by Gavin Seim: I’ll be talking more about Lightroom soon, but I wanted to make a quick post about what I found most significant in LR3. It’s the processing. It may go unnoticed at a glance, but is so much better, that by itself makes LR3 worth the upgrade. This first example shows an ISO 50,000 image from a 1D MKIV, showing just how impressive the new noise reduction and processing in LR3 is (not to mention the camera). I did this in LR3 by simply switching it back and forth from new to old process version (in the camera calibration settings).
Next is a lower 640 ISO example. For this one I actually processed the first in LR2 itself and the other in LR3. While not so obvious (click for the large version) it shows the subtle quality of not just the noise reduction, the the quality of how the file is being processed. Notice in the large version how the LR3 version feels more organic, almost film like in quality. I love it and you can be sure I’m getting under the hood in LR3 to see what’s possible for workshops and my Seim Effects presets.
I really like the noise reduction in LR3. I have Noise Ninja as a standalone app and hated going out of Photoshop into NN and I was never that comfortable with the program. I recently shot a military retirement ceremony at moderate ISO and used LR3 Beta 2 for processing. Although the photos didn’t have that much noise the ease of the feature in LR3 helped me clean them up and make them that much better. I really like the LR3 product.
My testing agrees with what you found. I have found the noise reduction to be amazing, now I don’t need to go into Noiseware at all. And at low ISOs it brings extra detail I didn’t realise was there. I find it is a massive improvement over LR2 and a must for everyone to upgrade to.
IMO, both “New process” images show too much NR.
In particular the chroma NR in the first is way overdone: The eyes go skintone and the shirt looses all colors in the print…
In both cases I prefer the “old” rendering, and that is not my usual experience with LR3…
Does installing 3 knock out any filters or presets from 2?
Thank you.
Mel my presets work fine in LR3 and so far I’m finding most other things do as well. No problems.
While the new LR3 noise reduction is a huge improvement, Noiseware still works better across the board and still keeps better sharpness and details with the default settings. The noise reduction in LR3 does pull out noise but it seems to give “grain” to the image.. while Noiseware “smoothes” the image out. I have yet to print a side by and side and I suspect that when printed the difference will be very small unless you deal with large prints.
I use it but selectively. If the image is to be sold, I use Noiseware to get the best I can out of the image. If it’s album print, then LR3 is fine.
Good point Mike. Though a bit of nice grain does not bother me. Often I find it feels more real that a smoothed look. I do think tools like Noiseware are probably still a step ahead as you said. I need to do some side by sides and update the NR comparison here on the site.