Topaz Labs AI Software

Hello,

I was just wondering if any of you had experience using the Topaz AI suite of products in their landscape or nature photography workflows?

Im particluary interested in the Gigapixel AI, Denoise AI and Sharpen AI products. I have downlaoded the software for a trial, but am interested in peoples experiences with it.

As an insight I would primarily use the software to upsize images taken on my 24mp FF camera (6000 x 4000) pixels to much larger sizes for print.

Also if someone could point me in the direction of a good review of the software it would be appreciated. Google has not been my friend with this so far.

Cheers,
Eugene

Hi Eugene,

I use Topaz DeNoise AI and am pleased with the results. I seem to prefer using it from LightRoom rather than Photoshop. The auto feature provides an optimal setting that can be tweaked to your preferences. I also tweak down the sharpening in DeNoise as it can produce over-sharpened images…Jim

Hi Jim, cheers for the message. I’ve started to play with the trial versions and learning how to use them. My first impression is that it’s good, but does appear to oversmooth a bit. This may be rookie error stuff though. I’ll keep the sharpening thing in mind.

I mostly use LR over PS. Mind me asking why you prefer using it in LR?

Eugene

I seem to get slightly better results with this program in Lightroom. Mostly due to the fact that it needs to be applied before cropping so it is the madness in my methodology. Play around with those sliders to get the best smoothness without loss of detail…Jim

Thanks Jim! Yeah definately have a play with the settings and the work flow. WIth GP AI I have noticed slightly different results when applying to differernt file types and also wheter you use the preset upscaling options or custom ones. The custom ones seem a bit more prone to errors

AI Gigapixel is by far the best upscaling program out there. Some pretty incredible detail you can produce from large prints. I’ve printed while using the demo and just purchased it myself.

Also here’s a good review, https://www.andybellphotography.com/blog/2019/02/14/topaz-ai-gigapixel-a-further-review/

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Thanks Richard. From the tests I have done I’m pretty impressed. The results are pretty amazing.

Two questions if you don’t mind:
1 - have you encountered any problems with it? I have found that it renders certain areas a bit soft sometimes. Especially where there is lower detail.

2 - at what point do you use it in your work flow? Normally I would process in LR, maybe some raw sharpening, few edits in PS, then enlarge.

@Eugene_Theron it’s not going to create detail out of nothing. Say if you have an under-exposed image from a Canon sensor. You have to have some sort of discernible detail to start with otherwise it will be a blob like you’ve noted.

My workflow is pretty similar but I don’t do capture sharpening prior to outputting my RAW files. I’ll apply it as a camera raw layer later on if I need to make a print from my master file but philosophically I have an issue with spending time processing an image then doing something destructive like sharpening before I know what the final output size is going to be. Same goes for noise reduction. I believe those two steps should be done prior to sizing though I’m sure there will be people out there who disagree with this approach.

Hi Eugene. I also use Topaz DeNoise AO, Great results. I tried Sharpen AI about 6 months ago and decided not to buy it yet. Results were not that good in my opinion.
Cheers.

i appreciate that. I had just noticed that in areas of equal detail it had rendered some of sharp and some softer.

Same as me here. I had seen some videos suggesting to making the enlargement first and then applying any adjustments. Seemed counter intuitive to me but thought I would ask as I may have missed something. I must say that overall I am super impressed.

Thanks again for your input!

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Yeah, im not blown away by it. In fact i dont really like the results it produces. Looks fake with any kind of zoom. I’m also failing to see what it says it does. Although this could be user error.

Well, I am about a month late to this post, but I’ll add my $0.02. I use DeNoise all the time. If the file is already low ISO I use the AI Clear as my “capture sharpening” with all sharpening and NR turned off in Light room. I have produced outstanding results with a 20 mp crop sensor at ISO 6400 using DeNoise. I also use AI Sharpen. It does take a long time to render an image, but I especially like the “stabilize” mode. This is what I use the most to “paint in” the effect on a subject that was moving, but leaving the background alone. I have Gigapixel as well and only use it occasionally. Again it takes some tome to render, but I have made several images that are less than 4X6 into 8X12. I do not find that their claim of 6 X enlargement is realistic. I feel about 3-4 times is the limit. With all of these plugins I do NR first, then process as usual then apply the others toward the end. Hope this helps.

Ed, I agree that Stabilize seems to yield the most effective results in Sharpen, even if softness was not caused by a camera shake issue. I still feel the results are hit or miss, but it’s definitely made a few images better.

Max