Canon 20D CSpro Plugin from FM

[spockling]

What do y'all think about this? With the 20D I don't think I'm in need of neat image anymore, so I stumbled across this. Worth the $$$$ ???
http://www.fredmiranda.com/shopping/20DCSpro

Thanks

[dkapp]

I have a few of the plugins from Fred Miranda, and they are great. I don't have the 20d plugin, but all I have bought work as advertised. I use them all the time.

Dave

[Andy]

just bought it - will give it a try and report back.

andy

[fish]

Sounds interesting...

I'm not all that impressed with the sample images, though. They compare a RAW file (no sharpening) with an "unsharp mask" version, but no info on settings for the USM. It's oversharp...guessing 100% w/ 2.5 pixel radius. feh.

what's the scoopage, andy? worth 25 clams?

[mkaplan]

I have always liked Freds sharpening actions. I have the 10D version and the moment I saw the 20D version available, I purchased the upgrade. It is much better than the 10D was as far as available options but does a great job of sharpening and now a bit of noise reduction as well. I haven't had a chance to play with it much but Freds stuff has always been good.

[Andy]

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=4248

[photobug]

I've used the CSpro 10D plug-in for about 8 months, with great luck (on both PS Elements 2.0 and PS CS). I also upgraded to the "new" 10D plug-in 2-3 months ago, when it first came out. Now that I have a 20D, I will definitely get the 20D plug-in.

Not only does the CSpro plug-in work better than Unsharp Mask in lots of situations, but probably its biggest selling point is its ease of use. It offers enough "customization" options to provide a lot of flexibility, but isn't as inscruitable as Unsharp Mask. (that is, the learning curve is nowhere near as steep)

Once you buy the initial plug-in, Fred Miranda is quite good about offering upgrade discounts to current customers. I think I got the 10D plug-in upgrade for under $12 and he's offering the 20D plug-in to owners of the 10D plug-in at a good discount (25%?) for the first 2-3 weeks.

In my book, it's a "no-brainer" great value.

[spockling]

Thanks all for the replies. I found I needed the neat image for my "old" A75. But now with the 20D and lack of noise except at ISO 3200, I didn't think it was worth while anymore.


Andy: Thanks for the mini-review......appreciated :thumb

[photobug]

I found I needed the neat image for my "old" A75. But now with the 20D and lack of noise except at ISO 3200, I didn't think it was worth while anymore.
I'm not sure what "neat" means.

If you're referring to "sharpness" -- Virtually all images from digital cameras require some sharpening before printing. This is especially true for images from dSLRs that normally have in-camera sharpening cranked down, compared to Point & Shoot digicams. The more "pro" the dSLR, the lower the default in-camera sharpening setting is. For example [thanks, Fish, for the info!] n the Canon line, the default in-camera sharpening moves progressively lower as one moves from Digital Rebel to 10D/20D to 1D/1Ds.

Sharpening on your Mac/PC is more effective (and certainly can be wielded with much finer control) than in the camera. If sharpness is important, the way to get the sharpest possible photo (assuming a JPG file) is to turn in-camera sharpening completely off (or at least, to its lowest setting) and perform sharpening wth your favorite image-editing program.

The CSpro plug-in discussed in this thread can make that chore easier (and as Andy attests, often better) than Photoshop's more general-purpose Unsharp Mask sharpening tool).

= bug.

[mkaplan]

I'm not sure what "neat" means.
Neat Image is a program to reduce the noise in an image (like Noise Ninja).
He was stating that the 20D has less noise so there was less reason to use a noise reducing program.

[photobug]

Neat Image is a program to reduce the noise in an image (like Noise Ninja).
He was stating that the 20D has less noise so there was less reason to use a noise reducing program.
Ahhhhhh ... I see. I hadn't heard of "Neat Image" and since he didn't capitalize it, there was no clue for me that it was a proper noun instead just an English description.

It's understandable that noise reduction is less of an issue with the 20D. (But sharpening is still needed for any digicam, and that's the CSpro plug-in's primary raison d'être)

[fish]

Neat Image...WOW!!! I downloaded the plug-in for mac this morning and profiles for the 20D. WOW!!! I've already tested it on several 800-1600 ISO noisy unsharp images, and WOW!!!

I'm using it on Photoshop Elements 3.0.


Did I say "WOW" yet?

www.neatimage.com (http://www.neatimage.com)



A quick sample of what Neat Image can do is in this thread. (http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=4305)