Hello,
As I cannot really find the answer reading through the similar topics and questions other users have posted, allow me to share this:
I have just startet a trial yesterday of DeNoise AI. I love the product and the simplicity - and especially the AI behind since I don’t have the know-how or the time to spend hours editing.
However, when I export / save the files (I tested both native CR3 and DNG RAW files) - the output file is almost 5x higher then the input. Input file is roughly 40-45MB and output around 200MB per Picture. This is using way too much space on HDD and Cloud Space in Lightroom.
A original Raw file is just a black and white image with no color information and because of this its much smaller.
You need a RAW converter to convert the Back and White Raw into a Color Image.
The Rawconverter does read the color Channels, 1 Red, 2x Green, 1x Blue (Bayer Pattern) and converts the image into a editable RAW Color image, but you are only able to edit the raw inside the raw converter.
So Denoise or PhotoA.I. are raw converters with no edit option but they do “fix” some problems the rawfile has.
After the “fix” they do save the file into a dng.
Lets say that a dng is a raw like editable file, but after the conversion the colorinformation is set and that makes the file bigger.
With some special raw converters you can change the channels, you can set the rawconverter so that the red channel becomes the blue or green channel.
The fact of the matter is that the DNGs created by Topaz products are exceptionally large.
I just ran a test on a 25.3MB ARW file: processing with SAI resulted in a DNG of 145.7, with DNAI it was 121.7 and TPAI 143.7. The same file processed by DxO Pure Raw was 76.3MB.
I have no idea why this is the case, but I have just learned to live it with, at least until I run out of storage on my SSD. The suggestion to export the final image to JPG and trash the DNG is a good one if space becomes an issue.
Yes, ouch! After testing my high ISO files being processed various ways (via LR or PS before Topaz), I found that using the Topaz deNoise RAW model did the best job. So I batched yesterday’s dance shoot (3000-10,000 ISO) into groups and found that my 52Mb original RAW files are now 291Mb. Owww.
I still think the RAW model is demonstrably better than the others, but I’m going to have to figure out a workflow to shrink my final copies when I’ve finished all processing. I have a ton of storage, but…!
