Looking for a noise reduction tool to improve the quality of your digital photographs? AKVIS Noise Buster operates as either an independent application or a plugin for photo editors such as Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. Read on to find out more.
AKVIS Noise Buster v6.1
AKVIS Noise Buster is a noise reduction tool that is available as either a standalone product or as a plugin compatible with several photo editing applications, including Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop, on both Windows and Mac systems.
Both the plugin and the independent application are virtually identical in terms of user interface and function. In this review, we’ll be looking at both the standalone version and the plugin version as it is used in conjunction with Paint Shop Pro.
| Installation and Setup | Rating  |
The download and installation of AKVIS Noise Buster was smooth, and no problems were encountered during the setup of the application. Depending on the directory you choose to install the software, you may have to make some modifications to your photo editor in order for it to recognize the plugin portion of the application. If you’re a Paint Shop Pro user and having trouble getting the software to recognize Noise Buster, take a look at these instructions for installing third-party plugins.
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| Ease of Use | Rating |
In addition to offering several customization options, Noise Buster also has a preconfigured “automatic” setting that allows users to fix the noise problems in many digital photographs with just a couple of clicks. For those who do want to have more control over the noise reduction settings, the user interface is simple and straightforward, allowing for changes to be easily made.
As with other AKVIS products, a preview window lets you see how changes will look before actually being applied to the digital photograph. At any time, if you want more information about the control settings, you can move the mouse pointer to that area of the interface and an explanation of that option will be displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the application.
| Performance | Rating  |
AKVIS Noise Buster focuses on correcting both luminance noise and color noise with separate control settings for each of these categories. One feature in the application that is particularly nice is the histogram that detects and shows, with a single glance, both luminance and color noise levels in the digital photograph you are editing. This is very helpful feedback for those who want to depend on more than just the naked eye when making adjustments.
When dealing with larger images, processing time can become quite slow. This is to be expected, to some degree, because of the modifications that are being made, and the time taken to complete the noise removal process seems very much in line with other applications of this type. Fortunately, you can make and preview several changes and then apply them all at once. This way, you can save all of your waiting time until the end of your photo editing rather than sit and endure after each minor change.
How does the program fare when it actually comes to removing noise? For common minor noise problems, Noise Buster does an excellent job. However, the application did not seem to perform as well on images with major noise issues or on ones riddled with compression artifacts. If you have to deal with these problems often, you may want to seek out another application, such as Topaz DeNoise, for your editing projects.
Please continue on to the next page of this review to find out if AKVIS Noise Buster is worth buying and to learn the overall rating of this product.