Capture One 2023 (build 16.3) Noise Reduction and Sharpening compared to ON1 NoNoise a1 2023.5 plug-in

[-ST-]

If you're curious about the noise reduction built into Capture One Pro compared to ON1 NoNoise a1 2023.5, this post is for you.

Rationale
I'm often out on the beach before sunrise and on the west coast of Canada, it's pretty dreary during the rainy fall and winter. As a result, I often shoot at ISO greater than 10,000, and there's some noise noticeable in the backgrounds. I use Capture One for editing and use the built-in noise reduction. I was curious if using a dedicated product for noise reduction would be better.

I just installed ON1 NoNoise a1 2023.5. It can operate as a plug-in to Capture One, and it's easy to use without interrupting my workflow in Capture One.

Here are some 250% crops of a shot I took before sunrise on the beach this morning. It was partly cloudy and probably too dark to use the FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS, but I was optimistic that the light would improve.

A. Out of the Camera
No edits, noise reduction, or sharpening. The Capture One default noise reduction and sharpening have been removed.

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 12800

B. Capture One with default noise reduction and sharpening
Capture One automatically applies some noise reduction and sharpening when you open a raw file.

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 12800

C. Capture One only with Capture One additional noise reduction and sharpening added to taste

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 12800

D. ON1 NoNoise ai noise reduction and sharpening
No Capture One noise reduction and sharpening has been applied (as per instructions with ON1)

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 12800

What do you think? Is C or D significantly better than the other?

Spoiler: Conclusions (don't peek until you have formed an opinion of C and D above)

So far, I'm happy with the Capture One noise reduction and sharpening. You can see the results immediately.

To use the ON1 NoNoise a1 plugin, it takes just a few clicks and a minute or two to apply changes and save the *.dng file that can be further edited in Capture One. I've tried this on around fifty shots over the past few days. I haven't found that ON1 NoNoise a1 provides significantly better results.

I may try some other products, but for now, I'm less motivated to download and install more software for noise reduction.

Oh, and here's the final version of the photo

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/320 sec
• ISO 12800

and a look at the beach showing the overall light condition

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM (SEL50F12GM)
• 50.0 mm
• ƒ/3.2
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 100

 

[Roland]

C and D are significantly sharper But I would not call it better Besides the halo around the body, the surrounding of the eyes of the bird look very strange, especially the picture D.

 

[Paul stuart]

second one is best it shows some texture ,3 has blotchy worm artifacts ,4 has a waxy finnish ,All that would happen if printed i bet the second would look the best and at 250% i would not want people to view my images in such a way ,if they have to do this then my image has failed ,what are your views ,i feel there are better noise reduction plugins even lightroom does a good job now although very slow.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I have seen this in ON1 2023, where the feathers of a bird get over sharpened with the NoNoise AI.
Is it weird that I like B the most?

 

[-ST-]

Thanks for weighing in, everyone.

C and D are significantly sharper But I would not call it better Besides the halo around the body, the surrounding of the eyes of the bird look very strange, especially the picture D.

Agreed, I overdid it in C (manual adjustment to the noise reduction and sharpness). D was using the default automatic processing with ON1. It was over the top.

second one is best it shows some texture ,3 has blotchy worm artifacts ,4 has a waxy finnish ,

Yes, too much processing.

All that would happen if printed i bet the second would look the best and at 250% i would not want people to view my images in such a way ,if they have to do this then my image has failed ,

The 250% crop was to show a close up of the original noise and softness in the original image (A), and then repeated in B, C, D for the comparisons.

what are your views ,i feel there are better noise reduction plugins even lightroom does a good job now although very slow.

Any suggestions for other plugins to consider?

I have seen this in ON1 2023, where the feathers of a bird get over sharpened with the NoNoise AI.

Ok, so that's an ON1 issue.

Is it weird that I like B the most?

Well, I'm normally okay with the default noise reduction and sharpness that Capture One applies when opening RAW files (B above). I dig into the settings if the image is noisy because I didn't capture enough light for a clean shot.

I've still got three weeks in the thirty-day trial for ON1 NoNoise ai, but at this point, I won't be buying it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Topaz is all you need these days.

 

[spudhead]

I use capture one have for years but only use Topaz noise reduction as a stand alone tool, and generally do not sharpen images, you can improve poor images but you make them really nice images, we all try but it usually shows

 

[Paul stuart]

Thanks for weighing in, everyone.


Agreed, I overdid it in C (manual adjustment to the noise reduction and sharpness). D was using the default automatic processing with ON1. It was over the top.

Yes, too much processing.


The 250% crop was to show a close up of the original noise and softness in the original image (A), and then repeated in B, C, D for the comparisons.


Any suggestions for other plugins to consider?


Ok, so that's an ON1 issue.

Well, I'm normally okay with the default noise reduction and sharpness that Capture One applies when opening RAW files (B above). I dig into the settings if the image is noisy because I didn't capture enough light for a clean shot.

I've still got three weeks in the thirty-day trial for ON1 NoNoise ai, but at this point, I won't be buying it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

yep topaz is great ,dxo pure raw or just lightroom denoise all are very good and work better than most others i have used but all work different ,they all have different way of controlling noise some do better on some images and vice a versa ,lightroom is consistant and i like how the global levels can be adjusted not overly complicated but slow if i could use as a mask it would be my main noise reduction roller,dxo is the best at highest iso and the camera lens profiles are best also ,topaz is good for selctive subjects although a little more messing about.