Sony output from Denoise AI or Photo AI does not match adjusted RAW

Topaz Products Product Technical Support
1

I don’t SEE ANYTHING in here that’s obviously what I’m having occur, so hopefully someone has a simple answer. I did see one complaint about Photo AI 1.3, but it doesn’t appear the same as what I’m seeing.

Lightroom 12.3, Adobe DNG Converter 15.3.0.1451, Topaz Denoise AI 3.7.2, Photo AI 1.3
Image from Sony, Alpha 1 at ISO 6400. Both Denoise AI and Photo AI were VERY recently upgraded.

I’m not sure if something has broken, or if my workflow has a problem. Here’s what I’m doing:

  • Open Sony ARW RAW in Lightroom. Image was captured with profile CameraST, and in Lightroom is shows the profile CameraST.
  • Adjust basic exposure in Adobe Lightroom to see whether image is worth working on.
  • Start Denoise standalone. Add RAW file, select RAW, use defaults, press Save Image to process. In the popup, select “Preserve Input Settings”. (I thought this would send back the .dng WITH the settings that were changed in the RAW file, but it doesn’t appear to be that way)

Back in Lightroom

  • Import dng file. Profile is now “Color”, no camera profile, and all settings are zero.
  • Synchronize the dng file with the RAW file, and the two SHOULD be identical. They aren’t. The profile is set to CameraST, but LR says it’s missing. The dng image, after synchronization, looks significantly different than the adjusted RAW file.

This is the original RAW image with the basic adjustments.

original after adjustment
original after adjustment1200×565 137 KB

This is the DNG file that came back from Denoise before synchronizing the settings

dng from Denoise
dng from Denoise1200×574 124 KB

This is the DNG file that came back from Denoise AFTER synchronizing the settings

dng from denoise after adjust to be identical
dng from denoise after adjust to be identical1200×581 120 KB

The dng file is different than the RAW file.

RERAN the process, but in Denoise, when the popup displayed, I TURNED OFF the “Preserve Input Settings” and made SURE Denoise saved a dng file.

Same results as near as I can see.

I don’t RECALL having this problem in the past, but I may be missing something critical or bizarre.

I get the SAME results when I use Photo AI.

I still have Denoise 3.7 and Photo AI 1.2, and if necessary, I can revert to those.

Is there something I’m missing in Denoise or Photo AI, or is there a problem with the software?

2

I don’t know if it’ll help or not, but I just tried this with Denoise V3.6.2 and it does the same thing.

I also tried it with a Nikon D500 file and it does the same thing there. The Camera Matching profiles are gone in Lightroom when the dng file is imported back in.

3

So is nobody else in here seeing inconsistencies when doing RAW processing? Is it just Sony images?