Sharpen AI - vertical banding

Topaz Products Product Technical Support
1

I have recently purchased Topaz Sharpen AI 1.4.0 and while it does some amazing things I have found an issue which mainly seems to occurr when I use the Stablize option. If I zoom in to 200% I can see vertical banding in some images, especially those shot at ISO greater than 100.

Here is an example, original at 200%

and banding showing at 200%

It’s not an issuewith display in the App, as the banding can be seen when the image is taken back to Lightroom or Photoshop (where the captures were taken from)

It might be an issue with ISO noise, or it might be an artifact of my camera - I am using a Pentax K3 mkII which doesn’t have an anti-alias filter.

I tried using Denoise AI first, in case it was an issue with the software seeing the noise as detail to be sharpened, however the banding is still present when i subsequently apply Sharpen AI to the image

I realise I don’t have the best graphics or CPU performance as my PC is using an AMD A8-7650K Radeon R7.

Has anyone else come across this issue? I haven’t had a chance yet to turn the camera’s AA software filter on and try a few shots with that to see if there is any difference

Application & Version: Topaz Sharpen AI Version 1.4.0

Operating System: Windows 10 (10.0)

Graphics Hardware: AMD Radeon™ R7 Graphics

OpenGL Driver: 3.3.13492 Core Profile Forward-Compatible Context 22.19.677.257

CPU RAM: 15300 MB

Video RAM: 1024 MB Total, 1024 MB In Use

Preview Limit: 2804 Pixels

1 Like
2

The cameras Anti-alias filter shouldn’t make a difference as that would show in the original. I take it is a DNG out of camera so I first suggest save a TIF from Sharpen AI and see if that solves the banding issue.

If that doesn’t work try converting the RAW to TIF and use that as input to Sharpen AI with TIF output to see if there is an issue with DNGs.

Also, please go to the Topaz Labs main website and raise a support request there.

3

Hi Don,

You were spot-on! Creating a TIFF first and then using Sharpen AI eliminated the vertical banding. Thanks I am now a very happy bunny!

2 Likes
4

I always use Denoise AI on the raw file first before using SAI. The banding you see there I see in unfocused background regions when in Denoise if I have the Remove Noise slider at around 10 (hitting the Auto button thinks the Remove Noise setting should be 3-5). When I move the slider to around 20 the noise is effectively removed. Sharpening settings in Denoise has no effect on this vertical pattern.

5

Hello.
I also have the problem that Topaz Sharpen creates vertical lines in Stabilize mode. With all photos. No matter if Jpg, Tiff, Raw.
No matter if Canon Nikon …
But only if the GPU is switched on for calculation.
If I switch off the GPU, the results are without stripes!
But without a GPU, the turnaround time is unacceptable!
What can you do?
Or is Topaz doing what?
The thread is from September 2019.
Now is almost a year later.
And the problem still exists (for me at least).
Can you still expect the error to be corrected?