Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S + TC-1.How good is the Sharpening applied in Topaz Denoise AI? I have the old Topaz Denoise 6 and am looking to upgrade it, not least in order to improve sharpening. I wish I had had access to this when purchasing mine at full price! Using the coupon code FRIEND15 via the above links will save you 15% on any purchase. If you want both it can be best value to purchase the Image Quality Bundle that includes Gigapixel AI for enlarging files. Directs links to Denoise AI and Sharpen AI. Topaz plugin s are available as trial versions if you want to explore them. Having used them now for a few weeks I would feel very limited if I had to process my images without access to them. It is going to be really exciting and interesting to explore my archive, reprocessing some past images with these new tools. Adding in the control available in post production with these plugins can now be included in that preshoot process knowing that a lighter, slower possibly less sharp gear combination can be processed to achieve a clean sharp image that previously was not possible. Gear choices have revolved around what compromises you would balance in choosing a camera body and lens combination. Digital noise has always been a camera body quality, speed and sharpness are lens characteristics. I will write more on these plugins in due course, but it is the first time that I have really considered a plugin a tool to consider in the gear selection equation. Topaz DeNoise AI and Sharpener AI are what I am using to replace it, doing the job better and adding more benefits. Unfortunately it has not been updated to operate under Apple Silicon and I don’t want to run Photoshop under Rosetta just to access this as there are no plans to update it and it is thus a long term dead-end. To date the sharpening part of my work flow has been managed with Pixel Genius PhotoKit Sharpener which I used on a layer and then locally masked in sharpening. Don’t get me wrong, I just love my sharp prime lenses, but there are times when a less sharp but more versatile zoom is a better tool for a job and by adding software to the process we may not even have to sacrifice much sharpness, if any, in the final image. We now need to factor the software into the whole work flow when determining what the best/most cost effective tools to get the job done are. What we need to understand is that the tools we have are not just hardware based. If a subject that is beyond the plane of focus can be rendered sharply after software adjustment, how crucial is slight softness of a lens? There is no doubt that the photographic tools that we have at our disposal are better than they have ever been. With this degree of control in post-processing it adds further to the issue of “How Sharp is Sharp Enough”. All had been shot at ISO 800 so not very noisy but the combination of noise reduction and sharpening within the default settings made the images look significantly crisper without being crunchy! Putting these 3 images through Topaz DeNoise AI resulted in significant improvement in perceived sharpness. Last week I shared 3 images to illustrate what I feel was the excellent sharpness achieveble when using the Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S with the Nikon TC-1.4x teleconverter. I have used a number of their plugins previously but none that became an indispensable part of my workflow. Topaz has a long track record and a good reputation. I have seen good reviews from fellow photographers whose work I admire and whose opinions I trust so was keen to trial it for myself. Topaz DeNoise AI and Sharpen AI are two I have been interested in but unable to run. One of the benefits of having to upgrade my computer has been access to updated software and plugins. Before and After Topaz DeNoise AI (white watermark is after)
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