Noise reduction techniques for the Canon G9, Best workflow, software, settings ... Options

[hassiman]

Gordon,

Would you have any suggested settings in ACR for the G9 at ISO 80?

For the G9 at ISO 800, Thomas Niemann (of PTLens fame) has suggested the following settings in ACR Details page:

Sharpening
amount=60
radius = 0.8
detail = 30
masking = 0

Noise reduction
luminance = 80
color = 100

I've tested Tom's settings against my previous thinking (and posts) on his images and several of my own images.  His settings produce very good results.  In fact, I'll have to concede that his recommended settings are the best and simplest that I've found specifically for the G9 at ISO 800.  Applying Neat Image afterward either adds no improvement or else degrades the image.  Also, although my practice has been to use PK Sharpener Capture Sharpening instead of ACR sharpening, I actually preferred the results of ACR sharpening from the above settings; however, I'll grant that the ACR sharpening might simply be more sharpening than "capture" sharpening. 

Previously I thought that luminance noise reduction in ACR was contributing to loss of detail.  Instead, it seems that the loss of detail was more related to the masking setting.  I now use masking set to 0.

Sometimes Neat Image profiles made from the calibration charts obviously are not the best for a particular image and a significantly better profile can be obtained by manually sampling an appropriate area -- if one is available.  In either case, it is very difficult to get an improvement over Tom Niemann's ACR settings by using Neat Image.

I haven't given up on Neat Image and certainly not stopped using PK Sharpen.  I hope others will try these settings and variations thereof and pass along their recommendations.

[gordonsbuck]

Gordon,

Would you have any suggested settings in ACR for the G9 at ISO 80?

Currently, I'm using those same settings except for luminance at 20.

It seems to me that masking should help but I don't have a feeling for it yet.

[walter.sk]

For the G9 at ISO 800, Thomas Niemann (of PTLens fame) has suggested the following settings in ACR Details page:

Sharpening
amount=60
radius = 0.8
detail = 30
masking = 0

Noise reduction
luminance = 80
color = 100

I tried these settings on some G9 pix at ISO 800 and was disappointed at the apparent loss of detail despite some ugly luminance noise artifacts sneaking through. I have used Neat Image and Noise Ninja, and currently use only Noise Ninja. If anybody is interested, here is what I did:

ACR:
1) No sharpening (all set to 0).
2) No Luminance or Color Noise reduction (all set to 0).
3) Basic tab used to set optimal tone and color.

Converted at that point (16bit Tiff in Prophoto RGB)

Noise Ninja:
1) Did an autoprofile of the image.
2) Inspected auto selections and added a couple of them, deleted one (It included some detail).
3) Did another autoprofile, with the improved selections.

Used the following settings in Filter:
Luminance:
1) Strength = 9
2) Smooth = 6
3) Contrast = 13
4) USM Amount = 50
5) USM Radius = 0.4
6) Turbo box was Checked
Color:
Strength = 12
Smooth = 10
Contrast = 10

Some noise was still visible in shadow areas, but it was minimal.
Detail seemed close to the original.

Viewing was done at 200% when adjusting the Filter settings, then 100% before applying Noise Ninja. I have to try some more images at those settings, then save them as a preset in Noise Ninja. Then I will tackle other ISO's.

This post has been edited by walter.sk: Jan 29 2008, 05:05 PM