ISO and Digital Noise

The problem with digital noise is still acute. Even expensive professional cameras produce noise at high ISO settings. Not to mention consumer-level cameras that perform well only at ISO 50–100.

Most digital cameras offer the option of automatic ISO setting (auto). In this case, a camera chooses settings on its own basing on the shooting conditions. As a result, one can easily get "noisy" photos because the camera can decide to shoot at a high ISO value.

A fragment of the picture in real size is shown below.

Fragment Before: Noise Photo

Fragment After: Improved Photo

The following photo was taken in automatic mode. Some photos from the same session were taken at ISO 400, others at 261 or 236. But the result is the same – all of them are very noisy. We will take one such photo and try to improve it.

The added complication is that the photo was then saved in JPEG. This compression is responsible for the JPEG artifacts.

• Step 1. Open the image in AKVIS Noise Buster AI. You can start with the default settings.
  
• Step 2. Adjust the noise reduction settings. We applied the values as shown below. Though, it's all very subjective. You may set other values for the parameters.
  
• Step 3. Process the image with these parameters by pressing .
  
• Step 4. Save the image .

Noise Buster AI v. 12.2 - Free 10-day Trial