Adobe introduces AI noise reduction

LrC 12.3 and ACR 15.3 releases today. Today is a good day. The wait is over and I waited for a long time. They kept the orginal NR in the Detail panel for speed editing.

https://blog.adobe.com …04/18/denoise-demystified

Well a new era begins. My favourite ISO 16,000 test file taken with the R. Now you push Texture, Sharpening and Detail even more and not use the Sharpening Mask.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2oud​Mqc

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2oud​MqH

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2ouc​Ei7

Wow that is quite impressive! I think I'll be updating Lightroom and giving this a try on some old photos

I've been using Topaz DeNoise AI for a while now and was curious to see how this compares.

Here's a CRAW from my R5, cropped to 25.9MP and exposure adjustments applied, but no noise reduction. Exported as a 1600 1066 jpg to post here.

Here's the same image cleaned up with Topaz using default settings. The resulting TIFF file was exported from LR as a 1600x1066 jpg

And here are 1600 x1066 crops, Topaz first.

I think the bird looks better in the LR version, but it retained some background noise. But Topaz has a "high noise" setting I think might give better results than standard. I take the images out to Photoshop and apply the Topaz programs there, so with layers and masking I can even mix settings if necessary. I need to play with LR some more, but this is very promising.

This is a pretty good video.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=uvLudg1TS9o

Everyone should do their own testing.

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=6ayXiiaqttM&​t=853s

It works well. I have Topaz Denoise AI, the stand alone application that I have not upgraded in a year or so and I was considering purchasing Topaz Photo AI, but held off. Lightroom Denoise AI made that decision for me.

Files cleaned up with LR Denoise AI are a little soft, but sharpen extremely well after denoising.

I will say, though, that this is a first iteration of this feature and I assume that future upgrades will improve the process. If you have not used this yet, please know that LR Denoise AI is VERY GPU dependent. I just upgraded my computer to an i5-13600KF and a Radeon RX 580 graphics card with 8 gb GDDR5 memory. The cpu isn't used during LR Denoise, but the GPU is maxed out during the conversion. Takes about 1 minute to complete and generates a new .dng file that is 3+ times larger than the raw file. I'm seeing comments on YouTube videos that people with older GPUs can't use the denoise feature or it is taking >20 minutes (YIKES!) to process one file. Given that, the third party denoising options may still be the way to go if you have an older computer or older graphics card.

Tim

Orogeny wrote in post #19508890
It works well. I have Topaz Denoise AI, the stand alone application that I have not upgraded in a year or so and I was considering purchasing Topaz Photo AI, but held off. Lightroom Denoise AI made that decision for me.

Files cleaned up with LR Denoise AI are a little soft, but sharpen extremely well after denoising.

I will say, though, that this is a first iteration of this feature and I assume that future upgrades will improve the process. If you have not used this yet, please know that LR Denoise AI is VERY GPU dependent. I just upgraded my computer to an i5-13600KF and a Radeon RX 580 graphics card with 8 gb GDDR5 memory. The cpu isn't used during LR Denoise, but the GPU is maxed out during the conversion. Takes about 1 minute to complete and generates a new .dng file that is 3+ times larger than the raw file. I'm seeing comments on YouTube videos that people with older GPUs can't use the denoise feature or it is taking >20 minutes (YIKES!) to process one file. Given that, the third party denoising options may still be the way to go if you have an older computer or older graphics card.

Tim

He didn't even try using the Texture or Detail siders in that video. I find between those and Sharpening I can push further than before.

Adobe Denoise takes about 45 seconds my machines. Photo AI about the same. PureRaw 2 took about 25 and PR3 about 45. Hopefully Adobe makes some performance improvements in the next releases. In this blog they are hoping to avoid creating a DNG. My guess it Denoise would apply at import and be part of the engine? I think that is a lon ways off.

https://blog.adobe.com …04/18/denoise-demystified

Very impressive indeed and simple to use. I tried it on a couple of night time images, it brought up quite a bit more details.

digital paradise wrote in post #19508892
He didn't even try using the Texture or Detail siders in that video. I find between those and Sharpening I can push further than before.

Agreed. The files definitely accept more modification using all three of those sliders. With birds, it is easy to have LR select the subject and then sharpen it up.

Tim

Orogeny wrote in post #19508890
It works well. I have Topaz Denoise AI, the stand alone application that I have not upgraded in a year or so and I was considering purchasing Topaz Photo AI, but held off. Lightroom Denoise AI made that decision for me.

Yeah, same here. I was wondering if Adobe might just buy Topaz, or develop their own technology. Now we have the answer. There is so much future in AI that Adobe must have wanted to be on top of it for a myriad of future imaging applications.

I noticed LR updating on my laptop; still have to check to see if the desktop has been updated.

Archibald wrote in post #19508938
Yeah, same here. I was wondering if Adobe might just buy Topaz, or develop their own technology. Now we have the answer. There is so much future in AI that Adobe must have wanted to be on top of it for a myriad of future imaging applications.

I noticed LR updating on my laptop; still have to check to see if the desktop has been updated.

Or DXO. I had those same thoughts but then it would still be an app outside unless you incorporate it into LrC/ACR. To incorporate you are buying the R&D and tech. This is not new and with the advancements in AI just build from the ground up, perhaps with an engineer you stole from a competitor. Adobe is rich in resources and likely did not need to.

I did a test the other day. Adobe's interface felt like early versions of Topaz. Kinda primitive, like they rushed that part out. I'm thinking in a few months, they'll catch up. I miss even dumb stuff in the interface, like being able to pick the name of the result DNG. The default name doesn't fit in my workflow. No big deal, but very annoying.

Functionality, though, it looks pretty good. I ran the same picture, shot at ISO 12800, through both. Here's ~100% crop. Topaz on the left, LRC on the right.