I'm an old uni educated pro who left the industry many years ago to take up a different career path. I recently took the plunge into digital photography by buying a reasonable prosumer camera...the Fuji S7000. A great camera for the money; but, as everyone who uses one has learned, prone to unacceptable amounts of noise and jpeg artifacts....a pity, because the resolution is none the less on a par with cameras costing nearly twice as much.
What to do?
Well, Neat Image has saved the day, as far as I'm concerned. I only really need the demo version for now, but even so, it has performed beyond what I would have thought possible. Images that reminded me of the bad old days of pushing Ilford 400 ASA film to 1600 or more are cleaned up to the degree that they satisfy even this old piccy squinter. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it.
Of all the software I have come across, since first programming in Fortran IV (shows you how old I am), this gem is honestly the most impressive piece of code that I have ever seen.
If they handed out Nobel Prizes for programmers, you would all be buying new suits and heading off to the awards.
Thanks guys!