Noiseless
Improve your high-ISO images
£17.99 (Standard), £49.99 (Pro) Developer Macphun, macphun.com
Requires OS X 10.8 or higher
Image noise reduction can be an extremely time-consuming and complex business, and Noiseless aims to take a simpler approach. It offers a selection of preset noise reduction settings from ‘Lightest’ to ‘Extreme’, and you can adjust the strength of the effect using the ‘Amount’ slider on the preset button.
You can also add presets to the app’s Favorites panel or create your own custom settings, but unfortunately there’s no way to apply selective noise adjustments to specific areas of the image – though you can adjust the strength separately for Highlights, Midtones, Shadows and Details.
We ran some quick tests with Noiseless against Lightroom’s inbuilt noise reduction tools, DxO Optics Pro’s default noise reduction process and Dfine 2 (from the Google Nik Collection). All three yielded great results but the outcomes were virtually indistinguishable, so in the end it more or less comes down to user preference.
Noiseless is perfect for users who want to take away image noise without getting sucked into a vortex of sliders and checkboxes. It can produce quite remarkable transformations on images where noise is the only issue and the underlying detail is good – but it can’t fix the generally lower definition you get at slow shutter speeds and high ISOs.
Still, the ease of use and simplicity are where Noiseless really shines. As with any noise reduction tool, you have to tread a tightrope between noise reduction and detail preservation, but here it’s as simple as clicking a preset, dragging a slider and checking the before-and-after preview for changes.
Upgrade to Pro and you can use Noiseless as a standalone app or as a plug-in for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom and Aperture. It also boasts extra features and advanced controls for further adjustments. Rod Lawton It’s no magic bullet, but Noiseless offers quick and effective photo improvements with little effort or know-how.