Hi,
I am using the trial version of Neat Image (standalone, not plug-in). I input a 2.32MB image which suffers from a lot of noise, clean it up just using hte auto settings, and the result is stunning. My only complaint is that when I save it, the file is only 932KB in size. Both the input and output are suppose to be maximum quality JPEGs, so why is the file size so much smaller? Is the trial version of neat image compressing the JPEG at all (more than saving it at quality level 12 in Photoshop would)?
Thanks,
Matt
Why is the saved file so much smaller than the original?
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mattscholey
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:46 pm
Matt,
There are two factors at play here:
1) Images without noise are better compressed by JPEG than noisy ones. This means if you reduce noise in an originally noisy image that comes as a JPEG file and re-save the clean image into a new JPEG file (even if both JPEGs are saved using the same compession settings) then the resulting noise-free JPEG file will be smaller than the original noisy JPEG file.
2) The Demo edition of Neat Image saves all JPEGs with a fixed quality level that is high but not the highest possible. In non-Demo editions, you can manually adjust the compression quality. Depending on the chosen quality level you will get different size of the output JPEG file. You can set the quality to maximum and then the file will be larger than what you get from the Demo.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
There are two factors at play here:
1) Images without noise are better compressed by JPEG than noisy ones. This means if you reduce noise in an originally noisy image that comes as a JPEG file and re-save the clean image into a new JPEG file (even if both JPEGs are saved using the same compession settings) then the resulting noise-free JPEG file will be smaller than the original noisy JPEG file.
2) The Demo edition of Neat Image saves all JPEGs with a fixed quality level that is high but not the highest possible. In non-Demo editions, you can manually adjust the compression quality. Depending on the chosen quality level you will get different size of the output JPEG file. You can set the quality to maximum and then the file will be larger than what you get from the Demo.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
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mattscholey
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:46 pm
Thanks for the reply. The reason why I am trialing Neat Image is because I want to use it to clean photographs which I can then sell as stock with agencies such as istockphoto or alamy. However, I fear that such small file sizes (around 1MB) make the image look poor quality, and so deter buyers. Can simply removing noise really reduce file size by (in some cases) two thirds!? I fear there must be some reduction in quality somewhere.
If I purchase an edition of Neat Image, will I get adequate file sizes, closer to those of the input image? If I use the Photoshop plugin will I be able to save bigger file sizes using Photoshop? (If yes, can I test the full version, say using a 30day trial period, before buying it.)
Thanks,
Matt
If I purchase an edition of Neat Image, will I get adequate file sizes, closer to those of the input image? If I use the Photoshop plugin will I be able to save bigger file sizes using Photoshop? (If yes, can I test the full version, say using a 30day trial period, before buying it.)
Thanks,
Matt
Yes, you will be able to save files of larger sizes if you use JPEG in non-Demo editions. You will also be able to save in lossless image formats: TIFF and BMP. If you will use these formats then there will be no quality loss at all, while JPEG is always lossy, even in the highest quality, even when you save a JPEG in PS.
Using the plug-in version of NI, you can process any image that you can open in Photoshop. You can then save the filtration results to any file format supported by Photoshop. So, if you are satisfied with file-saving capabilities of Photoshop then the NI plug-in will simply let you use them.
We have many customers who use NI to process image that are then sent to stock agencies. There were no complains about file size so far. I am sure you will have no problem with file sizes as well.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
Using the plug-in version of NI, you can process any image that you can open in Photoshop. You can then save the filtration results to any file format supported by Photoshop. So, if you are satisfied with file-saving capabilities of Photoshop then the NI plug-in will simply let you use them.
We have many customers who use NI to process image that are then sent to stock agencies. There were no complains about file size so far. I am sure you will have no problem with file sizes as well.
Hope this helps.
Vlad
I've been experimenting with the demo version for several days. Was there any mention of missing features in the demo version? The applied compression was too much for my needs and I bought another product, not knowing the compression was adjustable in the paid version. It would have been nice to have a grayed-out slider so I would have known it COULD be there if needed. 
I re-ran the demo version and I see it mentions jpg compression ONLY on the first save. Still would have been nice to have a grayed-out slider instead, or the warning each time. I don't think someone downloading a demo version of any software is going to read all the documentation first before playing with it to see what it's capable of. Just my opinion, I did purchase it.