Kodak Digital Gem-Pro

[Maureen Souza]

After trying a few programs for sharpening, reducing grain, smoothing skin, etc. I recently purchased Kodak's Digital Gem Professional ($100). I didn't like Focus Magic at all and I liked Neat Image okay but this program has the best over-all sharpening tools and softer smoothing effects. Neat Image can look a little too plastic at times....and ocus Magic was too grainy for my taste.

Here is a before and after sample with just a medium amount of effect added from Gem-Pro.

[Barb42]

I have used this program for some time now and I love it. Saves so much time and does an amazing job. One of my best buys.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I have an earlier version of it that I like just fine as a plug in... It did a good job too...
I don't recall the version I had having sharpening.. but maybe I'll check

I found I tend to prefer "Grain Surgery" for Noise reduction...

But for some things I still use the old "gem"

[gmitchel]

I have it. I prefer Neat Image Pro+. It does a superior job of noise removal.

If you are getting plastic-like effects with NI Pro+, you did not apply the correct settings. There is definitely a learning curve to get the most out of NI Pro+. BTW, getting aggressive with GEM-Pro will also result in plastic-like image features.

I recommend using a Merge All duplicate layer for noise removal and a surface mask (an inverted edge mask) to keep the noise removal software away from the edges and softening features.

There's a Tip on the Digital Darkroom section of my site that explains how to create and use a surface mask for noise removal. My capture sharpener will automatically create the surface mask for you, when you select the Masks Only feature.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/DigitalDarkroom/PhotoshopTools/TLRProfessionalSharpeningToolkit.htm

Cheers,

Mitch