DxO Photolab 4 noise reduction

snakebunk

I've never liked the noise reduction in LR, I rather have a little bit of noise than use it, but the demosaicing and deep prime noise reduction in DxO Photolab 4 is something completely different. I've started to do demosaicing, lens corrections (lens sharpness) and deep prime in photolab, export the images back to LR as dng-files and continue from there, and I am really happy with the result.

Is anyone else doing this or have you found another way to improve on the image quality in LR?

This is a description of what I do: https://www.squarepixel.photography/article/dxo-photolab-4s-second-best-new-feature

snakebunk

PS. For an example, see these Wood Duck images shot with a D810 and ISO around 4000. The noise is almost gone and I think the colors and details have improved: http://www.snakebunk.com/animalia/aves/anseriformes/aix/#aix_sponsa

spraynpray

Can you post the original shot so we can compare please? The feathers on the wood duck seem to lack detail and I would like to see how much was there in the first place.

snakebunk

@spraynpray: Check the link again, I added a LR only version below the first image. I think the lack of detail is because the bird was really close and part of it is simply out of focus. I cannot see any lack of detail in the in focus area around the eye.

retread

I open my shots in photolab 4 and export as a 16 bit .tiff to capture one 21. Deep prime works great when I have a high ISO image.

snakebunk

Nice.

spraynpray

Thanks for adding the LR version snakebunk. It does show that the result is much better than LR only for sure.

snakebunk

Yes, I think it is rather amazing. I could of course work more with the noise reduction in LR to make it a little better, but I would loose detail and get that strange plastic look.

daveznspace

Love dxo. All high iso images go thru there.

Since I didn't go along with topaz labs extortion attempt (the refunded all my money thank god) I don't use their Denise ai either.

What I kept was https://projects-software.com/denoise Pro 3. It's way different and I love it. If you join the mailing list just about everyday they do a huge drop on an apps price, like Denise pro 3 went from $99 to $29.

It's good stuff and no one really knows them

MrFotoFool

I don't use Lightroom or DxO. However I have the NIK suite of plugins that I use with Photoshop Elements. Nik Define, one of the programs included in the suite, is for noise reduction and does a great job in my experience. The noise reduction tool built into Photoshop Elements is nowhere near as good because it tends to make the entire image less sharp. Nik Define reduces noise but keeps the main subject of focus sharp. (The other NIK plugins are great as well).

retread

I have DXO Photolab and the NIK collection. I used the NIK collection with Photoshop Elements for a while. Used Define for my denoising. When I first got Phltolab I started using the noise reduction in it or Define. I am now using Photolab and Capture one. Deep prime denoising in Photolab is the best I have used. I like the NIK collection and don't use them as much as I maybe should. I only use Elements now for adding text when I need to.