Noise appears in preview image

[IronTim]

Hello all,

I've just started using PSP in the last 6 months, and frankly this is my first time posting to a forum so sure hope I'm doing this right. I'm afraid I wasn't able to find any answers to my issue in the PSP user guide, and this board's "search" kept telling me to try again in 140 seconds...? I'm guessing I'm missing a simple setting or concept in PaintShopPro.

I'm using PSP 2020 to process Nikon RAW (.NEF) files, and just recently I have noticed that the Preview window in Manage seems to add a bunch of noise to the image. When I first click on an image in the lower part of the manage tab window, the pic appears above in preview and it looks fine for about 1 - 2 seconds. Then the preview image changes to have lots of noise - like slightly miscolored pixels. This noise sometimes also appears in the Edit window, but not always. The noise does NOT get written to the output image, however so it only affects viewing in PaintShop. I open both raw and edited/saved images in other photo viewing software and the noise is never there. I don't think it is a monitor problem because I've opened images in PSP and other generic photo software at the same time, and the PSP picture has the noise but not the other.

Ultimately I'm trying to solve two problems: 1) when the noise appears temporarily in the edit window, it makes it a little tough to be sure my picture looks how I want it before saving. 2) I take pictures of my kid's hockey team and give the good ones to other parents, but the noise makes it tough to quickly find those I'd like to save (from about 200+ per game).

I'm sure I'm missing something simple, and am guessing it is some sort of display setting, but after searching and blindly poking around for a day I'm afraid I haven't figured it out yet, and am hoping someone here can point me in the right direction. If it is a matter of me doing the "search" correctly here, that would be a big help, too.

Thank you,

Tim

[Jean-Luc]

Is the model of your camera listed in the Corel's list?

[IronTim]

Yes sir, it is. Nikon D5500.

[Jean-Luc]

Could you post a raw image somewhere so we can test it?
Did you install PSP 2021 trial and see if it happens too with 2021?

[Jean-Luc]

Ooops... no need to send a sample.
I've found some samples here:
https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews ... ple_images

[Jean-Luc]

I don't see the noise defect you observe (using PSP 2020). Could you post a screen capture?
The image displays blurred for about 1-2 seconds and reverses to a sharp display.
I tested with my PSP 2021 and all is clean too.
I suggest you make a PSP reset (launching PSP with the shift key down and accept the reset). Make sure you save your workspace before doing the reset.

[Ken Berry]

FWIW I just downloaded a couple of the RAW images on the site Jean-Luc mentioned, and opened them in both PSP 2020 and 2021. I got the same results as him. In fact, where he saws "The image blurred for about 1-2 seconds,..." I could not see any blurring at all, though after no more than 1 second, the same image appeared and it was crystal clear both times.

There was absolutely no noise at all in the RAW Lab preview before/after window at all. I left that open for a little while just to see if there were any changes, but none occurred.

There were no differences whether I opened the images in either the Manage or Edit tabs of PSP.

[IronTim]

Okay I did the reset and am still seeing the noise in MY pictures, however I downloaded one of the images that you gentlemen used and just like you that one looks good for 1 - 2 seconds and then turns even clearer. I checked the ISO on my photos, and there there is a fairly wide variety. Not surprisingly I suppose, the higher the ISO the worse the noise in preview. Is it possible that the photos are getting sort of "oversharpened" (if there is such a thing)?

And FWIW, when I say "noise" I am talking about pixels that appear as red, green or blue - sort of like tiny Christmas lights all over the image. I uploaded two screenshots (the top image is after or with the "noise", and the bottom is before or without noise)

This image does the best at showing the problem clearly, but is certainly not a great example of why it is a problem - that occurs with smaller scale photos.

I sure do appreciate the help so far.

Best,

Tim

[JoeB]

Now that you have mentioned the large variation in the ISO values of your own photos, and having looked at your posted images, I suspect that is the issue. High ISO settings will generally result in noisier images, and some of that noise also translates into variously exaggerated colors in some pixels, not just grain.

Here's a link that gives a very easily explained relationship between ISO, shutter speed and aperture settings, and description of what high ISO can to to the resultant image:

https://photographypro.com/iso/

[Jean-Luc]

I uploaded two screenshots (the top image is after or with the "noise", and the bottom is before or without noise)

The before image is blurred. The noise is blurred too but is still there.
The after image is sharp and the noise is visible mostly in low light areas. It is a "normal" behaviour and PSP is not the culprit. PSP shows exactly what is inside the picture.

[Jean-Luc]

The noise is produced by the D5500 when ISO increases. Here at 3200 ISO:

(downloaded from https://www.photographyblog.com/reviews ... ple_images)

[IronTim]

Thanks much, Jean-Luc and Ken. Now that I understand things a bit better my sense is that this change from blurry to sharper (a feature not a bug ) is something I'll just need to deal with until I can get a faster lens. I can see now that it's only problematic for photos in darker arenas anyway. Since that noise is just temporary, it should be easy enough to work around. Maybe it will be a way to convince my lovely wife how much I need to upgrade...

Thank you again for the help!

Tim

[Jean-Luc]

Since that noise is just temporary, it should be easy enough to work around.

In PSP 2020, you may correct the noise with:
-> Adjust/One Step Noise Removal
or
-> Adjust/Digital Noise Removal
You find those tools when you are in the Edit workspace.

In the Adjust workspace, you find also a Digital Noise Removal tool.