Digital Home Thoughts: The Luminous Landscape tests Topaz Labs DeNoise 4.1

"My first reaction when they announced it was kind of ho-hum, yet another up-date of a noise removal program – we already have at least three very decent ones (Neat Image, Noise Ninja and Noiseware), not to speak of the improved tools in Lightroom, Camera Raw and other image editing applications. But Topaz Labs claims it’s the best on the market and the download of a fully-functional 30-day trial is free, so why not give it whirl? I did and I was impressed. It’s easy to install (a plug-in in the Photoshop Filter menu, but also works with Lightroom, Photoshop Elements and several other applications), easy to use and the results (noise reduction with detail retention) are the best I’ve achieved from any noise mitigating application."

(Image credit: Topaz Labs)

Long-time contributor to The Luminous Landscape Mark Segal has written his impressions on the newcomer for software noise reduction. The first I believe was Neat Image, which I found out from a professional friend back in 2004-2005, and then came Noise Ninja. I eventually got Noise Ninja, and of all the software you can buy for your digital photos, I think this would be the best $79-99 spent.

Topaz DeNoise does look very good. I'll give it a go myself in the near future. I'd like to hear our reader's experiences with such software, so post a comment if you have!