After the release of the DxO Labs PureRAW 4 update, a very quick denoise test is in order. I liked version 3 of the PureRAW app but felt at the time that Topaz Denoise AI was faster and provided better noise reduction with fewer artifacts. But as you’ll see below, I think DxO Labs may have jumped ahead in their AI denoise implementation.

The next two images below show a zoomed-in capture of the original image compared to the DxO PureRAW output. In both instances, the RAW image (ARW for the original and DNG for the PureRAW output) was brought into Adobe Lightroom, and the automatic adjustments were applied.

The results are obviously excellent and DxO Labs has the added advantage of using specifically designed lens profiles that lens softness compensation, distortion adjustments, and vignetting rectification. It results in a superior correction at the base level. The two comparisons below are between the DxO PureRAW DNG output and the Topaz Denoise AI TIFF output.

To my eyes, the improved sharpness and contrast in the DxO output is hard to miss. I admit that I’m probably way too much of a pixel peeper, but in the second image below, Topaz Denoise AI also mistook the grain in the adaptor at the very bottom of the image for noise and removed it.

The 2024 Arcadia Invitational is coming up, and a good number of the evening Invitational races are under lights at night. Even with a dedicated f2.8 lens, fast shutter speeds render some high ISO output. I will be running DxO PureRAW 4. I’m hoping for some great results and a faster workflow. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes. 🙂