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I have been using Ai Clear for a while now.  Here is my non expert assessment.

I like it a lot, but there are some images that still look better with NIK.  I think the images that work with NIK better are those without a lot of fine detail like bird feathers or small stone details etc.

Ai Clear is outstanding with images containing fine details .  It does reduce noise using either low or medium settings.  It is amazing in how it sharpens detail.  In fact, I have taken to using it as my "capture sharpening" step instead of PK sharpener or Lightroom sharpening. 

It is easy to use and I am getting used to the user interface required by Topaz.  All in all I think it an excellent tool to have in arsenal.

Hope this helps.  I look forward to other's comments.

Been using Topaz DeNoise for a couple of years now and LOVE IT! What's the difference between Ai Clear and DeNoise??

This should answer your questions:
https://topazlabs.com/introducing-ai-clear/

Ed and any other users:

Do you use Clear early on as suggested by Topaz? So far I like the program but hate the interface..
Thanks

Hi Rocky, Yes, I use Ai Clear as the first step after sending the image to PS from LR. I, too, wish the interface were a bit better. However, once I got used to it it isn't much different than the intervace the NIK software has.

Thanks Ed! I am hoping I will get used to it-after all I have adapted to Sony menu systems

It truly is amazing software. Brings life to my old 4 megapixel EOS 1D files.

Wow E.J., coming from you that is truly effusive praise!   I will get the trial version of this program.
.
Does everyone agree that the best practice is to apply this plug-in right after import into photoshop (or other editing program) ?

Thanks.

Richard B.

Do I understand correctly that in order to use Topaz AI Clear you need to have Topaz Studio in order to run it?
AI Gigapixel is a standalone app that does not need any other apps in order to use it?

Yes, you do need Topaz Studio to use Ai Clear

signgrap wrote:Do I understand correctly that in order to use Topaz AI Clear you need to have Topaz Studio in order to run it?
AI Gigapixel is a standalone app that does not need any other apps in order to use it?

Note that the basic Topaz Studio is free so there is no additional purchase to use AI Clear - you just need to buy AI Clear.  It has become my default NR software.

E.J. do you use AI Clear with a7R III files when shot at high ISO?

signgrap wrote:E.J. do you use AI Clear with a7R III files when shot at high ISO?

I use it with any file that could use some noise reduction in smooth surface areas without touching areas with detail and not needing any masking to do this.  This  includes the a7R III but also when I work on old files going all the way back to the early days of digital and even medium format stuff.

Topaz software, A.I. Clear and A.I. Gigapixel, both are certainly remarkable products.
  Within the long-list of other Topaz offerings... are there any others that are genuinely useful (beyond far too many that are pure "gimmicky," the vein attempt to "fix" what is otherwise an indifferent or mediocre image? Results that are gaudy at best.
  "Dehaze" and "Detailed Contrast" possibly are functional add-ons? (better than what can be accomplished directly in LightRoom?

  An aside: viewed a reasonably decent two-part Topaz Webinar last night; Black Friday sales loom ahead: Topaz dutifully complies, "special pricing" forthcoming. This much I have observed: Topaz's price structure and product sales - is by far the most confusing sales array of products ever encountered! Multiple price combinations that are tangled, stop or restart relative to Black Friday, etc. What is... or isn't the actual product's price?
  Very little is clearcut!
  Possibly the sales direction is the proverbial "shot across the bow," indicative of what may evolve with Topaz's future and "upgrade free forever" software?

I started using this based on reading here. While it works great on nicely lit subjects, I found that Dfine works better at removing noise on my auto racing shots at night. Comparing 100% crops of the night shots where it is extremely dark, the Dfine looks much better to me at least.

I just got Topaz AI Clear, and it is amazing. However, I am finding it over-saturates color in some, if not all my pictures. (In Auto mode). Anyone else seeing this? I think they look a bit unnatural, but after toning them back down to what i think is "real" color, I'm very pleased with the results.

Cynthia Crawford wrote:I just got Topaz AI Clear, and it is amazing. However, I am finding it over-saturates color in some, if not all my pictures. (In Auto mode).  Anyone else seeing this? I think they look a bit unnatural, but after toning them back down to what i think is "real" color, I'm very pleased with the results.

HMMM!  I haven't noticed any color shift using Ai Clear.  I will do some experimenting and get back.

A comment and a question ------

I'm trying out the trial version of AI Clear ---

Comment. ---  I downloaded Topaz Studio to my MacBook Pro, with all the right specs, and I couldn't get it to open. After some back and forth e-mails to Topaz's support people, that acknowledged that there is some kind of problem with the on line installer app, and send me some instructions on using the Terminal command (OSX Mojave) to get it to work. It did. They said this would be fixed in the next update. I think people trying to get this app to work even in what should be an appropriate hardware environment should be aware of this.

Question. --- I Understand that AI Clear as a Lightroom external editor should be used early on in the workflow for best results.  Up to now I usually tweak the wb, colour curves etc. in the raw file in LR before heading down to the sharpening and noise panels. But if I use AI Clear early on instead, the file comes back to LR as a tiff file, which is less suited for the colour, curve etc. tweaks. Therefore should I do these tweaks first, then zero out the default sharpening and noise sliders, then open in AI Clear, then back in LR, export as a jpeg? Or is there a better way of incorporating it into the LR workflow?

Thanks,

Richard

Hi Richard, I process my RAW images in LR with all sharpening and NR turned off. Then I export to PS. It is at this time I apply AI Clear before proceedig to any other processing I do in PS. Hope this helps.

I have tested the Trial version of Topaz AI Clear and it does a decent job, especially when it comes to artifacts removal.
The AI-powered algorithm is good enough to detect the focused part of the image and the out of focus region and work accordingly.
You can have a look at the Before/After images with the review here: Topaz AI Clear Review