Noise Reduction programs ...

[Teddy Regpala]

I'm still torn on what to get.
Specific for bird images (or butterfly and other insects ;D ), what noise reduction programs are you guys using?

Noise Ninja? Noiseware? Neatimage? Dfine? CS builtin nr? Others?

Please state what and why you like it.
And of course, some tips to share are welcome.

Thanks.

Ted

[Ding Carpio]

Been using NeatImage for about 4-5 years now and very happy. Started with the entry-level edition and now upgraded to Pro. Some features I like:

1. Excellent and calibrateable noise reduction.
2. Noise-reduction profiles you can download and/or create your own.
3. Sharpening (also calibrateable) together with NR.
4. Plug-in into Photoshop so you can include an action to create a layer and NeatImage it. Then, for fine-tuning, you can just adjust the transparency of that layer.
5. Batch process for some real shotgun approach of NR to a big bundle of photos. I only use this for non-aesthetically critical photos (e.g. work documentation), preferring #4 above.

Of course, I never used any other NR program aside from the one built into Photoshop so I have no point of comparison. I think all/most of the NR programs have free trial downloadables so you can compare and see which one works best for you.

[Bobby Kintanar]

If you have Adobe Photoshop CS2, try out Noise Ninja plug-in. Works for me :-)

[Teddy Regpala]

That's a good idea Bobby. Will download the trial versions and check how they compared to each other.

But would appreciate to know how you guys deal with noise.

Thanks.

[Bobby Kintanar]

Normally, if the lighting is good, noise is not an issue with our camera bodies (40d's), even at Hi - ISO, however, when light levels are low, noise tends to be very much of a concern - and that's when we need the hi-ISO speeds all the more! In this case I turn to de-noising software like Noiseware or Noise Ninja. I have taken some ISO 1600 shots and used Noise Ninja on them with acceptable results:







The best way to deal with noise is, of course, to use the lowest possible ISO for the picture, however, this is mostly a pipe dream in our field of photography, but keeping your ISO at 400 for most of your shots will help a lot. :-)

[Teddy Regpala]

Thanks Bobby.

You mentioned Noiseware and Noise Ninja. And NeatImage and CS have been mentioned as well. ;D

The D300's noise are very fine even at ISO 800, very film-like grain.
BUT, the thing is, the birding sortie I'll be making this weekend will be in a riparian habitat. Some if not most of the birds that will be observed will be likely in the shaded areas.
AND, I'll be shooting with a slow glass for now (an f/4 + a TC1.4).
I'll be needing assistance of high ISO unfortunately, so I expect some noise on my captures.
If I think I can get by using a slower shutter speed, I'll do that first rather than raising the ISO.

This is what I read so far:
Noiseware - best in removing noise, but removes a lot of detail as well, probably not good for birding if you want details from the feathers.
NeatImage - good at preserving details, but there's still noise. Needs a lot of tweaking.
Noise Ninja - easiest to use. Good compromise between noise and details.

If at all possible, I'd like to avoid NR as well.

Nice captures by the way, and NR works on those images.