Hi all. This week Topaz released a brand new app called Topaz Labs Photo AI. The app is designed to help you get better image quality, by using AI, without you having to move around a bunch of adjustments in a separate apps. For me, on the surface, it looks like they simplified each of their plug-ins (DeNoise, Sharpen, and Gigapixel for upsizing) and put them all in once place. Anyway, this week we’ll take a look at the new app and you can see for yourself.
Why Is This Important?
At the end of the video you’ll hear me talk about my thoughts of where this is going. I believe, and from Topaz’s FAQs on their site, that this will take over DeNoise and their other “Image quality” plug-ins. So if you do use those, you’ll want to start prepping yourself for eventually using this.
Also, links are below. Thanks!
â–º Get Topaz Photo AI: https://www.topazlabs.com/topaz-photo-ai/ref/905/?campaign=PhotoAI
â–º Topaz DeNoise: https://www.topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/ref/905/?campaign=DeNoise
? Matt’s Topaz Deep Dive Course: https://mattk.com/deep-dive-topaz/
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Thanks so much…………….I only tried ai with raw once and did not like it……………..this was so helpful. I suppose at some point they will make that better but until then I will continue to export my files as tiff to Topaz.
Hi Matt. Thanks for the great informative video. As you say, software developers don’t like giving it away for free. Since I have all the Topaz AI products, and pay for the annual fee for upgrades, I was given Photo AI for free. It will be interesting how the pricing will be handled in the future. It’s good to see that ON1 has developed competing AI products for sharpening, noise reduction and resizing. Hopefully the competition will keep the pricing reasonable. Have you or will you do a review on the ON1 products? I’d be very interested in a comparison on quality, pricing and value.
Thanks Michael. I did a comparison of ON1 NoNoise on my Youtube channel if you want to search there. Not sure what I’ll do going forward. They’re all good. I’d rather you spend your time getting good at the software you already own, rather than always looking at what else is out there. As I said… they’re all good. My review would say nothing more than… “ON1 makes great plug-ins… I can’t see a difference in quality other than zooming in to 800% so give it a try and see which one just feels better for you”. There you go! Review done! 🙂
Great overview Matt. I just downloaded the Ai as I have a whole load of noisy wedding pictures to process. Before sending to Topaz Ai from Lrc or PS do you zero the sharpening & noise sliders?
If I think about it I will but i usually forget. Won’t matter much either way.
I currently have all three individual apps. If I install Photo AI will I still be able to use the individual or will I be restricted to Photo AI
Yes. It’s a new product not a replacement for what you have.
Thanks for another very clear and informative video Matt. I use DeNoise a lot and love it, but although I also bought Sharpen, I do not use it now because I encountered too may cases of ugly artefacts in fur and feathers, so I prefer to continue with Fixel Detailizer III, which I find to be as good at sharpening as DeNoise is at its job. Hence for me there is no incentive to get the new product at another $77 until I can see from reviews that DeNoise and Sharpen have improved measurably. However, I hate Topaz with a passion for saying it is “tomorrow’s technology” – it isn’t, it’s here today and many companies are using AI.
Hi Matt, thanks for the honest review; and, I agree with your assessment, nothing is done for free..
I currently own all three programs ( Denoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixels, all up to date). So I should be able to download the Photo AI for free. I tried,but it is not a straight forward download. however there is an upgrade plan for $99 attached in the bundle of the “special price and when the upgrade plan is removed, the Photo Ai goes back fro $0.00 to $159.00. So it looks like a catch for an upgrade..
Thank you again. Just a question about upsizing. I have never done it and am wondering in what senarios should I consider doing it. Alos I see you use PS to do that. What are your thoughts on Giglpixal to up size?
Hi Ian. You’d upsize if you have a specific need for more pixels (printing usually). With todays cameras there are few reasons you’d need to upsize. And as I said in the video I prefer Photoshop to gigapixel. Thanks
Is the future of photo editing / processing really moving down a path to clicking the Auto button? Lightroom has the Adobe profiles and Auto option. On1 (also evolved from several apps to a more comprehensive offering) seems to be pursuing an AI approach. DXO is in that same direction. Yes, it is true collectively we have moved in that direction with a number of items.Automobiles. Cooking with InstaPots. Photography — development and processing of film and images. It really places the burden, if you call it that, on getting the right scene or story to tell —- a few buttons will get near perfect images, perhaps of what we called snap shots years ago.
Excellent little video. Thanks for creating it.
My initial finding with the new AI program is that though the automatic default setting are pretty good in most images, the application of of AI grossly increases global luminosity and decreases contrast. I suppose if I apply AI before making LrC edits I might be able to recover the luminosity and contrast, globally and selectively, in LrC. But often as I refine my LrC edits I will want to readjust NR and sharpening. If doing so in alters the luminosity and contrast I have carefully adjusted, it is unacceptable.
Are others noting this?
I am not finding the new AI to save time vs. DeNoise or Sharpen because initial loading and modeling in the new program takes longer than it did with either DeNoise of Sharpen.
Can I use the Topaz products on my PC and MAC under the same license?
Hi… you’ll want to check with Topaz for those questions.
Thanks for always giving us good information, and I like to hear your opinions. I currently don’t own Topaz Denoise but was thinking of getting that application (or a bundle with Denoise and Sharpening). With this new AI version coming out, will Topaz still offer the individual apps?
Hi Sharon. Maybe watch the end of the video because I talk about that. Of course I have no official info on what they’ll do going forward, but we can always guess 🙂 Thanks.
Great video and very timely! I also am afraid the individual apps will be set aside down the road by Topaz. I surely hope not. I do see a good use for Photo AI on some of my older photos (before I became more serious about photography and only shot JPEG). I will do some trials on Photo AI versus only upsizing the file first before processing in LR. A big thanks for the tip on upsizing in PS. I am working my way through your Photoshop course, and it is so well done. I need a systematic approach and love the way the updated course is organized. Thank YOU!
Thanks so much for this, Matt. I think I’ll stick with DeNoise and Sharpen, although they may eventually be abandoned by Topaz in the future. I am also really liking DxO Pure Raw. It does a phenomenal job on my night photos.
A beautiful thing. I currently have the free version installed. Unfortunately, I can’t use it in PS or laitrum. Is it because I have the free version in 3.7.0 or is this version a solo version and not intended for PS and laitrum use.
Thanks for the reply.
Branko Teršek
Hi. You should contact Topaz if you’re having issues.
I have found this is good for some shots but since I’m using the Z9 editing with Adobe needs Denoise and Sharpen A.I for my workflow.
It’s early days and combines my products for Topaz with good results and with time will improve.
Matt, didn’t you use to have an arrangement with Topaz to use the discount code “MattK” for Topaz purchases? Is that no longer valid?
And they don’t seem to have a free 30 day trial of their software anymore.
I don’t believe Photo AI has a free trial. There is a 30 day guarantee though if you try and don’t like it.
Hi Jeff. They no longer honor the discount codes.
I’ve been using all three apps since their earliest release, and all updates since. I always felt they should roll them into a single app. After using the PhotoAI pre-release for a few weeks I’d say they’re on the right track, but have similar thoughts to your conclusion. If they plan to eventually replace the separate apps, then they need to add something like an advanced mode to PhotoAI. Bring in the extra models and controls for users that can use them. They also need to add a brush add/subtract to the auto subject detection – it’s just not there yet on its own. I nearly always use Topaz as layer filters in PS, round tripped from LR – so I can mask in what works best between Sharpen, Denoise, a HiPass overlay, or nothing.
I got an email from Topaz as well, offering my special price. it was US$100, not free. Hardly tempting.
I did get an email email from Topaz offering it to me for free.
“Introducing Topaz Photo AI! Enjoy your free download”
However it appears one needs to use the link provided and not simply go in to ones a/c with Topaz where it says nothing about being free only pricing – as far as I can tell anyway
Have you used the Luminar Neo package of comparable Topaz apps? If so, comments would be appreciated.
Hi Ken. Nothing in Luminar is comparable to what Topaz does for noise and sharpening.
Having just installed Photo AI, a new “feature” exists. SEATS 2, buy more SEATS. I’m assuming this limits me to installation and use on two computers?
Since each app takes lots of time to load and get going, the use of a single app will be a big time saver. Time is more important than quality improvements that can’t be seen. If there is no noticeable difference for normal viewing and display sizes, then I’ll use the new AI app just to save time.
Terrific POV on Ai. Had to laugh when you upsized in PS using *2. Multiplying in that field, or any field for that matter, never occurred to me. Boffo!
I have all 3 and I had no clue you could add them into Lightroom and Photoshop. I have them as 3 different apps on my desktop. How do I get them within LR and PS? Like you, I do all my RAW edits in LR and/or PS and I still will, but at the end I may want to give it a quick retouch with Topaz AI. Please share how to get LR to ‘see it’? I went to the tabs/drop downs as you show it on the video, but mine is not showing. Appreciate that help!
Hi Debbie. You’d want to contact Topaz for that if you don’t already see it there. Thanks.
If you have all 3 programs currently will subscribers automatically be updated to this new integrated version?
I bought the 3 app bundle during their year end sale. I just received an email saying I could download Photo AI for free.
Not if you bought all three separate products in August 2021…!
Not automatically but you should be able to download it. I have all three programs bought at separate times from their earliest versions, not as a bundle, and I’m on the annual support contract. I had no problem downloading the Photo-AI pre-release in my Topaz account several weeks ago, and as of today can go get the final release
You have to go to your Topaz account page and claim your Photo AI download.
ON1 has a bunch of new features in this area coming out. Are you planning on doing any sort of comparison?
Topaz is a fantastic company. I feel they value their customers. Upgrades are great and free and the products are outstanding. Not like DXO Pure Raw. Bought that and they released an upgrade and to use it you had to pay again! Not impressed.
Hi !
About DeNoise. It is very good, but watch out that you get correct colors. It fades yellow and red colors very easy, be careful. Sharpening and Gigapixel does not do so. So personally I recommend to watch out that you get correct colors.
Faded yellow and red can be easily corrected by L-ab processing as a step right after DeNoise AI and/or Sharpen AI or it’s future replacement Photo AI. Sometimes Noise-reduction can also lead to some loss of contrast. That is why the step of L-ab processing is so useful. Here contrast and color correction are treated in two seperate adjustments. The correction of color during L-ab processing is much like the seperate sliders for white balance in LR or ACR.