Smart Sharpen & Noise Reduction first impressions

DS
Posted By
Don_Stefanik
May 10, 2005
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472
Replies
12
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Closed
Am wondering what Photoshop CS2 users think of the new Smart Sharpening function as opposed to other sharpening techniques. Am also interested in users views of the new noise reduction feature as compared to plug ins like Noise Ninja, Neat Image, and others similar products.

Don
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noise reduce sharp smart

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Jeffrey_Seidel
May 10, 2005
Smart Sharpening is useful for some specific purposes. The lens blur correction is the most useful (to me) and has the fewest negative side effects. Motion Blur sharpening is something that requires considerable care in using. Probably best to use it only on a well defined selection as opposed to trying to apply it to an entire image.

As far as noise reduction goes, I still get much better results using Noise Ninja on higher ISO shots. Noise Ninja also has better tools for manual profiling and overall better fine tuning, particularly since there are profiles available for my specific camera make/model. I did some side by side testing when I first got CS2 and I found Noise Ninja did an appreciably better job in every instance. Adobe’s noise reduction filter needs to grow quite a bit to come close to Noise Ninja’s features and performance from my experiences.
JR
jouko_ruuskanen
May 10, 2005
Smart Sharpen needs to applied with an mask (as is the case with plain USM)…. I get good results with web sized images.
Noise removal works well on images that don’t have excessive noise to start with, for example blue sky noise on low ISO images is very nicely removed. High ISO images… stick with NeatImage or Noise Ninja

Jouko
RB
Robert_Barnett
May 10, 2005
Personally, I am not impressed with either one. There are better way to sharpen and NeatImage does a much better job of noise and grain removal. I think Adobe just added these to shut people up.

Robert

wrote in message
Am wondering what Photoshop CS2 users think of the new Smart Sharpening function as opposed to other sharpening techniques. Am also interested in users views of the new noise reduction feature as compared to plug ins like Noise Ninja, Neat Image, and others similar products.
Don
KC
Kent_C
May 10, 2005
" I think Adobe just added these to shut people up."

Evidently that didn’t work 🙂

I like the additions and the sharpening is better than usm, imho, although it takes some experimentation. Like all things photoshop, there are many ways to do it – if one used the lighten/darken layers for halos, that is now built into SS, saving time.

For most cameras these days the NR will be sufficient if used selectively and with channels. There’s always a detail/noise ratio even in 3rd party plugins. However people may find the ‘auto’ sampling in Neat Image easier for global (not recommended) treatment.

I was going to ask what sharpening you’d recommend, but I see by your profile’s web page that you sell a sharpener, which is not to say that your opinion is not objective.
CC
Chris_Cox
May 10, 2005
Smart Sharpen should not need a mask.

Just make sure you turn on the more accurate checkbox for best results.
RB
Robert_Barnett
May 10, 2005
I don’t base my opinions on my trying to sell something. I base on what I see as the most effective way to get the job done. Had SmartSharpen been better I would gladly use it.

Robert
PM
Peter_McNeill
May 10, 2005
Considering the whole smartsharpen thing is new, it will take time to get input in the best use. Your post is like someone buying your sharpen prog and saying " I tried it but it didnt do want I want, it sucks". The fact your trying to sell your own prog yet complaining Adobe’s version sucks is well, baffling, any marketing guru will tell you you’ve just shot yourself in the foot.
J
johnkissane3
May 11, 2005
Some form of full disclosure would have been appropriate.
KC
Kent_C
May 11, 2005
Robert,

"I don’t base my opinions on my trying to sell something."

See: ‘which is not to say that your opinion is not objective.’
KC
Kent_C
May 11, 2005
Chris,

"Smart Sharpen should not need a mask."

That’s what I meant when I said the lighten/darken ploy is ‘built in’.
SS
Susan_S.
May 11, 2005
Now I’ve played with it I quite like smart sharpen – it does seem to do particularly well on web sized images (partly because my machine is so old and slow that it’s easier to tweak settings using the small images!) – but for my average full size image it’s faster to use my usual USM on a separate layer followed by blend if to target it to the right bits of the image. When I gets my new computer I will probably revisit it!

Noise reduction is good for a point and shoot jpeg – gets rid of chroma noise really well. Not so effective on luminosity noise and nowhere near as effective of my 20D high ISO images – there I generally prefer to leave them be except for really high ISO and if that needs noise reduction then Neat Image or Noise Ninja is better (if slower)
RB
Robert_Barnett
May 11, 2005
Unfortunately, my saying anything about my product was not possible. Adobe doesn’t allow that. Which is why I didn’t mention it. I also didn’t want to come across like I was trying to sell something. Do either of those on an Adobe forum will get your message yanked. This is also why I have not mentioned the name of the product.

Robert

"johnkissane3" wrote in message
Some form of full disclosure would have been appropriate.

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