Noise reduction software needed

[RPF]

My wife took pictures at her brother's wedding last weekend with our new FZ50. She decided to play it safe since the church seemed to be well lit, and so she shot on AUTO. This might have worked except the minister requested no flash during the ceremony, and the AUTO setting, in spite of what the owner's manual states on page 86 ("When setting to [AUTO], the ISO sensitivity is automaticlaly adjusted fro [ISO100] to [ISO200] according to the brightness"), the camera pushed the ISO to 800!!! We now have bunch of critical pix of the wedding that have too much noise to be printable, even at 4" x 6".

Is there a way to fix these images with the software included with the camera (ArcSoft Software Suite). I haven't loaded it yet, as I dont' like to load software on my computer that I don't think I'll ever use.

If not the included software, is there anything out there that doesn't cost an arm and a leg that sill fix these pictures?

Thanks,
RPF

[K1W1]

Imagenomic Noiseware Comunity Edition (http://www.imagenomic.com/) is free. Try it out. If you like it you can always upgrade to one of the paid versions.

[genece]

Try neat image there is a fully functional Demo version here.
http://www.neatimage.com/howto.html
I am wondering if you had Intellegent ISo turned on?

[RPF]

Thanks for your replies. I did download Noiseware a few hours ago and fiddled with one image. It improves things noticeably, and I haven't tried all the options.

genece, the FZ50's AUTO mode fixes the "sensitivity" setting at Intellegent ISO. As I remarked, what I didn't expect, due to the text I quoted from the manual, was for the ISO to be pushed to such extremes. I'll go to the neatimage site and check it out. I recall seeing it mentioned on a couple of digcam review sites. Also, thanks for your response on an earlier thread regarding settings for shots at a high school night football game. Due to driving distance (the games aren't local) and scheduling problems we haven't had a real opportunity to try your suggestions, which sounded right on.

RPF

[K1W1]

Check the details on the Neat Image free version.
I think (from memory) that it is crippled to only a medium size image or something similar.

[genece]

When I tried Neat image it did have a couple limitations....I can not remember what they were.......but if noiseware seems OK to you, just get more familiar with it, as most of the NR programs give very similar results.

And If you are using the camera in auto mode you should perhaps at least move to program mode......it gives you much more control over things like that (ISO, focus, and metering modes).....but is still very simple to use.

[Mike63]

It wont let you save in anything but JPEG.
You cannot adjust the quality of the JPEG as it is saved.
You lose all attached data such as EXIF.

Other than that I really like it.

[RPF]

Mike, which program are you referring to - Neat Image or Noiseware?

genece - I agree wholeheartedly - program mode is the way to go, now that I've learned my lesson.

[Mike63]

Neat Image free version