Lightroom noise reduction. Automating workflow.

SloYerRoll

I think Lr's noise reduction basically sucks (unless you can show me otherwise). I'm aware of all the major noise redction brands on the market today. BUt I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate these into my workflow.

I've figured out you can make a droplet to run Ps actions via go to Export Actions during export. But in order for me to do this. I need to purchase the Pro version of NN so I can batch process through Ps.

Any other ideas on how to do this?

BTW I normally keep my ISO at one setting at a time. So when I do shoot at ISO800/1600 it will be all my shots. I'm not a big fan of sitting in front of my machine since I do that all night in my home office.

Any thought or ideas are warmly welcomed.

Cheers,
-Jon

pathfinder

Jon, I must admit that I do not do batch processing myself, so this may be all wet. I do like, and use Noisewear quite frequently.

Noisewear comes as a PS plug in, and as a stand alone program. Both apparently support batch processing of jpgs, tiff,s pngs, and bmps according to their website here - http://www.imagenomic.com/tutorial_batch.aspx

SloYerRoll

Thanks Ken,

I don't batch process either. But I'm finding situations where higher ISO shooting can solve allot of my problems. The D50 is great for some things. But high ISO is definately not one of them. Noise is noticable even at ISO400.

I was about to buy a D200. Then realized the D50 was still more than enough camera for my needs. (I just sold one of them and if this one breaks though)

I'm figuring a noise reduction app like NW or NN will be pretty hands free though. Correct? I'd like to dial my shots in via Lr, then send them through the noise reduction app and call it a day. Preferrably automated in the export dialog box via droplet or whatever.

Is this realistic? Even if it takes a bit of time to get dialed in?

Icebear

Hey Jon
Save the $100 youda spent on noise reduction software and add it to your $tash. Then buy a D300 instead of the D200, and you can forget about noise. As I've said before, if you really want a D200, I'll sell you mine.

SloYerRoll

Ya. It's on my list of things to buy. Got a 700 dollar discount? I almost thought about selling my PW's (x5) and buying a D200. Then I woke up, laughed and realized I can do more w/ that light than I can do w/ a D3X.

Giphsub

Jon, did you come up with a solution for this? I am using LR and am not all that happy with the noise reduction abilities...

SloYerRoll

Nothing to speak of. It's a hassle since w/o noise reduction in my workflow. I can stay 100% in Lr.

As wildly popular as Lr is. I'm really surprised nothing plugin wise has been released. Even in the Beta stages.

Icebear

Patience Grasshopper.
The NN folks are rumored to be workin' on it.

SloYerRoll

Patience is for the grasshoppers. If I was patient, I would own half the cool things I own now!

Giphsub

Thanks for the reply Jon.

Icebear, is this merely a rumour?? Or is there actually something to it?

arodney

Icebear wrote:

Patience Grasshopper.
The NN folks are rumored to be workin' on it.

If you're referring to processing INSIDE of LR, you're going to be waiting awhile. The SDK just released doesn't apply to the processing engine itself, just input and output modules.

They may have some provisions of doing this using this SDK, but that means processing outside the ACR engine.

arodney

The NR in LR 1.3 is greatly improved and pretty good. Not Noiseware but certainly not crap!

Icebear

arodney wrote:

If you're referring to processing INSIDE of LR, you're going to be waiting awhile. The SDK just released doesn't apply to the processing engine itself, just input and output modules.

They may have some provisions of doing this using this SDK, but that means processing outside the ACR engine.

Andrew, thanks for your usual "way too knowledgable" reply.
Is the SDK you're referring to a "software development kit" from Adobe? If so that's not the news we wanted, is it? The PictureCode folks have been saying all along that they were waiting for Adobe to make it possible for them to develop a plug-in for LR. Doesn't sound like that's too high on Adobe's priority list. Rats.

arodney

Icebear wrote:

Is the SDK you're referring to a "software development kit" from Adobe?

Yes.

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroomsdk/

SloYerRoll

thanks for the comments all.

Andrew,
I know perception is reality but you have a pretty critical eye for things like this.
So what's your opinion on Lightroom 1.3 in regards to HIGH ISO. i.e. D200 @ 1600/3200 . Is this a viable option? Or is it just good enough to shave off color noise in more optimal conditions?

arodney

SloYerRoll wrote:

thanks for the comments all.

Andrew,
I know perception is reality but you have a pretty critical eye for things like this.
So what's your opinion on Lightroom 1.3 in regards to HIGH ISO. i.e. D200 @ 1600/3200 . Is this a viable option? Or is it just good enough to shave off color noise in more optimal conditions?

I don't know, I don't have a D200 (I'm using a 5D). I shoot at 1600 often in available light with a 35mm F1.4. Its noisy. But that's less an issue than getting the image.

KED

SloYerRoll wrote:

thanks for the comments all.

Andrew,
I know perception is reality but you have a pretty critical eye for things like this.
So what's your opinion on Lightroom 1.3 in regards to HIGH ISO. i.e. D200 @ 1600/3200 . Is this a viable option? Or is it just good enough to shave off color noise in more optimal conditions?

I don't even have your BRAND of camera (yes, Canon guy, sue me), but I've been shooting indoors a lot lately at 1600. No matter what they say about the high-ISO capability of the 1D's there's still way too much noise for my taste. I have NN as a PS plug-in, but have found that to be acting funky lately -- seems to be adding noise instead of reducing it. Just today I downloaded the free trial of Noiseware Pro -- I just tried it out quickly on one image, had some weird round-trip issues due to lack of license but I sure liked the (optionally) automated functionality. To be continued on that front . . .

The NR in LR 1.3 is still rudimentary compared to the "majors" -- it's a single slider for each of color and luminance noise, instead of having more of LR's "sharpening" type options (radius, etc). But for what I've been doing lately it's been more than sufficient, although I'd probably hate to see most of my indoor hoop images printed at 11x14!

SloYerRoll

Thanks KED!
That's the kind of answer I was looking for.
I won't sue you for shooting Canon. We all make mistakes inn life. Some are just more egregious than others. (j/k)

I just got back from Bend, Oregon's winterfest last night and there was a big snowboard rail jam. I haven't looked yet, but I think I got some good shots. Especially at 5fps

All shots were taken at ISO1600 so I could keep my strobe power low enough to hammer down on the shutter.

I'll try Lr NR. But I think my high ISO workflow is going to end up being do all my work in Lr. Then export the jpegs for whatever type of media consumption, then just send it through a stand alone app like NW or NN.

I'm not a big fan of running Ps just for a plugin. I'll do some research and some actual tests then update this thread. I'm pretty sure there are other Lr users looking for the same answer.

Thanks again for all the comments.

Cheers,
-Jon

KED

SloYerRoll wrote:

then just send it through a stand alone app like NW or NN.

As I'm sure you're aware both are available as standalones or as plug-ins. I'm still trying to figure LR out in all its glory; CS3 theoretically comes next, but I figured that a round trip is a round trip, and since I might one day need (and be able to use) CS3, I might as well consolidate.