Neat Image v4.0 Noise Reduction Tests with the Konica Minolta A2

As someone who likes clean, smooth, noise-free images, I wanted to test how Neat Image works at reducing the noise of Minolta A2 images. It is well known that the 8 megapixel 2/3" sensors have more noise than older 5 megapixel 2/3" sensors. So, how well does Neat Image v4.0 do at reducing noise on A2 images? Read on....

These are some 100% crops of ISO speed comparison tests illustrating the noise as the ISO speed increases for the Konica Minolta A2. All tests were taken tripod mounted, with a zoom of approximately 90mm and taken at f/5.6. Pictures were taken using the highest quality JPEG mode of each camera. Exposures were fairly long, around 3.2 seconds for the ISO 64 pictures and correspondingly shorter as the ISO speed was increased.

I performed two Neat Image tests:

Default
A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 64, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 64, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 64 Neat Image A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 100, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 100, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 100, Neat Image A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 200, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 200, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 200, Neat Image A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 400, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 400, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 400, Neat Image A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 800, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 800, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 800, Neat Image A2 Aggressive

Minolta A2, ISO 64, Hard Sharpening in camera, Original Crop

Minolta A2, ISO 64, Hard Sharpening in camera, Neat Image Default

Minolta A2, ISO 64, Hard Sharpening in camera, Neat Image A2 Aggressive

I find that Neat Image v4.0's default noise reduction was too conservative. For really clean looking images, you need to set the filtering settings with more aggressive noise filtering. This produces extremely clean images at ISO 64, 100, and 200. At ISO 400, the cleaned images are useable, though they noticeably suffer from loss of sharpness and detail. Probably some sharpening could be done to improve the images. At ISO 800, however, noise filtering noticeably degrades the image details. To get good results at ISO 800, expect to spend some time doing additional manual tuning and sharpening, and even then, your images will likely lose some detail.

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My Neat Image v4.0 Minolta A2 Aggressive filtering Profile Download this and put it into your Neat Image PRESETS directory. When running Neat Image, in the "Noise Filter Settings" window, you will be able to select this filter from the "Filter Preset" pull-down, or you can load it with the disk icon. If you had problems with that link, try also: the alternate download site
My Neat Image v4.0 Minolta A2 Noise Profiles This is a set of noise profiles I created using the Neat Image Calibration Image. I shot the image at slow and fast shutter speeds and also with Normal and Hard in-camera sharpening. Create a directory (such as "A2") under your Neat Image PROFILES directory and unzip this file to that directory. the alternate download site
Neat Image is available for download and is FREE for personal use or pay for more advanced features.
Come back soon- additional Filtering Profiles will be available soon when I experiment with Neat Image's sharpening features. Also, I intend to investigate high ISO, high noise images in more detail to try and get better filter settings.

Neat Image v4.0 Noise Reduction Tests with the Konica Minolta A2

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