Neat Image or Noise Ninja?

[jocke71]

I've used Neat Image up to this point to reduce noise in photos, but I'm not always som happy with the result which tends to look a bit "plastic" and unreal - too slick I guess. Now I'm thinking about getting a license for Noise Ninja and am wondering if it's worth the switch. Anyone out there who has tried both and could give me a short review.
Greatly appreciated.
:-)

[AdrianW]

If your NeatImage results are too "plastic" then I'd strongly recommend you experiment with the settings - you can increase and decrease noise reduction in a fairly dramatic way. Generally a plastic like result means you have the noise reduction up too high.

NeatImage vs NoiseNinja - I'd suggest, rather than relying on us, that you form your own opinions - visit the NoiseNinja website and download the trial and try it for yourself.

Personally I prefer NeatImage, but others seem to prefer NoiseNinja...

[jocke71]

Thank you for your input, didn't find a trial for Ninja, but I'll check the web once again.
Cheers.

[AdrianW]

Hi Joakim,

Basically you download the full version from here, but without the license key it'll only start in trial mode.

Hope that helps,

A.

[Praetzer]

My standard is Noise Ninja but I experiment also with
Noiseware CE
Picture_cooler.

both are freeware

[thien]

The default pattern scanning for Neat Image (and to some degree) is quite aggressive and tends to turn your grandma portrait into a grandmaster-diffused Marilyn Monroe glamour look. But really to take advantage of any noise removal tool, it has to be done per photo or at least having a noise profile of each ISO that your camera supports. The strength of Noise Ninja over Neat Image is its speed (I haven't tested the Neat Image 4.x to see if it has catch up with Noise Ninja yet) and the ability to touch up (i.e.: restoring parts where you don't want Noise Ninja to apply).

[Rinie_Hoff]

Hi Joakim,
I once downloaded a noise reducting program here, called 'Noiseware', and besides freeware, they have professional editions for Windows, as well as MAC, and plug-ins for Photoshop CS.
I know this does not answer your question about Neat Image or Noise Ninja, but I am very pleased with Noiseware. I like it better than Neat Image. I never checked Noise Ninja.
Good luck.

[jocke71]

Thank you all for the input. Another question on the topic of noise reduction. Is there a difference in effect if you do noise reduction before or after resizing the image (to a smaller format, for example to post on TE)? Should you do noise reduction before or after applying the USM?

Regards
Joakim

[Praetzer]

I reduce noise nearly always as first task in my workflow.
Alfred

[AdrianW]

I agree with Alfred, noise reduction is always my first step if it's required.

If the package has calibrated options for the various cameras/ISOs those can only make sense at original image size, as the noise size/pattern will be significantly different after resizing.

As an aside, the performance difference Thien mentioned between NoiseNinja and NeatImage depends on your hardware. On my old system (AMD Athlon 1.1GHz) NeatImage was actually faster in many cases, that's because NoiseNinja relies on a later version of SSE than that particular Athlon supports ;)