Which NR software for FZ7?

[Kellie]

I apologize if this has been covered. I haven't had a moment to do a search.

I am trying to decide between Neat Image and Noise Ninja. I really don't know much about noise reduction, but I have noticed some noise in my higher ISO pictures that I would like to EASILY remove. Which one of these programs would you recommend? I want good results (obviously), but I also want ease of use.

Thanks!

[jcon]

I use Neat Image for all my personal and professional work. The free version is very easy to use and gives tremendous results.

[Jeff Keller]

I use Neat Image for all my personal and professional work. The free version is very easy to use and gives tremendous results.

Quoted for truth...

[tim11]

The free demo version Jason gave only works with image 1024x1024 or smaller.

[jcon]

Not true Tim, it works on the images taken from my Nikon D50 DSLR which are 3008x2000. So wherever you heard that you got the wrong info.

[Dave Dilks]

I agree with jcon, and use the free version to work with larger files all the time. Here is the feature comparison of what you get witht the various versions:
http://neatimage.com/featuremap.html

[Honest Gaza]

Not true Tim, it works on the images taken from my Nikon D50 DSLR which are 3008x2000. So wherever you heard that you got the wrong info.

I think both Tim and Jason are correct.

I just downloaded the "free" version and offer the following observations :

- When using the Photo Impact Plugin (haven't tried the Photo Shop Plugin as yet), there is a definite limitation on Image Size....1024 x 1024.
- When using the "Stand Alone" software, this message does not pop up.

Can others verify that this is the case.

[jcon]

It does that with the CS2 plug-in aswell, but it doesnt when I run the program(Neat Image) on its own. So you cant use it as a plug-in... oh well, still works just fine with no size restrictions.

[Mike63]

Using stand alone I have no size restrictions.

[Kellie]

I downloaded the free version and really like it. But I got a popup saying it will not save the exif info and saves the output image as a low quality jpg. Is there a way around this?

[Mike63]

I downloaded the free version and really like it. But I got a popup saying it will not save the exif info and saves the output image as a low quality jpg. Is there a way around this?


Not unless you pay for the full version, buy the way I thought it saved a high quality jpeg.

[Dave Dilks]

Not unless you pay for the full version, buy the way I thought it saved a high quality jpeg.


From the link I posted earlier in the thread:

"The JPEG compression is set to a fixed high quality level (91 in the scale 1-100) in Demo edition"

[jcon]

Its not low quality, actually, I have used it on some of my wedding work photos and the customers couldnt tell the difference and they all loved the pohtos. For what its worth, I will be buying the full version eventually so I can batch process.

[tim11]

Using it 'stand alone' it doesn't restrict size. It strips off all exif info and saves in highest quality - not lowest.
I have another question: my input file was about 3MP and the output is around 1.5MP; is that about right? Stripping the noise also wash out lots of details too, I guess.

[Kellie]

I misread the popup message. It said it saves as a LOSSY jpeg. I read it as LOUSY. :o I hadn't had my morning coffee. :p

The input image was 2.37 MB and the output image was 926 KB.