Software OM Workspace (former Olympus) new AI Noise Reduction

[fotoppi]

With the release of the new OM-1 camera, OM System has released an updated version of Workspace as well.
(This piece of software is underrated in my opinion - anyway)

It comes with a new AI Noise Reduction add-on that will work with the new OM-1 orf files, but with some Olympus models as well, like my OM-D 5 Mark III.

Noise Reduction Priority will create mainly mud.
ok.

But Resolution priority works nicely.
Dark Color Suppression to me eliminates too many colors, but that's a question of leaving a "warm" touch in a high iso picture or not.

Example of 2 ISO 3200 M5III shots with a rather long handheld exposure.

left: original
right: Noise reduction & mid tones up +2 (what usually adds noise...)

left: original
right: AI Noise Reduction, the wooden table looks better

Worth playing with and it is free.

 

[fotoppi]

Even blurry background looks better when AI Noise processed, without killing structures.
And the overall picture appears cleaner

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[fotoppi]

"False Color Suppression" allows for much cleaner colors.

And, as I am not a pixelpeeper, it really improves the overall impression.
This actually is a free upgrade to my cam
(and helps my stroll and shot behavior)

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[agentlossing]

This looks pretty good, and another pleasant side effect is that websites are posting some RAWs from the OM-1, which you can now play around with long before Lightroom or other programs get around to supporting the camera. Meaning we can actually get some real-world knowledge about how the OM-1 sensor performs right away.

 

[gryphon1911]

Huh...so how about that...the EM1 Mark II is also supported for the AI Noise Reduction plug in. Might have to experiment with it and see how it fairs against Topaz Denoise AI.

 

[Hendrik]

Very interesting. Thanks for the write-up.

 

[fotoppi]

from the specs:

Supported cams and computers:
OM-1
E-M1X, E-M1 Mark III, E-M1 Mark II, E-M5 Mark III
Windows, 64-bit OS, NVIDIA video card (latest GPU Driver is recommended), CUDA version 11.2 or later, VRAM: 4 GB or more
Mac OS, macOS v10.14 or later, Metal 2 compatible, VRAM: 2 GB or more


My Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-10400F CPU @ 2.90GHz 2.90 GHz with 16GB RAM
and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB dedicated Ram
does the job nicely and not too slow. (Well, workspace isn't overly fast anyway, but improved with this version)

 

[John King]

The newer version doesn't like either my 2 GB graphics card, or W7 Pro 64, or both.

I might have to significantly upgrade my computer, rather than my camera body!

 

[Herman]

Same here, my windows computer was "born" in 2013! Help!
Doesn't accept Windows 11.

 

[fotoppi]

The newer version doesn't like either my 2 GB graphics card, or W7 Pro 64, or both.

I might have to significantly upgrade my computer, rather than my camera body!

W7 was dropped some time ago...

 

[fotoppi]

If you want to test results on an orf file, send me one and I process it.
(I 100% will delete you orf afterwards and not use it further in any way)

DM me for the upload location.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I still plan to pit it directly against DXO PureRAW, just haven’t had the time. The hard part right now is that NR software is heavily GPU dependent, and GPUs are hard to find and priced to the moon due to miners. Older GPUs just weren’t made for compute, but my experience shows that if you can find something from the AMD R9 280 and up, you’ll have decent results. The key is getting something with good memory bandwidth.

 

[retiredfromlife]

According to the installer the new noise reduction is installed on my imac but no icon shows. I restarted twice.
Not looking good

 

[fotoppi]

According to the installer the new noise reduction is installed on my imac but no icon shows. I restarted twice.
Not looking good

The icon appears only when you select an ORF file from a supported camera.

 

[retiredfromlife]

The icon appears only when you select an ORF file from a supported camera.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought I read that someone could see the icon without a photo loaded.
Makes sense. Will load up some photos tonight from my EM1.3

 

[Carbonman]

The newer version doesn't like either my 2 GB graphics card, or W7 Pro 64, or both.

Same here, my windows computer was "born" in 2013! Help!

I have the same problem but am using an i7 8700k with a Nvidia 750 Ti 2GB graphics card. Apparently the issue is a minimum requirement of 4GB on the graphics card.

 

[John King]

I have the same problem but am using an i7 8700k with a Nvidia 750 Ti 2GB graphics card. Apparently the issue is a minimum requirement of 4GB on the graphics card.

Does it also 'need' a Rolls Royce parked in one's garage?

It's the same with all these mongrels now. THEY decide what you have to have by artificially locking one out of their product/s. Adobe are masters at this ...

What's next? Certified copy of your bank statements, along with passwords?

 

[fotoppi]

Does it also 'need' a Rolls Royce parked in one's garage?

It's the same with all these mongrels now. THEY decide what you have to have by artificially locking one out of their product/s. Adobe are masters at this ...

What's next? Certified copy of your bank statements, along with passwords?

Not at all.
4GB on a graphics card is not much.
The software is 1GB and the cam data another 500MB.
OM released that for free and included older compatible models.
They could have made this a OM-1 only feature.

 

[fotoppi]

So what can I get out of a "shitty but nice" memory picture?
ISO 3200, bad light, taken by a "just press here" photographer.

AI Noise set to both HIGH, amount and false color.

Well, it can't do any magic, but at least it does not kill any details.
Actually it improves skin and hair.

This is a 3:4 portrait crop from a 3:4 landscape format.

100%
left: original
right: gradation Auto, mid -1, sat +0.8, AI High
(so you can actually pull up shadows without adding too much grain)

processed for forums as usual. (1920x1080 with frame, made with jpgcompressor, oldie but goldie)
I count the output as usable for a family album.

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[fotoppi]

And it can clearly do something about "shiny surfaces" and the problematic red channel.

I really love it, it adds a "usable stop" to my M5III.
Too bad it does not support my Pen-F, which I used to have with me mostly.

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