Noise Reduction, PhotoAI vs Denoise

In this video, I look at Topaz Labs' products for noise reduction.
How does the simplified Photo AI compare with the more versatile Denoise AI?
Keep in mind Photo AI also serves as a sharpening and upsizing program all integrated into one piece of software that works seamlessly with most major editing software.
Please consider using this link for both new and existing Topaz Labs customers:
www.topazlabs....
Patreon info:
www.patreon.com/wildlifeinspired
For questions with Topaz products email me at, [e-mail]

[@PhilWarner]

I bought Sharpen AI & Denoise AI last week and after adding the Gigapixel AI the Photo AI was a free download. Thanks! New subscriber and love your channel.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Thanks for the sub!

[@rknevt3530]

The first time I tried Photo AI, significant portions of the image were missed by the noise reduction the way you describe beginning about 10:08. Normally when I execute the "edit with" command from Capture One it defaults to the previous settings for creating a file for editing; this is always TIFF - uncompressed - Prophoto RGB for my purposes. But with Photo AI it had somehow created a TIFF - uncompressed - Adobe RGB file. Once I created another copy with the Prophoto RGB setting corrected, the denoising wasn't missing any portions of the image. I'm still experimenting with various images and settings and comparing them to the separate Denoise - Gigapixel - Sharpen applications, but so far it seems to be doing a great job. With a little tweaking in Photo AI, the results for both are practically indistinguishable; and the process while making the adjustments is significantly faster.

[@WildlifeInspired]

In a couple days, I have a follow up coming out. They are updating the software a lot right now. The new video shows RAW vs TIFF vs PS filter

[@wheatonimages]

Thanks Scott...good video. What confused me when this came out was Adjust AI vs Photo AI...I thought they were the same thing and didn't really pay attention to this new plug-in. BTW, I own all the Topaz products and have been using them for years.

[@BenjaminAdamsVu]

I too like the new PAi better for convenient and all in one suite, thanks for the comparison

[@kristianforkel8382]

I also got both, but currently my main concern about Photo AI is, that you can't choose the AI model. Different images require different AI modles.

[@mich8261]

I’m an indecisive person so I like Photo AI because it kind of forces me down one path. I have so far mostly used it for sports photography (middle school cross country team) where I can very quickly go into Photo AI from Lrc and be back out. That’s also not a pixel peeping kind of photography so it helps

[@tagada4727]

Hello sir. I use the Topaz suite and your video is very informative. Can you tell me how to get or create the color adjustment that lets you see the noise in the photos ?

[@WildlifeInspired]

You'll have to check out Patreon for that www.patreon.com/wildlifeinspired I show lots of these techniques there but it is a subscription based site (very low cost!)

[@19Photographer76]

I was looking at your GPU usage, can you share which video card you have/memory of the GPU. The Low light seemed to leave a very slight halo of noise around the head from what I could see with compression. I use PureRaw for my first pass of noise reduction and optical correction. Photo AI seems to blur into the head more. So Scott, if you were just doing Macro, would you even use either one? The Best edit issue the Photo AI handles, halo noise around the subjects. It seems to feather in instead of out.

[@WildlifeInspired]

I'll shoot you a message when I get home and share my system info

[@RogerZoul]

I own the 3-app bungle and have a current license. I have not downloaded PhotoAI yet, but I have noticed that none of the 3 apps have received a single update since PhotoAI hit the streets. My concerned here is that PhotoAI is not optional, it seems you must get it if you want any updates at all in the 3-app bundle. I’m not sure how I feel about this nor am I happy about having redundant apps on my Mac and PC and laptop. This feels like a forced upgrade to me.

[@WildlifeInspired]

If you own all 3, Photo AI should be Free so there is really no downside to owning it. Then you can pick and chose what or if you chose to keep updating the software

[@RogerZoul]

@@WildlifeInspired My point is that Topaz has stopped all development, including bug fixes on the prior software and is only working on the product with all three apps integrated. They are, therefore, forcing paying users to adopt the new app. This would not be a problem at all if they kept updating the previous apps, but they aren’t. But I paid for another year before they had even mentioned PhotoAI. This is poor treatment of customers. It is not like they haven’t been using us as beta testers for years now. These apps have involved so much since I first started using them that I can’t reproduce prior results using them, the most noticeable being with the Sharpen AI app. Think about that for a second. It means you may or may not be able to produce the same results you got a year ago using these AI apps. Maybe you can hack around and produce something you find acceptable, but it will very likely be different, but not necessarily better.

[@keithhider2170]

I have the bundle and Photo AI. I continue to much prefer Denoise if I just want to reduce or eliminate noise - there's more control, different denoise models and, on my computer, it processes much quicker than Photo AI. I find it's also much easier to use and faster for batch processing multiple images. Photo AI comes into it's own if I want to upscale the image. The upscaling engine seems to remove an amount of noise as it is doing the upscaling that often negates the need for further specific denoise. Personally, I'm not a fan of sharpening using either Sharpen AI of Photo AI. They both introduce ugly artefacts and pictures look unnatural. AT least, that's my experience.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Very fair analysis

[@rodbotic]

I haven't bought the updated licence, so my version is about a year out of date. Has the pixel shifting issue been solved? That might only be a sharpenAI issue. I have never tried 100% lowlight denoise, with original detail slider to bring it back. I will have to give that a try.

[@WildlifeInspired]

I didn't notice it like I did with sharpen.

[@eliaspap8708]

I just bought and downloaded Topaz Photo AI, i dont have any other programs running but its seems extremely slow on My MacBook Pro i7 16gb. It takes about 15-20mins saving files just on gigibit, when i add noise reduction it gets worse, scared to add sharpen as they may take forever.

[@WildlifeInspired]

sorry thats not my experience. i do run 16g of ram

[@joebartlett3958]

Have been reasonably happy with the denoise performance on Photo AI. I find the AI sharpening tends to over sharpen. Mostly bird photos and the oversharpening really shows up. The subject selection is terrible, which is surprising as I thought the subject selection in Sharpen AI was good, usually. They desperately need a useable brush to refine the subject selection. Their AI brush is interesting but all it gets you is the edge selections.

[@WildlifeInspired]

Agree on both points. The selection refinement is for to oversimplified. As far as over sharpening, I do all my Topaz adjustments on a separate layer in PS so I can pull back opacity and merge to my liking. This dull down the sharpening and brings BACK a little noise pattern that I dont mind.

[@jbr84tx]

I prefer DeNoise AI because of the ability to tweak the settings. If you're in a hurry, PAI can save you a lot of time, but results might not be quite as good.

[@tonyb2760]

Photo AI needs more user input options and then it would be great.

[@WildlifeInspired]

It's definitely super (overly) simplified

[@IvanToman]

Lowlight returned best feathers without doubt.

[@billblackledge2679]

I’m not sure Topaz could make their product pricing anymore confusing. 🤔

[@WildlifeInspired]

Ya. This one complicates the structure. But there's a chance it's very reduced or even free if you own some of their other products. Had a few clients verify that info and they confirmed. They got it free