However, this handy slider automatically seeks out and removes them both. Hot pixels are temporary, but dead pixels are forever kaput. These are usually white and caused by the sensor heating up during a very long exposure. A dead pixel is one that is permanently black. Maze is an unwanted crosshatch pattern that is caused by crosstalk – a phenomenon where angled light spills across your sensor. Low Frequency fixes blotchy patches by smoothing them out.
These two sliders help to correct for common issues in high ISO images. This chroma or colour noise is easily fixed as it has no effect on the detail and sharpness of the image, although pushed too far the colours can begin to bleed into one another.Ĭredit: James Paterson 7. However, pushed too far it can result in a loss of sharpness.Ĭhrominance noise usually appears as green or magenta blotches of pixels, and it’s more prone to shadow details than highlights.
The Luminance slider tackles the grainy noise that occurs when shooting with a high ISO. Unlike Prime, these can be applied to JPEGs as well as raws.
With Prime, the noise is reduced but fine details are sharp.Īlongside the HQ and Prime options are manual sliders for fixing noise. A close-up of the macaw here (shot at ISO 11,400) shows the difference between no noise reduction, the HQ (Fast) mode, and Prime. Effectively, it can give you the equivalent of an extra stop of ISO – so you’d get similar results shooting at ISO 1600 then using Prime as you would if shooting at ISO 800. The unsightly grainy noise you see in high ISO images is automatically corrected, but not at the expense of fine detail. This is where PhotoLab 2’s Prime feature comes into its own, particularly with high ISO images. Often the challenge lies not in the removal of grainy noise – as this is easily achieved – but rather in the retention of the fine detail. The problem with noise reduction is that it introduces blurriness and softens details. Top: no reduction, middle: HQ (Fast) mode, bottom: Prime mode. Called HQ (Fast), the command is found in the Noise Reduction panel alongside Prime and offers finely balanced, simple noise reduction (to see how it works, try temporarily turning off all noise settings with the switch at the top of the panel). Like all raw editors, PhotoLab 2 applies a default level of noise reduction to every image that is opened into the program. Simply put, Prime is staggeringly good at fixing noise.
Besides, the results are worth waiting for. As such, the export process can take a couple of minutes (depending on your processing power) but it’s rarely an inconvenience as you can work on other photos while the export takes place in the background. Instead the fix takes place upon exporting an image (using Export to Disk – Cmd/Ctrl+K).
But that’s because Prime uses advanced noise-reducing algorithms that are too much of a memory hog to be applied during editing. Aside from a preview of the fix in the noise panel, the image looks just as it did before. After pressing the button very little changes. On the face of it Prime is a simple feature, an unassuming button located in the noise reduction panel to the right of the PhotoLab 2 interface.
For many photographers – especially those who routinely shoot in low light – it’s the main reason to use DxO for their raw processing. Exclusive to the Elite edition of PhotoLab 2, the Prime noise reduction command is the jewel in DxO’s crown.