Topaz Detail released today - DPChallenge Forums

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

08/13/2009 07:35:22 PM · #3

Works nicely. I was one of the beta testers. It was pretty cool to see some of my suggestions and feedback make it into the product, and any input we gave the developer got immediate response. Here are some shots I used it on while kicking the tires.

I also used it to do the b/w conversion on my circles entry, but please don't judge the plugin by my mediocre score.

They gave me a free copy for being a Beta tester, and also sent me an e-mail with a coupon code to get it for $20 instead of $40. If I give them your E-mail, they will also send you a discount code. (And you will get on their e-mail list forever, but that will happen anyway if you buy something from them) The intro offer is good till August 31st.

Message edited by author 2009-08-13 19:42:29.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

08/13/2009 09:39:26 PM · #4

Yup, I just got mine too. It's stunningly good. Lemme dig up an example of just how good it is...

R.

Here's an uncropped topazing of a backlit scene:

Now, that's pretty heavy topazing, I know that, but bear with me: that one was done with the new "detail" plugin. The next thumb is to a 100% crop off the full-size topaz-detail image. The thumb after that is the same crop off the same image processed with Topaz adjust. They two images are superficially identical, I processed them to look the same; but check out the lack of artifacting around the figures in the "detail" version. WOW!

R.

Message edited by author 2009-08-13 21:52:57.

JuliBoc

Apple iPhone 6s+

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

08/13/2009 10:05:23 PM · #5

I've been working with it tonight and think it's GREAT. I reduce the noise first, because the detail enhancement seems to enhance the noise. Then, in most cases, it doesn't create any more. Way better than the detail enhancement in Topaz Adjust.

Tez

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

08/13/2009 11:24:20 PM · #6

it looks a lot like the tonal contrast filter in Nik Color Efex.

keriboi

Canon PowerShot G10

Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di II for Canon

08/14/2009 12:53:09 AM · #7

so what is it? a replacement for adjust?

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

08/14/2009 09:12:20 AM · #8

Originally posted by keriboi:

so what is it? a replacement for adjust?

There are some similarities, and a lot of differences. It is meant to give fine grained control over detail, rather than producing the over the top effects that Adjust does. It is more suited to producing realistic looking photos. I've been using a bit of both in some photos.

One thing I suggested in beta testing was to break down the color channel adjustments into 6 sliders, the way this plug-in does it:

That would improve it's usefulness as a b/w conversion tool, but the developer said it would require a lot more coding work to do that. We may see YCM channels in a future version, but for v1.0, he settled on adding additional labels to the RGB sliders to indicate the opposite colors.

Message edited by author 2009-08-14 09:17:15.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

08/14/2009 09:20:13 AM · #9

Seems to me they took adjust, and are unbundling and selling it one feature at a time! Sure, they improve on each feature, but by the time you're done buying each feature back one at a time, you've spent a bundle.

What a crazy, overlapping, array of products. From a user point of view, I'd rather see them improve adjust to work better, rather than upselling you to an unbundled feature. But from a cash point of view, what they are doing will no doubt work best.

Most of the time, I don't like the end product of adjust. Both Lucis and Color Efx pro (tonal contrast) do a better, and easier to refine, job. But I'll give detail a whirl--at $20, it's not expensive at least. (I wish they'd discount the stand-alone denoise for $20 or make the built-in one work better.)

Message edited by author 2009-08-14 09:20:58.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

08/14/2009 09:27:58 AM · #10

Originally posted by nshapiro:

After playing with it for several weeks, I don't feel it is simply an unbundled feature of adjust. There are similarities, but it's not the same thing by any means. That being said, I have noticed some feature overlap in their product line.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

08/14/2009 09:30:51 AM · #11

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
Seems to me they took adjust, and are unbundling and selling it one feature at a time! Sure, they improve on each feature, but by the time you're done buying each feature back one at a time, you've spent a bundle.

After playing with it for several weeks, I don't feel it is simply an unbundled feature of adjust. There are similarities, but it's not the same thing by any means. That being said, I have noticed some feature overlap in their product line.

I'd agree with that; it's a different thing altogether. One thing I've noticed that's interesting; TA doesn't work well at ALL with the 5D files, which have much more detail to start with, and which TA seems to affect very clumsily. TD, on the other hand, works very well with the 5D files.

This one was processed for effect, not for realism, and it's much, much smoother than the TA version of the same thing:

Tammster

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

08/14/2009 09:34:37 AM · #12

I had fun with this last night. Definitely worth the $20 (after coupon code). I tried it on a few different shots but this one really convinced me. Love the detail that came out of the little row of trees.

It does seem a lot slower than TA, but not a dealbreaker.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

08/14/2009 09:37:33 AM · #13

Originally posted by Tammster:

Yes, really, really slow to do the initial analysis, which doesn't surprise me considering the sophistication with which it's working. I think I need a faster machine :-) On the plus side, once the initial analysis is done, the variations can be tweaked easily in real time.

R.

Tammster

Canon EOS-60D

Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

08/14/2009 09:40:45 AM · #14

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Actually, on the 2nd picture I edited, my CS4 crashed right before the inital analysis was completed & I had to restart it. After that, it seemed to work fine. I think the problem is that I was also doing other things at the time while I was waiting for it to finish (uploading a file, surfing the interet, etc).

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

08/14/2009 10:00:24 AM · #15

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

The first two betas were even slower. It is breaking the image into small, medium and heavy detail, which is what takes that time. With the third beta, they added multiprocessor support and everyone saw an increase in speed proportional to the number of CPU cores they have. Might be a good reason to drop a quad core Phenom into my system now.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/14/2009 10:14:25 AM · #16

Originally posted by nshapiro:

I'm with you on this one Neil. Don't get me wrong as I like the Topaz products but it seems their business model is becoming to dole out similar products for what seems a low price. That low price when you buy a bunch of them isn't so low. Clean and Simplify could have been one product, Adjust and Define could have been the same plug-in. For me there is becoming too much over lap between the plug-ins. I like the examples they show but I think I will stick to putting a Highpass layer on top of Adjust, CEP3 Tonal Contrast or PSPX2 has Enhance Details under USM that will net similar results.

Message edited by author 2009-08-14 10:15:12.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

08/14/2009 11:28:22 AM · #17

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
Seems to me they took adjust, and are unbundling and selling it one feature at a time! Sure, they improve on each feature, but by the time you're done buying each feature back one at a time, you've spent a bundle.

After playing with it for several weeks, I don't feel it is simply an unbundled feature of adjust. There are similarities, but it's not the same thing by any means. That being said, I have noticed some feature overlap in their product line.

I'd agree with that; it's a different thing altogether. One thing I've noticed that's interesting; TA doesn't work well at ALL with the 5D files, which have much more detail to start with, and which TA seems to affect very clumsily. TD, on the other hand, works very well with the 5D files.

This one was processed for effect, not for realism, and it's much, much smoother than the TA version of the same thing:

R.

What you might be seeing though RE the 5D is that they are not putting the required upgrade maintenance into Adjust, as their emphasis is on debundling and reselling. This is the downside of this approach as opposed to a single product company which constantly is working to improve it. That being said, hopefully, they would eventually improve the algorithm in Topaz Adjust, rather than using it as a poster child for how much better it "CAN BE" (in Topaz Detail). I think it would be better to show how bad someone elses product is at producing artifacts, rather than your own.

andrewt

Nikon D810

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR

08/14/2009 11:29:10 AM · #18

I've got mine. Used it and it is just brilliant !!

michaelmonn

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

08/14/2009 03:14:01 PM · #19

just picked it up myself and i just LOVE it. it does a much better job of sharpening and detail enhancement than the built in detail section in topaz adjust. i definitely recommend it.

bmartuch

Nikon D7200

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

08/16/2009 12:37:43 PM · #20

I sent in for and received ethe 30 day free trial of Topaz Detail and they sent me the trial code for Topaz Adjust which I already have. I tried using that code and it told me it was for the wrong product. Has anyone else had this problem?

Carlo21

08/16/2009 12:43:39 PM · #21

I have a question. Doesn't Photoshop do the same thing for free (if you have PS)? Unsharp mask, highpass, etc.

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

08/16/2009 12:59:28 PM · #22

Originally posted by Carlo21:

I have a question. Doesn't Photoshop do the same thing for free (if you have PS)? Unsharp mask, highpass, etc.

There are similarities, but it seems to do it differently, and without halos. I tried a comparison using PaintShop Pro, comparing unsharp mask and Detail. It does seem to cause banding in the skies, and I find I still prefer to use my old standby of PSP's clarify adjustment on difficult skies.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

08/16/2009 01:06:13 PM · #23

Originally posted by bmartuch:

Bob - they should have sent you a whole list of codes - you have to find the one for Detail. If that's not the case, I can send you mine and you can see if that'll work. I haven't installed mine yet.