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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening

Brackish
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Sep 25, 2007, 8:11 AM

Post #1 of 8 (667 views)
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Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening	Can't Post

I've heard you should use noise reduction
before sharpening and I was wondering if
anyone here knows if noise reduction
will turn out okay if used after sharpening,
instead.

See, I like to do my sharpening on the RAW
file and to use noise reduction I'd have to
take the image out of the RAW program.

Is it going to hurt me to apply a bit of
sharpening on the RAW first? Or is it
really much better to do the noise
reduction on a completely unsharpened
image?

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Shadow
Veteran

Sep 25, 2007, 11:05 AM

Post #2 of 8 (666 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

When I used to do digital restoration the signal would loop through the NR first then then the sharpening filters.
Not sure if video is any different from photo in that respect, but it seems to make sense in my little brain. If you're putting the sharpening filter on while it is noisy, I would imagine that it would also sharpen the noise.

That's my idea on the matter anyway, but I haven't done a lot of noise reduction on photos, only video.

__________________________

Brackish
Veteran

Sep 25, 2007, 6:56 PM

Post #3 of 8 (645 views)
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Re: [Shadow] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

I've tried the luminance noise reduction feature in
Digital Photo Professional and was not too impressed.
Yeah, it does reduce the noise to a small degree,
but it also reduces sharpness quite a bit.
Not sure if any of the other programs are any
better as I haven't tried them yet but DPP
seems to be kind of crude in that it basically smears
the noise.

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

Shadow
Veteran

Sep 25, 2007, 9:03 PM

Post #4 of 8 (641 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

There is one that is pretty good I can't remember what the name of it is,someone on here mentioned it. Was it Neat Image?

There might be some kind of action you can use, I'm sure I've seen a sharpening action, maybe using neat image (or whatever program that is people here are using), then running a sharpening action on might do the trick.

__________________________

John K.
Veteran / Moderator

Sep 25, 2007, 10:40 PM

Post #5 of 8 (636 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

Switch to Nikon and that will solve your problems. Wink

John

Brackish
Veteran

Sep 25, 2007, 11:11 PM

Post #6 of 8 (628 views)
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Re: [John K.] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

Switch to Nikon and that will solve your problems.

John

So ... I take it you're trying to unload your photo equipment already.
That's a shame - I hear the Nikon stuff doesn't hold it's
value all that well.

If I run across anyone looking for any hardly used Nikon gear,
I'll pass your name along. Wink

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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."

John K.
Veteran / Moderator

Sep 25, 2007, 11:26 PM

Post #7 of 8 (626 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

So ... I take it you're trying to unload your photo equipment already.

Do I really seem like the kind of guy who would dump equipment early? Cool

John

(This post was edited by John K. on Sep 25, 2007, 11:52 PM)

GmElliott
Veteran

Sep 28, 2007, 9:06 AM

Post #8 of 8 (583 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Noise reduction: How important to use BEFORE sharpening [In reply to]	Can't Post

Simple fact....Noise Reduction will soften your image. Do it BEFORE sharpening. Sharpening should always be your last step. Regarding sharpening- use the Unsharpen mask filter- with a low "diameter" but high "amount".

Glen Elliott
http://www.GmElliottVideo.com