Hot on the heels of the recent Sharpen AI sale, Topaz has just announced a sale on the entire Image Quality Bundle, which consists of DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixel AI.
You will save $99 (+15% off when you use this link and coupon code “plugsnpixels”). This double-discount is good through May 6.
While preparing screenshots for this blog, I was reminded that while each of these apps serves a particular purpose, ANY of them will make your images look much better!
As always, I have dug into my own photo archives (which span over 45 years) and, sadly, they consist of a lot of nice images shot with not-so-great 126, 35mm and early consumer-model digital cameras. Scans of my old negatives are sharp, and so is the grain – while the subject matter isn’t always resolved well. The 1, 4, and 8 megapixel images I shot up to 20 years ago are soft and small.
Let’s see some examples of what each of the Image Quality Bundle apps can do for these sorry photos! We’ll take the apps in order as listed above, starting with DeNoise AI.
DeNoise AI is perhaps the best noise-reduction app or plug-in you can find right now. It works on digital noise, of course, but also on unwanted film-based grain.
This image was shot on the infamous Grassy Knoll in Dallas, TX back in the early ’90s. I used a zoom lens from the street to capture this “shooter” behind the fence at the edge of the railroad yard. You’ll notice that not only is the noise gone, but the image is cleaned and sharpened a bit as well! It looks good even at the 2x enlarged preview. (Open any image in a new tab or window to view at 100%.)
As with each of these apps, you can preview any combination of up to four of the five AI Models (Standard, Clear, Low Light, Severe Noise and RAW) before choosing the final treatment, as seen with this 1985 view of the Sinai desert:
*You can save $99 (+15% off) when you use this link and coupon code “plugsnpixels” to purchase the Topaz Image Quality Bundle. This double-discount is good through May 6.
Next we move on to Sharpen AI. Pretty much all of your film-based images need sharpening, because that’s the nature of that chemical-based technology, and the smaller the negative, the worse the problem.
This sunrise shot of Virginia Beach in the mid-80s was taken with a 28-210 zoom lens that I thought was so wonderful and flexible, but it wasn’t the sharpest thing… Note how Sharpen AI brings out the details on the seagull’s feathers while also suppressing the noise:
Keeping to the topic of birds, I shot this extreme telephoto shot of some crows on a distant treetop in the late ’80s and more recently colorized it online. Due to the distance and magnification, the original shots were fuzzier than usual. Sharpen AI took care of that! The feathers and beaches look much better:
Saving my favorite Topaz app for last, we now look at Gigapixel AI. While DeNoise AI and Sharpen AI do wonders for your images as they are, Gigapixel AI takes them to another level – up to 6X original size while improving detail! You’ll see many more examples of this amazing technology in my earlier blog posts, but here are a couple of examples from today.
These two shots below were taken in Boston in the early-’90s. The first is of the Old State House, which, unbeknownst to me at the time, was built in 1713 with the help of one of my ancestors, mason Freegrace Marble! Note the restoration of the details from the tiny section of the 35mm image:
My next stop that same day was Faneuil Hall Marketplace, with another 35mm wide shot that happened to include some random people at the bottom edge of the frame. Gigapixel AI did a great job enlarging the image 6x while actually clearing up the faces of the individuals to the point where, if someone knows who they are, they would be easily recognizable:
*You can save $99 (+15% off) when you use this link and coupon code “plugsnpixels” to purchase the Topaz Image Quality Bundle. This double-discount is good through May 6.
These apps are so exciting to me because I took such time, effort and expense to capture many thousands of similar images over the years, only to cringe when I view them today. Despite their poor quality when compared to current high-megapixel digital capture technology, I can now use these images in ways I could’ve never hoped for until now, such as print-on-demand where “crappy” old images (or even too-small contemporary digital images) just don’t cut it.
I’ll leave you with one final before-and-after image, also a 1990’s 35mm film capture of part of the Morris Canal in NJ with Photoshopped sky. While not treated with any of these three Bundle apps, I did run it through Topaz Studio 2 (using the Impression Filter) with a nice result:
By the way, ANY Topaz app or plan, not just the Image Quality Bundle, is 15% off at any time using the “plugsnpixels” coupon and link. But do take advantage of this current special and stacked discount, that’s the best deal.