Noise reduction

Noise has always been a sore point for digital photographers, so any tool that can reduce noise, either in-camera or in software later, is going to attract attention. Today’s AI-powered RAW denoising tools can achieve remarkable results compared to older methods.

Reviews

Capture One now has AI denoising built in, but is it as good as DxO DeepPRIME in PureRAW 6?
ByRod Lawton August 19, 2026August 19, 2026

DxO’s DeepPRIME processing is still the gold standard for AI denoising in my opinion, but if you want to use it alongside your regular workflow, it does add an extra step – you need to batch-process all your RAW files into DxO DNGs before adding them to your catalog. The in-built AI denoising in Lightroom is not quite as good but it is more convenient, and now Capture One has AI denoising too. So how does it compare with DxO’s?

Read More Capture One now has AI denoising built in, but is it as good as DxO DeepPRIME in PureRAW 6?
Reviews

DxO PureRAW 6 review
ByRod Lawton April 3, 2026August 19, 2026

Verdict: 5 stars DxO PureRAW 6 is like a RAW pre-processing tool that applies DxO’s trademark lens corrections and DeepPRIME denoising and outputs a RAW DNG file for other programs to use. Version 6 adds key improvements to an already excellent tool. The lens corrections are superb, the denoising and detail enhancement are exceptional and not you get AI dust removal too!

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News

DxO PhotoLab 9.6 update: DeepPRIME XD3, compressed DNG files and ‘feathered’ AI masks
ByRod Lawton March 19, 2026August 19, 2026

The DxO PhotoLab 9.6 update is not a major version release, so it’s a free update for existing PhotoLab 9 users, and a pretty substantial one at that. And there might be enough here to convince anyone thinking about getting DxO PhotoLab 9 to finally take the plunge.

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Ideas | Tips

Lightroom tip: Lightroom’s Enhance feature just got a huge update – did you spot it?
ByRod Lawton June 21, 2025August 19, 2026

Lightroom’s Enhance feature used to create a new (larger) DNG file alongside the original RAW file, but now it doesn’t! That’s huge news for anyone who uses Adobe’s AI denoising tool regularly. Here’s how the new setup works.

Read More Lightroom tip: Lightroom’s Enhance feature just got a huge update – did you spot it?
Tutorials

Lightroom AI Denoise vs DxO DeepPRIME XD: there’s a clear winner
ByRod Lawton June 21, 2023August 19, 2026

Lightroom’s new AI Denoise feature was the biggest news in Adobe’s April 2023 Lightroom update. Like so many other tools now appearing, it uses AI based denoising techniques directly on RAW image data to produce an enhanced RAW DNG file far superior to an image processed in the regular way. But is it as good as DxO’s DeepPRIME XD?

Read More Lightroom AI Denoise vs DxO DeepPRIME XD: there’s a clear winner
General

Is noise as bad as you think it is?
ByRod Lawton January 27, 2023August 19, 2026

This question comes in three parts. First, is your camera really as bad at high ISOs as you think? Second, is noise REALLY that intolerable? And is your attitude to noise stopping you from taking shots you might actually like?

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General | Photography explained

Noise and noise reduction
ByLife after Photoshop June 9, 2020August 19, 2026

Noise is the digital equivalent of grain in film. It’s random electrical signals captured by the photosites on the camera sensor, and usually this background noise level is so low compared to the brightness of the captured picture itself that you just don’t notice it.

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Tutorials

Lightroom noise reduction and why you need it
ByRod Lawton April 18, 2017August 19, 2026

If you never thought you’d need to pay attention to the Lightroom noise reduction settings, you might need to think again. Like a lot of photographers I shoot RAW files on the assumption I’m going to get better image quality by processing the images myself rather than leaving it to the in-camera JPEG processing. That’s fine…

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Tutorials

Cure your noise with Google Dfine 2
ByRod Lawton November 17, 2013August 19, 2026

It’s one of the less glamorous plug-ins in the Google Nik Collection, but Google Dfine 2 still fills a valuable function. It’s a noise-reduction plug-in that goes a few steps further than the noise reduction options built into regular applications, so here’s a quick guide to how it works and what it can do. I’m…

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Tutorials

How to control noise for better portraits in Lightroom
ByRod Lawton August 20, 2013August 19, 2026

Shooting in available light often gives the most natural and attractive portraits, but it also means you often have to shoot at high ISOs. I took this informal picture while I was working on a feature for N-Photo magazine, and while the light from the window is soft and even, it’s not very bright and…

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