Topaz Photo AI

[ColytonJohn]

Is anyone here using Topaz to sharpen blury images?

I've just tried the free version (full functionality but edits can't be saved) and the results were very impressive. The only downsides I can see are that processing takes a long time and it costs $150. The former I can live with and, I suppose, the latter too as it's has to be worth it to recover otherwise 'lost' images but before I hit buy it now thought I'd ask here for opinions.

Cheers,
John

[Alan_H]

I bought the three Topaz products AI sharpen, AI Denoise and AI Gigapixel some time ago and then they released AI Photo which came as a free download with my subscription, it has had a few updates since then and works really well, now i only use AI Photo and let it work in auto

At a night football match Had an ISO setting of 12800 and the difference it made was astounding

Matt Klaskowsky has some good videos on it

Alan

[Alan_H]

Forgot to say, I use it as a plug in in Lightroom but do not use edit in and go to plug in extras as this will work on a RAW file

Alan

[ColytonJohn]

Thanks Alan.

My first DSLR (and one I still use as a spare) is a 7D which has woeful low light/high ISO performance as does my G10 travelling camera so I have many, many images that could do with a tweak to remove noise hence my interest in Topaz. The trial that I've just downloaded does consist of Sharpen and Recover Noise ability plus 'Enhance Resolution' (is this AI Gigapixel?)

Cheers,
John

[Alan_H]

I don't know if enhance is as tweakable ( is that a word) as AI Gigapixel but it works similar to enhance in Lightroom and Photoshop all using their own algorithms, I assume that the stand alone products are for people who really want to have full control of adjustments

Alan

[Performancebywassberg]

Topaz has discounts all the time, I recon there will be some during easter and then you can use the discount code: msjphoto15 to get another 15% discount.

[DrJon]

I have all the current Topaz products, but they still play as very beta and they break stuff with new versions. Also as said above, never pay retail...

Gigapixel AI - actually works well if compare models then pick one, good versions are IMHO 5.4.5 and 6.2.0 - current is 6.3.3 - adds the handy HQ model but the Standard model is very likely to go wrong (unlike 6.2.0).

Denoise AI - It does a decent job, and is nice and simple, but IMHO if you have DXO Photolab then DeepPrime XD is a lot better.

Photo AI - as mentioned, very beta, new versions (pretty much weekly) break as much as they improve. Used to be better than GPAI for upscaling, now isn't (although I have 1.3.3 and that's like a week and a half old, so an antique in Topaz terms - edit, apparently 1.3.4 is out and breaks a bunch of stuff, shocker!).

Sharpen AI - I rarely use this as you're probably better using Photo AI for Sharpening

Video Ai - changes so much whatever worked before won't work again, but can produce very good results. Then the next version won't.

My feeling is Photo AI and Video AI are where it's going and the other will fade away. It's a pity current Photo AI is a lot worse than some of the older versions.

Also note while they originally did infinite updates now you pay by the year and update pretty much weekly (Photo AI and Video AI that is).

As I type I have...
Video AI 3.2.4 from 5th May - 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 have come out since then
PhotoAI 1.3.3 from 5th May - 1.3.4 is out
Sharpen AI 4.1.0 from 23rd Nov 2022 - not updated since
Denoise AI 3.7.2 from 24th Feb - not updated since
Gigapixel AI 6.3.3 from 25th Jan - not updated since, alas