Do you use noise reduction software?

[Harves]

Purchased and downloaded a copy of Neat Image last night, had a bit of a play with it this morning, looks like an impressive bit of software. Really like the plug-in for CS4 idea.

[ving]

PSPx2 has 2 built in noise removers. the first is just a once over type job that works really well but can obliterate fine detail entirely, the second is much better in that you can choose areas to remove noise from, size and amount of noise "particles", and also it cn sharpen... very effective.

[mikew09]

Noise, tend to get noticeable on the 400D at ISO 800 and 1600. Hardly ever shoot at that ISO so on a rare occasion have wanted to reduce noise but I am still learning PSE 7 and not even sure at how capable it is at removing noise.

I really hope this will become a thing of the past once I upgrade my gear in about 12 months.

[Inspired]

ok this maybe a dumb question...but with the NR software..eg neat image - can you use it on your raw images? or do you do all your processing save as jpeg and then put it through the software?

[coolie21]

Well after a few days trying the Nik software aperture plug in package I decided I couldn't NOT get it (thank you Darren, its all your fault )

If you are considering this I recommend you google for a coupon. My complete package of ALL the Nik apps ended up costing less than 40 USD an app

[ricktas]

ok this maybe a dumb question...but with the NR software..eg neat image - can you use it on your raw images? or do you do all your processing save as jpeg and then put it through the software?

Anything you do to a RAW file really doesnt alter the orignal RAW file, no matter what software you use. What you are generally altering is a TIF or JPG rendering of the RAW file. Most of these plugins work as stand-alone or PS add-ons, therefore you will need to be working on a TIF or JPG (PSD and others also), when you use your noise reduction software.

[milspec]

There is an interesting review and comparison of Noise Reduction software here.