Capture One allows the removal of luminance and color noise from images using the Color and Luminance noise reduction sliders. Luminance noise exists in every digital image. Noise is caused by the light sensitive chip, regardless of ISO. Normally this noise is more visible at high ISO values. Higher Noise levels at high ISO values are caused because the signal has been amplified.
Often people wonder if software really makes a difference. They may as well use Adobe CC or CaptureOne to process their images. Partly it's herd mentality. People just follow what 'others are doing'.
Sometimes software really is different. The original Final Cut Pro changed the post-production industry thanks to how much more usable, how much easier it was to learn and how much more affordable it was than Avid's Symphony. Adobe Premiere was around then but then as now, Premiere as a poorly integrated cross-platform video editor was relatively unreliable. All kinds of driver conflicts and crashes.
In photo editing right now, there is one piece of software which has a clear edge in noise reduction and hence in processing high ISO images.
DxO PhotoLab performs miracles with noise reduction. Lightroom is a distant second. No one else comes close. No Canon shooter should be without DxO PhotoLab. Adds two usable stops to any of their cameras. A 5D Mark III image looks clean at ISO 12800 instead of topping out at ISO 3200.
- So, in a nutshell, Reduce the Threshold and the Reduce the Luminance Noise reduction, and then raise them back to suit. So that’s basically it. I go into a bit more detail with examples in the video, so do check it out if you have the time. There is a lot more to sharpening in capture one, especially if you have the pro version, and I will be covering it in more details in a future post/video.
- Capture One 20 — December 2019 — New Healing tool, new Basic Color Editor, High Dynamic Range Tool, improved noise reduction, scrolling tools, improved Crop Tool, support for DNG files, support for copying layers and masks, interface improvements, image culling tools and new keyboard shortcuts.
- Improved Noise Reduction Capture One 20 has made strides in its ability to intelligently reduce noise while retaining detail and color accuracy. The new noise reduction automatically applies a level of noise reduction on import according to ISO settings and camera used.
I've been asked to show an example and I'll pull one from a recent football match where I was trying out my 'new' Canon EF 300mm f2.8L IS I. It turned out my copy was delivered with a circular polarizer and not a placeholder filter, hence I was shooting about 1.5 stops darker than the lens normally would be. ISO was cranked out at 12800 on my Canon 5DS R and the image was still a bit dark. This is about technically the worst image I shot all season, but due to the content – compact Mario Marko stiff arming a much bigger defender – I wanted to use it. I made my best effort with each software program.
Here's how it looks out of PhaseOne's CaptureOne (C1) which is considered the professional benchmark for photo processing these days.
The above is a horrible image, barely publishable, somewhat embarrassing.
Studio One Noise Reduction
Here's what the same image looks like after DxO PhotoLab with Prime Noise Reduction.
Software does make a difference.
Here's a link to the full RAW file if you'd like to try your own post-production software on this image.
Noise Reduction Images
CaptureOne is not without its merits. For low and normal ISO images, the colour manipulation tools are much more powerful and useful than what DxO offers. DxO has colour correction tools while C1 offers the ability to do advanced colour manipulation.
How To Reduce Noise In Capture One
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