Topaz Photo AI is one of the newest noise reduction software in the market and it has quickly become one of the most used thanks to its intuitive interface and wide range of AI-powered tools. With Topaz Photo AI you can denoise your images, sharpen them and enlarge them, all in one tool.
Our Top Choice Topaz Labs DeNoise AI Topaz Labs DeNoise AI Dedicated noise reduction software Uses AI for better noise recognition and removal Masking tools for targeted noise reduction Excellent RAW file processing Shop Offers Topaz Labs DeNoise AI Deals(second hand)Check Price(second hand)Check PriceBuy Now!If you buy a product through one of our referral links we will earn a commission (without costing you anything).Prices last updated on .
This level of noise reduction will satisfy most amateur photographers. So you can continue using Adobe Lightroom without any plug-ins or other programs. But professional photographers dealing with a lot of noise might need a backup program.
One feature across the Nik Collection is the use of Control Points. These are like selective edits for targeted noise removal. Place a Control Point over a targeted area. And you can control the contrast and color noise reduction for that area.
Digital noise has been a problem in digital photography for years. But thankfully, there are some excellent noise reduction software available. Whether they are dedicated denoising tools or all-in-one programs, they remove noise and improve image quality.
Topaz Labs DeNoise AI is the best noise reduction software. This software is dedicated to removing noise. And it does that with a high level of success. It removes noise without damaging image quality. And you can also sharpen the images to enhance detail. The AI engine is truly impressive.
Thank you very much for this comparison and remarks about the new dxo workflow.
Very useful.
DXO makes so many advertisements having the best lens correction, perspective correction (viewpoint), noise reduction and now raw processing that it is always difficult to know if it is true or not.
Same remark for your show with Scott Kelby and Serge Ramelli about capture one vs Lightroom. very useful.
I try to do as much as possible in LR before going to PS. It is clear that Both products work on exported files not raw. I would expect the basic panel to be used as before. However, texture, clarity and dehaze might interfere with the Topaz process. How much actual sharpening and noise reduction would you apply in LR, if any? I was not impressed with the available documentation as in NONE. So where is the jump off point from LR
Very convincing testimonial Matt. I heard you say that Sharpen AI appears to have noise reduction built in BUT, if I were to need to use both plug-ins (Sharpen and Denoise) on the same image, which plug-in should I use first? Thanks for all your contributions to my photo education!
Because noise is random, it normally appears all across an image in an arbitrary manner. This makes removing noise a bit of a challenge, as the noise reduction tool needs to be able to correctly identify which pixels are unwanted noise, and which are actually part of the image. The unwanted noise pixels should be replaced with pixels that seamlessly blend into the existing image.
Too much noise reduction can result in lost image detail, giving an image a soft, almost plastic look. Too little noise reduction means your images can look like a grainy speckled mess. Good noise reduction should result in a clean noise-free image that looks natural.
Whilst noise reduction is important to ensure your images look their best, running dedicated noise reduction software is not necessary for every photographer. It depends a lot on what you will be using your photos for.
Before evaluating each piece of noise reduction software and comparing them, I want to go through the various features that noise reduction software offers so you know what to consider when comparing the available options.
You would normally look to reduce the noise in your images as early in your photo editing workflow as possible. Assuming you are shooting in RAW, this means that the noise reduction tool you are using will need to support the RAW format that your camera produces.
Any photo editing application, including noise reduction software, needs to be able to read the RAW file in order to make any changes to it. So, when you are evaluating noise reduction software, you will want to check that it supports your camera model.
Note that noise reduction tools can also normally work with photos not shot in RAW, such as JPG files from smartphones. The results are likely to be less impressive as these files will already have been processed, and some form of noise reduction will likely already have been applied.
In some cases, the noise reduction software might also be sold as part of a more full-featured photo editing application which is available for a little bit more. This will normally have a full range of photo editing tools, as well as the noise reduction capabilities of the standalone software.
Instead of spending $69 for a product that does one thing, you could spend $99 on a product which does many things including noise reduction. If you are already in the market for a photo editor, this can be an excellent option.
Another feature to look at is what level of automation the tool offers. This will vary depending on the software. It might be a one-click solution, where you simply load the image and noise reduction is applied entirely automatically with minimal user input. Alternatively, it might require fully manual editing of various sliders.
Overall, my testing leads me to recommend a noise reduction tool with AI capabilities, as the results on the whole tend to be more impressive. However, I do recommend you test any tool out before making a final decision.
Many photographers looking for noise reduction software already have an existing photography workflow in place. That means you probably already use a photo editing application like Adobe Lightroom to edit and manage your photos.
If so, finding a noise reduction tool that seamlessly integrates into your existing setup will make your photo editing workflow a little bit easier. Many noise reduction tools ship with plugins for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, which is arguably the most common photo management and editing product on the market.
A plugin makes it easier to send an image from Lightroom to the noise reduction tool, apply the noise reduction, and then have the adjusted image come back to Lightroom where you can continue to work on it.
For example, some tools include built-in lens profile correction and image sharpening tools. As these are common tasks to perform on most images, having these built-in to the noise reduction tool can further enhance your workflow.
You might be wondering which point in your workflow is best to apply noise reduction. In my opinion, you want to apply noise reduction as early as possible. This is because as you start to edit the photo, you apply changes to the image which are also applied to the noise. For the noise reduction software to be most effective, running it on an unedited RAW photo means it can get to work on the unadulterated version of the image.
As previously mentioned, you can also usually run noise reduction tools on JPG files, however this will not yield the best results compared to using them on RAW files as JPG files are already processed.
Each noise reduction tool will normally have a recommendation as to the best point in your workflow to run it for the best results. However, you might have a specific workflow that you prefer. For example, if you are planning to crop your images, you might prefer to crop first and then just apply noise reduction to the cropped area of the image.
Noise reduction can be a time intensive process, so you can save time by only reducing noise on the area of the image you intend to use. You might also prefer to make some basic tonal edits in your photo editing application before removing noise.
In my testing, there is not a huge difference between using noise reduction before doing any editing, versus applying noise reduction after doing some basic edits. However, you should be careful of any default settings applied. For example, Lightroom applies both color noise reduction and sharpening to images automatically when you load them. In my experience, you need to turn these adjustments off before sending the image to the noise reduction tool to do its best work.
Topaz Labs have a range of tools which focus on specific tasks, including an image sharpening tool and an image upscaling tool. They also have an AI powered image tool which includes noise reduction, sharpening and upscaling in an all-in-one package, called Photo AI. More on that shortly.
Topaz Labs provides a plugin for Lightroom, so if you use Lightroom, you can send your image over to Topaz for denoising at any point in your editing workflow. If you choose to do this, I suggest turning off the default sharpening and noise reduction in Lightroom before you send the image to DeNoise AI.
When it comes to options, DeNoise has a lot of controls to offer. First, there are five noise reduction models to choose from: Standard, Clear, Low Light, Severe Noise, and RAW. Each of these is designed for a different amount of noise, and when you load an image into Topaz it will analyse it automatically and select what it thinks is the best model. However, you can also change the model, and compare different models. The five models are designed for different levels of noise, and Topaz describes them as follows:
Overall, I really like Topaz DeNoise AI for noise reduction. The interface is very clean, it works well, and the results are great. I like that it integrates with Lightroom or can be used on its own. It also has plenty of control options, even though the automatic settings work well the majority of the time.
aa06259810