Lightroom's New Noise Reduction

[MarkBarbieri]

The noise reduction in Lightroom has been decent, but not great. There are plug-ins like Topaz Denoise that do a better job. But Adobe just added a significantly better noise reduction filter to Lightroom.

Before you get excited, I think there are some major caveats. First, it only works on raw files, not jpegs. And that does not include iPhone ProRaw photos because those aren't raw in the way that Lightroom needs them to be. So raw files only.

The next caveat is that, when you apply the filter, it generates an entirely new file. It is a DNG file, which is an open raw format that Adobe pioneered and a few camera brands use. Now you are doubling your photo storage and doubling the number of files you have to keep up with. Ugh.

But it works well. Is it better than Topaz? I can't say because I haven't had Topaz installed for ages. Here is a before and after sample. It was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 6400. It was a relatively low noise camera in its day, but it doesn't compete with modern cameras.

Here is the original picture with no noise reduction.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f/1.8, 0.3s, ISO 6400

Here is a close-up with no resizing.


Here is a closeup with the old noise reduction


Here is a closeup with the new noise reduction


Now that I look at it, maybe pictures of a fake person weren't the best example to try with. Sigh. I'll try a better subject later.

 

[mom2rtk]

I appreciate the information and the review. Doubling up the storage is a real issue for me. Not that it matters, I’m continuing to resist upgrading to the subscription model.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I appreciate the information and the review. Doubling up the storage is a real issue for me. Not that it matters, I’m continuing to resist upgrading to the subscription model.

I hear you about the subscription model. I just dumped my Creative Cloud subscription for the much cheaper Photographer subscription because I'm tired of paying so much and DaVinci Resolve meets my video needs well enough. On the other hand, Adobe have invested a lot into Lightroom since the last perpetual licenses. There is no way I'd go back. But I wouldn't be upset if they took a break from adding cool new features and focused on improving the performance.

 

[Bullman]

The new noise reduction has been a real time-saver for me. I shoot in low light a lot, and this feature helps clean up images without making them look plastic. It integrates well into my digital asset management photography workflow since I don’t have to juggle third-party tools as much. The results are solid, and the ability to keep everything non-destructive within the edits makes the process way smoother.

 

[bob100]

I tested it on some old high-ISO shots, and the results were better than I expected. It keeps a lot of detail in faces, which is usually tricky with noise reduction.

that's good - but I'm also one that resists upgrading to the subscription model