as a plug-in on images that are 'too' large (1Ds Mark II size of 4992 x 3328 pixels is okay).

Bart

Methinks my post was out of line, on afterthought. I do this too much.

It gets expensive buying plugins and the sort, indeed. All I can can come up with is this; one of the great things about the internet is free trials. We can try free trials for paid softare and also for free ware.

If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. The best option I've found so far is to post questions in awesome forums like this, try the suggestions, and go from there. (usually aiming towards trials and what we like)
-Greg

Greg Rogers said:

Methinks my post was out of line, on afterthought. I do this too much.

It gets expensive buying plugins and the sort, indeed. All I can can come up with is this; one of the great things about the internet is free trials. We can try free trials for paid softare and also for free ware.

If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. The best option I've found so far is to post questions in awesome forums like this, try the suggestions, and go from there. (usually aiming towards trials and what we like)
-Greg

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Greg, don't let it worry you! You have a good heart!

Craig,

Don't let all this stuff inhibit or overwhelm you. Money doesn't grow on trees. If there's no cash flow, then we need to look for economies. I have Noise Ninja and it's a purchase you'll not regret if you have the cash for it and don't have to sell your mother-in-law to fund it!

I frankly find that noise can be attractive in some circumstances and can be avoided by using better lighting and a lower ISO. In worst case, photoshop is pretty crude but good for this.

It should not prevent you doing great photography.

Frankly, noise adds character!

Asher

Greg Rogers said:

Methinks my post was out of line, on afterthought. I do this too much.

It gets expensive buying plugins and the sort, indeed. All I can can come up with is this; one of the great things about the internet is free trials. We can try free trials for paid softare and also for free ware.

If I offended anyone, I'm sorry. The best option I've found so far is to post questions in awesome forums like this, try the suggestions, and go from there. (usually aiming towards trials and what we like)
-Greg

Click to expand...

Greg, don't let it worry you! You have a good heart!

Craig,

Don't let all this stuff inhibit or overwhelm you. Money doesn't grow on trees. If there's no cash flow, then we need to look for economies. I have Noise Ninja and it's a purchase you'll not regret if you have the cash for it and don't have to sell your mother-in-law to fund it!

I frankly find that noise can be attractive in some circumstances and can be avoided by using better lighting and a lower ISO. In worst case, photoshop is pretty crude but good for this.

It should not prevent you doing great photography.

Frankly, noise can add character especially in a nightlclub or street scene. Now if this is intended for B&W, you can inspect the different channels and delete the one with the most noise if it works for you!

Asher

I've decided to add my query in to this dormant thread.

Currently I am using CS3's noise reduction filter. I apply it on a separate layer using a mask generated with 'find edges'. Am looking for something a bit better. I am actually willing to pay for it too. I understand there are better noise reduction programs out there but really only want to use one that acts as a PS plug-in. I don't want to complicate/lengthen my workflow (I am a photoenthusiast not a professional) sp I don’t want a stand alone program. I also want be able to use layer masks.

I understand that these 3 programs are well recommended:

Neat Image
Noiseware
Noise Ninja

Are these available as a PS plugin that can be applied with a layer mask or must they be used as stand alone programs with/without layer mask?

I DO realize they are available for trial period download but I DO want to make preliminary inquiries picking much bigger brains than mine, and I don’t want to download and install something that won’t meet my requirements. What do you folks recommend (knowing that I prefer one that operates acts as a PS plug-in allowing me to use a separate layer using a mask)?

As always, I thank everyone in advance!

Hi Phil

I use Noise Ninja and like it very much.
Yes it is a CS plugin, it works on the current layer, so if you duplicate your current layer, it will work on that one (provided that you have selected it first)…
I don't know for the others…

Phil Marion said:

I understand that these 3 programs are well recommended:

Neat Image
Noiseware
Noise Ninja

Are these available as a PS plugin that can be applied with a layer mask or must they be used as stand alone programs with/without layer mask?

Click to expand...

As far as I know, they are all good, and can all be offered as a plug-in.
As I said earlier in this thread, I know Neat Image (Pro+) from personal experience and I never felt the need to look further (after checking the reviews about the others). Neat Image is highly tunable, so it's more a question of getting to know the particulars of the program than one being better than the other. Neat Image was the first to the market, so I consider it a very mature program.

Do not entirely dismiss the possibility of a stand-alone program, because the plug-in could slow down the workflow if you have multiple images that need treatment. Neat Image's stand-alone version (is part of the Pro+ package) also offers batch processing which could run unattended, while you do other postprocessing in Photoshop.

Of course if you process single images, the plug-in version is very useful. It e.g. allows to noise reduce a duplicate layer, which can be masked with photoshop, and/or used for sharpening only detail and not noise. Very flexible.

Bart

Thanks Bart and Nicolas, its weird (ironic?) that I get responses from you two. The photos that I most want to apply NR to are photos from my trips to Paris and Amsterdam. I also have some evening photos of the Taj Mahal so maybe a forum member from India will be the next reply. If Asher pipes in I guess I could find a photo of Big Sur or the Golden Gate that needs NR!!

I definitely want a plug-in version. I recognise the value of a stand alone program but as a photo hobbyist not doing critical work for clients I frankly won't be using a stand alone program. It just seems to add too much work to the workflow for what is essentially a hobby. I can't fathom spending so much time post processing - I already have a FT job! Don't think I'd ever want to spend time doing a multi-pass noise reduction. Most of my shots end up downsized on the internet and the differences from a multi-pass approach are not noticed on such a photo. Maybe they would on a large print. I do have the free noise reduction community stand alone program - but as I said earlier it adds too much to my workflow. Maybe there are easier ways to use the stand alone program and I am ignorant of a workflow that could use it with ease.
I've read on a few forum posts how some people use their noise reduction program for other things than noise reduction. Some NR apps seem to be more manipulable and fine tunable but as a hobbyist posting most of my shots on the web, I really don't need a program of such sophistication. Essentially I just want one that reduces noise and better than CS3 but with as much ease of use (remember - I am a hobbyist that wants to TAKE photos not forever process them)

I am curious, do most of the people that use these plugins apply noise reduction on a separate layer using a mask or are these programs good enough that one can tune them so that excellent results are acheived without having to create a mask?

I've used all three and settled on Noiseware on highly subjective grounds, ease of use and just liking the looks of the results being among them.

All three are good and all three come in plug-in versions. FWIW, the Noiseware plug-in is very easy to use in batch mode; never tried that with the other two.

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

thanks Nill - (though I haven't been to Georgia)

Ease of use and good results are probably the criteria I am most looking for (guess I could have saved myself a longwinded request if I stated that in the beginning).

One vote for Noiseware.
Actually I am hoping noise Ninja wins cuz it does have the funniest name (but that WON'T be the criterium I use)