Topaz Labs publishes software that has gained a reputation for fixing the unfixable, whether it’s photos or video footage. Its products include Photo AI, Video AI, Gigapixel and a new web-based Starlight AI video enhancer which the company modestly claims can “Restore the impossible”.
I don’t use any Topaz Labs products, though I have tested the trial version of Photo AI 3 for Amateur Photographer as part of a noise reduction article. I’ve found it good, though not the best. However, there are plenty of photographers and videographers who swear by it.
Or they might swear AT it if the AI processing takes too long. This will depend on your computer hardware and how fast it is at some of these very intensive AI processes.
So Topaz Labs has found a solution. It’s offering Cloud Credits for cloud-based processing which, it’s promised, will be much quicker. Now I can’t test this for myself because Topaz Labs has always kept the press at a distance, does not seem to have any official press office and does not hand out complimentary licenses. Cloud Credits don’t work with trial versions of the software, so the only route left for me is to buy a license and then buy some credits.
Now for a start, that’s not going to be cost-effective for me because a Topaz Photo AI license costs $199 and Cloud Credits are available only on subscription or as a one-off purchase. Monthly subscriptions start at $9.99 for 80 credits, or you can buy 400 credits for $78. I COULD become a Topaz affiliate and hope to recoup the cost through commissions on referrals, but I’m not happy recommending a product (or an approach) I don’t particularly like, so that’s out.
So what does Topaz Labs cloud rendering cost?
Topaz Labs does offer examples of how many credits different processing job will use. For example, cloud processing a 24MP photo will use 8 credits, while processing video for 4K output is 24 credits per minute.
Now pardon me, but that sounds absolutely insane. Worse, Topaz explains in the small print that these are guides only and prices may change.
I suppose if you use Topaz AI apps as part of a business workflow then you could make a case for paying for faster processing and then transfer the cost to the client. Maybe. But for the ordinary end user, you would have to absolutely LOVE the Topaz AI results AND be in a tearing hurry to get them AND pay a lot more for one of the bigger plans or one-off purchases to get a more reasonable unit cost. Because if you go for one of the cheaper buys, say 400 credits for $78, then your processing costs will be over $1 per 24MP image.
- I also wonder if Topaz Labs should maybe just make its software run a bit faster instead of charging for cloud processing. It seems like creating a problem and then charging for a solution.
At the moment, Topaz’s Cloud processing is optional. You can still use your own computer for processing. But will there come a point where Topaz’s AI processing becomes so ‘powerful’ that it can only be done in the cloud? Convenient, huh?
And that’s my worry. You thought subscriptions were bad, but are we heading for a future where editing is forced into the cloud and is paid for image-by-image? There’s no indication that Topaz Labs is planning anything of the sort, but there will be plenty of other software companies watching to see what happens and how it works out.
