# Very 'noisy' scans, any chance to rescue them?



## adriling (Jan 14, 2013)

Hi Folks,

being in Peru and Bolivia in 2006 I then still took pictures the analogue way and scanned them after. As I used 200er and 400er film the scans are very noisy. I tried noise reduction with Lightroom 4 but am far away from being satisfied. Does anyone has an idea how to set the noise reduction sliders to reduce noise and still keep details to get an acceptable result? Or are there any plugins which do a better job (google say no but maybe your experience does say something else)?

2 example pics:




Thx a lot for your efforts,
adrian


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## JimHess43 (Jan 14, 2013)

I'm not saying that this will be a solution for you.  But I set the radius and detail in  sharpening very high and then use luminance noise reduction as needed.  This approach works most of the time for me.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 14, 2013)

Ah, good old grain!  Try the demo of Noise Ninja and see what you think.  I haven't needed it in years, since LR does a great job with digital noise, but you might find it does a better job with true grain.


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## adriling (Jan 14, 2013)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Try the demo of Noise Ninja and see what you think.



Do you mean Photo Ninja? I googled picturecode.com and they now sell Photo Ninja and I can't find any LR plugin. I also found Noise Ninja on there website, but also only a plugin for PS and not for LR?

Thx again for your help, adrian


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## Jimmsp (Jan 14, 2013)

I find that Topaz deNoise can also rescue shots I can't get with LR. It will also act as a plugin to LR and to PS Elements which I also use. Try their demo.

Here are two variations of the 1st photo, where I simply imported into LR, and used the defaults of jpeg moderate and jepeg strong in Topaz. I did not touch sharpening and contrast, which should be played with a bit as well.
If it were me, I would also use topaz Detail, and I might combine them in PSE .
  and 

Though I have to admit that I think LR 4 does a pretty decent job as well, especially if I use the local adjustment brush to touch up areas..


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## Victoria Bampton (Jan 15, 2013)

Doh, shows how long since I last needed it!  They used to do a standalone version as well as the plug-in.

I'm sure Jim's recommendation's excellent, or there's always Neat Image as a standalone.


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## adriling (Jan 15, 2013)

Jimmsp said:


> If it were me, I would also use topaz Detail, and I might combine them in PSE.



Hi Jim, thx for the help, I am going to ask for a demo license and will try it. Topaz Detail is a separate prog for sharpening, correct? Just curious, as I am not using PSE so far, what are you using PSE for (the plugins also work in LR, right?) what LR can't do?

Many thx again, adrian


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## Jimmsp (Jan 15, 2013)

adriling said:


> Hi Jim, thx for the help, I am going to ask for a demo license and will try it. Topaz Detail is a separate prog for sharpening, correct? Just curious, as I am not using PSE so far, what are you using PSE for (the plugins also work in LR, right?) what LR can't do?
> 
> Many thx again, adrian


Yes, the new Detail 3 is for sharpening and microcontrast adjustment. Quite nice, as you can vary the effects as a function of structure size. It is also a plugin. There is a free program that you need to call it directly from LR (whose name I have forgotten). It's on their site as well.
Topaz recommends that you can send a "color noise" corrected tiff with no sharpening from LR into their deNoise where you can then play with the luminescence. They have some good tutorial videos on their site.
I tend to use it when I want to produce prints from shots I took with ISO 3200 or greater.

I use PSE primarily for cloning items I don't want out of a photo, and together with Topaz reMask, for inserting new backgrounds, or combining elements of different photos; or anything else I want to do in layers.


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