Discussion | Is It Worth Renewing Topaz Photo AI From v2 To v4?

Topaz Photo AI General
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I currently do most of my editing in Lightroom, and will very occasionally use Topaz Sharpen AI and/or denoise. Recently Sharpen AI has been very glitchy with my Mac so I contacted Topaz for support but they just said that they are not supporting the individual software now and just focussing on Photo AI, which of course incorporates all of the old individual pieces of software.

I do have an old version of Photo AI, 2.1.4.. For my uses is it worth renewing to 4.0.2 for $99 or is it not worth my while? If it’s worth upgrading what features would sell it to me?

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

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You can see all the added features for each versions here: Releases - Topaz Community

You can also go in your “My Products" page and update to the latest version, test it in Trial mode (no export possible) and if you find it does not add anything to your needs, then in the same “My Products" page you can revert back to your owned version!

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Thanks, that’s useful. I’ll definitely try the trial mode.

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Sharpen since v2 has more AI models available, and also there is a new enhancement, called Super Focus for missed Focus cases. For Denoise, no new AI models, but it now supports low-light conditions files better. All depends on the files you shoot, to see if useful or not for your needs!

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Thanks again. Can you use it without AI in case I want to enter photos into competitions in the future? A lot of competitions are stopping the use of any type of AI meaning you have to be careful with the processing tools that you use.

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I can’t see how to use/download a trial mode, I’ve tried looking at my products online and also via the app itself. The only option is to renew but underneath it says you can get a refund within 30 days for any reason, so to trial it do you have to buy it and then get a refund?

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Download the app, then click on Activate with email. This will bring you on the Trial version. Details here: Try Before You Buy | Account & Sales

For the competitions, it depends on their specific rules. Stay away from Super Focus as it’s generative AI. But Sharpen and Denoise enhance what is in the file itself and are not using generative AI.

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I recommend using the trial mode until you establish that it’s useful to you. IMO, the current development effort is chaotic along several dimensions. I would evaluate at intervals and wait until there’s a version you are happy with.

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thanks for the advice

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I’m glad I tried the trial mode of Photo AI as sharpen AI (I have version 4.1) gives better results. The problem with sharpen AI is that it’s started glitching and flickers really badly making it unpleasant to use and that’s why I’ve been looking at Photo AI.

It’s really frustrating Topaz have decomissioned this, I’d have hoped they’d have at least maintained old versions so that they continue to work correctly, especially when you consider how much you pay for it (I bought the whole suite).

An area where Sharpen is still better than Photo AI is the ability to choose the opacity of the brush, this way you can apply different strengths of the adjustment on the same mask without having to use several different masks and brushing each part in

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Hi.

Photo AI has improved Denoiseing and Sharpening with less artifacts plus advance Masking over the original Sharpen AI.

True, as you say you can’t adjust the Brush Opacity but, you can only use the brush with one Sharpening model at a time also, Sharpen AI only has three models to choose from with three versions of each and if you wanted to apply one of the other sharpening models then you would either save your image and reopen it in Sharpen AI to continue or save more than one version and do some compositing later.

Whereas, with Photo AI’s Sharpening you get seven different types of Sharpening Models plus, you can, in actual fact, apply multiple instances, of Sharpening to different areas within Photo AI with any of the Sharpening Models and degrees of strength similar, to the brush with Opacity but, applying specific Sharpening to different areas with the Regular Masking Brush.

Yes I’m aware, I mentioned Masking so, I’m going to mention it again and say, you can target different areas quickly with Masking for example Subject, People, Sky, Landscape and as I mentioned previously Custom Masking with one of the selection Brushes and apply all this nondestructively.

Meaning, if you’re using Photo AI as a Standalone Application and after you have applied your Enhancements you can save your work, close the program and if you want to adjust your settings at a later time you can reopen the same image within Photo AI and the Application will remember your previous settings which you can then, readjust if you like, none of which you can do with Sharpen AI.

Also, included are the new Face Recovery version 2, Balance Colour, Adjust Lighting, Dust & Scratches and not forgetting the superior Generative Super Focus Model which by itself is worth the upgrade alone

However, it’s a personal choice if you think they’re worth the upgrade over your current application or not.

Have you considered, Gigapixel which has enhanced Upscaling over it’s predecessor as well as the same Face Recovery as Photo AI plus you get the incredible Generative Redefine and Recover Models and if price is still a factor Gigapixel a lot cheaper than Photo AI

Besides, as you owned Topaz applications previously and still on the fence about, Photo AI or Gigapixel you might have been offered, a discount on Photo AI and you still might be entitled to one now maybe, worth asking.

Here’s the link to contact Topaz Support directly about a discount

Topazlabs Support
support@topazlabs.com

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Thanks for your comprehensive response, I am aware of everything that you mention :+1: Being able to apply more than one adjustment is definitely a big bonus, however I’ve actually just tried Photo AI against Sharpen AI and to my eyes the results of motion blur corrections are better with Sharpen AI than Photo AI no matter what I try :man_shrugging:

With regards to discounts I will try them thanks, however they should already be offering the best price to existing customers.

I don’t use Topaz as standalone, I always export from lightroon and then save back to lightroom.

Superfocus is EXTREMELY slow for me, after 5 minutes it was only half way through assessing my image, and that’s on quite a high spec Mac (M1 Max, 64GB RAM)

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I don’t use a Mac however, out off curiosity, I remembered reading something about Sharpen AI and M1 compatibility, within the release notes and I found this for version 4

Native Apple M1 silicon support
Experience at least a 20-30% performance improvement compared to the previous versions that required Rosetta emulation and Intel architecture.

So, I was wondering as version 4 was made compatible with the M1 chip and Sharpen AI is only now glitching is there anything you can do with your Apple to fix this issue for instance, Rolling Back the Operating System or software patches to make it comfortable once again.

As, I say I don’t use Apple so, forgive me if I’m wrong

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It’s very very difficult to roll back the OS on Macs these days, some say impossible unless you scrub the whole drive and start from scratch. However, as you’ve mentioned Rosetta I’m going set Sharpen AI to open using Rosetta and will see if that helps. It’s not a Mac silicon chip thing as it’s worked well for years, but it does seem to be since I updated to OS Sonoma. I could update to the latest OS but I’ve seen that people have had issues with Logic Pro X so I’m not risking it.

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Running in Rosetta hasn’t fixed it.

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Another shot in the dark, I only use Photoshop, but I’m speaking of Image Editors in general. I have a few older Photoshop plugins that, no longer work with the current version of Photoshop but, as a long time user I still have some previous versions knocking around and keep a copy of Photoshop CS6 on my computer for when I want to use those older Plugins

Perhaps, trying an older application like Photoshop CS6 may or may not help I don’t know and can’t try for myself as, I say I’m not an Mac user although, I still believe Apple is still the culprit with this issue perhaps, somebody else from the community who is more knowledgeable about such things will step in and help

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Yeah, I’m sure it’s a compatibility issue between sharpen AI and Mac, just a shame Topaz won’t look into it. Restarting the computer fixes it for a period of time but then it starts to glitch again.

I can’t use older versions of lightroom as they’re not compatible with my camera.

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@tobias.gunnee can you send to support@topazlabs.com this:

  1. Details on your workflow
  2. Example of where you get better results in Sharpen AI vs Photo AI. We need the original, the Sharpen AI export and the Photo AI export. We also need screenshots of what enhancemnt you have used in Photo AI so we can replicate.

We have yet to find a case where Sharpen AI gives better results then Photo AI, and we want to relay to the development team if there is a case that we find!

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Workflow is do most of edits in lightroom, export to sharpen AI/Photo AI, choose the relevant sharpen mode and adjust the slider to give the result I’m most happy with.

With sharpen AI I like that there is a noise reduction slider within the sharpen section rather than having to apply a separate noise mask.

I’ve deleted my screenshots now so will have to redo them at some point and then post them. In the meantime I have got the full version of the latest Photo AI so will experiment some more with that and see what I get.

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Hi Tobias.

Topaz Photo AI has the same Noise Reduction Slider as Sharpen AI, you just have to enable it that’s all.

Simply goto Preferences, under the Edit Menu, or press Command/Control plus the Comma key , to open the Preferences Menu

Once the Preferences Menu has opened, on the left are the three Sections Application, Autopilot and Shortcuts the one you want is Autopilot Filters
Click on Autopilot Filters and the options will appear on the right

You’ll see as an option
show 'Minor Adjustments Advanced Controls and a Toggle Switch

Click the Toggle Switch to enable it and Click on Save to save your settings

Now when you select the Sharpen Enhancement you’ll find under the Strength Slider the Minor Denoise Slider which is the same as the old Suppress Noise within Topaz Sharpen AI

Enabling the Toggle Switch doesn’t just bring back Minor Denoise it also, adds the Minor Deblur option to the Denoise Enhancement which is the same as the old Enhance Sharpness found in Topaz DeNoise AI

Hope this helps

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