I recently updated my denoise program , and now have 8 bit, but was wondering how much of a difference it really makes using 8 bit vs 16.
Normally I try and stay in 16 bit as long as possible.
Should I upgrade from my neat Image 8 bit to 16 ?
I do, but been waiting for replies since I've been wondering the same thing.
Are you referring to an upgrade to the 32/64-bit version of Neat Image?
Right now I have Neat Image 6 Pro+. I believe that when I was using an older version of Photoshop, this version was useable as a plug-in. When I upgraded to a 64-bit version of Photoshop, I would have had to upgrade Neat Image to 64-bit, but I didn't so I lost the plug-in feature.
This hasn't been that big a deal, since I tend to use Neat Image in the stand-alone mode, processing several hundred OOC jpg's at once. It's after this batch process that I open the files in Photoshop (usually for simple processing, i.e. crop, curves, shadow/highlight, saturation bump, and sharpen).
I'm doing more RAW processing and using actions, so I've been thinking of upgrading Neat Image so I can use it as a plug-in again. I'm not sure what the cost would be - you need your license key before the Neat Image website will give you the cost, and I don't have it handy here at work.
According to their website, the latest version is also optimized for use with the new graphics cards, and is also compatible with CS6 (I'm still using CS5).
I'm also debating if my money is better spent buying something different. I've been looking at NIK Dfine. That seems to be really highly regarded, and I like the way it's fairly easy to make selections so your NR is targeted on specific areas. But of course, this wouldn't be any help when running a batch or an action.
Same thing here working in RAW all the time, I just wanted to see If anyone actually saw a difference beween 8 and 16. I did the upgrade to 32/64, but If I try and do denoising while the image is still in 16 bit I get a message saying I need to upgrade.
I guess it would depend how early in the work flow you want to apply noise reduction and whether you do any significant edits after NR that should be done in 16 bit. If someone does not do drastic changes then it would matter very little whether they happened in 8 bit or 16 bit.
I was a great fan of Neat Image Pro but after I got Lightroom and upgraded to version 3 the NR in that was sufficient for almost everything. In fact, more than just sufficient. So for me NIP has fallen out of use in large part because of Lr and because I tend to work on raw files with the parametric editing instead of converting raws to separate files and processing them with Ps or NIP or whatever else.
With the very few responses I have had, I'm wondering If there are that many that use it any longer. I thought it did a pretty good job.
I work on images in RAW as well, but I don't tend to do much NR in the beginning, mostly because I fear losing any image detail. But I do tend to do it, just before sharpening, which I like to do in Lab mode.
I use Neatimage 64bit. It work just like the 8bit version so you can stay in Photoshop 64bit. I do very little NR and sharpening in ACR just a bit to have a sharper image that comes from the camera without and NR applied. There is always a trade off when doing sharpening and NR between loosing details and adding sharpening artifacts. So I do very little in ACR. If I shot the images at a high ISO like 3200 the image needs some additional NR so I will use Neatimage after ACR for I'm use to its interface it also has camera profile matching etc. I do not use Neatimages to do sharpening just noise reduction for images that need it. While my Canon 1D Mk IV noise is quite good ISO 1600+ images are normally run through NeatImage. I do a second sharpening just before saving my output images. For the Web I normally only do an Image>Image Size and use resample and constrain then set the top section width or height I want for the web and set bicubic sharper interpolation. This is normally good for most users display resolutions. For Print I do sharpening on a Layer that is blended into the layers below. This sharpening is nondestructive adjustable and can be discarded.
I doubt you will see a difference in NI 16-bit verses 8-bit. The real issue is that 16-bit will let you do noise reduction early, before a possible 8-bit change. Me, I just leave everything 16-bit.
I no longer use NI. The noise reduction in Adobe RAW is pretty friggin good, and I keep everything non destructive. RAW to finished or RAW to finish via smart objects.
I use a canon 20D, and I would say just about everything nds to go through Neat Image. I just upgraded to Photoshop CS6, and I wasn't even aware it had any noise reduction, then again, it has so many things I've never used that doesn't surprise me.
How do I access noise reduction in Photoshop ?
When you mentioned earlier that you wondered if folks still used NI, I'm sure less do because the NR in ACR has gotten very good.
The sliders are only available in ACR. So you have to do your editing in RAW (although now you can open jpg's in ACR too).
I shoot a lot of ice hockey at ISO4000. Usually I batch process the OOC jpg's through Neat Image using the default settings. This fall I've started shooting RAW more. I like the better white balance I'm getting, but to be honest, I don't think the NR results using ACR on the RAW file are any better than what I was getting using jpg's and Neat Image (this with a 7D). I've even tried two steps, applying NR in ACR (Luminance 35, Luminance Detail 80), then after conversion running the jpg's through NI.
Here's one of my daughter using only ACR NR. Notice the noise on the black pants (maybe hard to see at this image scale). If I had run the corresponding OOC jpg through NI, that wouldn't be there. And I'm not convinced that the extra loss of detail after NI is significant. That may be because it's really the face where you want detail, but the cage is already in the way so loss of detail isn't as noticeable.
I use NI sometimes. Regardless of the plug-in maker, I do everything in 16-bit mode, except jpegs for the web. I did not know they have an 8-bit version.
