by Paul Jaruszewski,

Anyone creating images with a digital camera is likely at some time to be interested in noise reduction. I shared a full size image taken with a Canon D60 using ISO 800 and several helpful participants ran it through their noise reducing software and emailed the original back to me. Here are the results.

Original Image

Reduced for web display. Areas of interest are stroked and numbered in red.

This photo was taken in San Diego, California from the Embassy Suites hotel in the downtown district. The camera used was a Canon D60 with a 24-70 f/2.8L lens mounted. The exposure was made at ISO 800 at 1/8 second @ f/2.8 .

Crop 1 – Rooftop and Wall

	Original
	Noise Ninja 2.0 Gennady
	Helicon @ the 400 setting Soopah
	Noise Ninja Magic Wand Barry
	Neat Image Two Passes Mark
	FM’s Canon 10D ISOR on ISO 800 Bram
	Neat Image Custom Profile, slight sharpening Willem

Crop 2 – Train

	Original
	Noise Ninja 2.0 Gennady
	Helicon @ the 400 setting Soopah
	Noise Ninja Magic Wand Barry
	Neat Image Two Passes Mark
	FM’s Canon 10D ISOR on ISO 800 Bram
	Neat Image Custom Profile, slight sharpening Willem

Crop 3 – Rooftop

	Original
	Noise Ninja 2.0 Gennady
	Helicon @ the 400 setting Soopah
	Noise Ninja Magic Wand Barry
	Neat Image Two Passes Mark
	FM’s Canon 10D ISOR on ISO 800 Bram
	Neat Image Custom Profile, slight sharpening Willem

Crop 4 – Patio

	Original
	Noise Ninja 2.0 Gennady
	Helicon @ the 400 setting Soopah
	Noise Ninja Magic Wand Barry
	Neat Image Two Passes Mark
	FM’s Canon 10D ISOR on ISO 800 Bram
	Neat Image Custom Profile, slight sharpening Willem

Crop 5 – Trees

	Original
	Noise Ninja 2.0 Gennady
	Helicon @ the 400 setting Soopah
	Noise Ninja Magic Wand Barry
	Neat Image Two Passes Mark
	FM’s Canon 10D ISOR on ISO 800 Bram
	Neat Image Custom Profile, slight sharpening Willem

Discussion

I am not going to draw any conclusions, rather I leave that to you. My opinion is that there is no best single noise reduction program or technique. This test is an example of just one kind of image, and there is no specification on what the image is going to be used for. If it’s ultimate destination is paper, film, web, the type of noise reduction will differ. Another thing to consider when evaluating the effects of noise reduction. Are you looking for smooth areas, sharpness in detail? As you smooth areas, you lose details. This is evident in all the techniques used to perform noise reduction. The question is how smooth? Or how sharp?. That is the question you must answer every time you run one of these programs.

Products Mentioned

All the products mentioned here are available on the internet. They are:

I hope you have found this information useful. A very special thanks to those who participated.