Topaz lab ...products the new regime

Stuart Philpott

Stuart Philpott

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Stu
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Guys I've been largely AWOL from toggin due to trying to build a camper for toggin. Ha the irony.... but it's a ..which is a bind

Anyway I am no genius with post, but found topaz lads denoise AI to be this wonderful thing.....a tool a braindead guy with post could use and harness.

When i bought it ,it was on the understanding I bought once and that was the gig.

So I came back recently and the ethos has changed.......now it's a yearly payment

How do you users feel?

Ta muchly

stu
 
Yes you can still use the version you have indefinitely, basically once you pay you get major updates for a year and then you keep the last major update for which you paid.

I understand and also appreciate the reasoning behind the change in their business model. Given the niche area they operate in I never thought their buy once and get updates forever model was sustainable. So the change didn't come as surprise to me.

Having said that I am a bit disappointed with them because they don't seem to value old loyal customers due for a couple of reasons (IMO):
- They should have kept the people who bought with them originally on the same perpetual free upgrades licensing model or at the bare minimum given them like one or two years of free major updates.
- There are no offers for the updates package apart from the odd 10-15% off codes. Many times during offer seasons the price of buying new is nearly the same as paying for updates. So they are more than happy giving massive price cuts for new customers (understandable) but why not reward your existing loyal customers?

So I am still undecided if I want to continue supporting this company. I still use the version I had prior to their change in business model and I haven't bought or paid for any updates yet.
I have given the above feedback to the customer services.
 
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I have to be in defence of them.
In roughly 2011, I bought a disk from the Photography show at the NEC.
It was very much a whim, and I think I installed it once and never looked at it again.

Cue a few months ago, I go to buy the latest versions, completely forgetting Id bought it way back in 2011.
As I went to checkout, I was greeted with my cart reading £0.00 for Denoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixel AI.

Yes, I have to pay if I want to keep the latest version next year, but to allow me to use the products for free for a year because I bought it in 2011 is pretty good. If only Adobe followed suite.

Also, there are few 20% discount codes on YouTube that work on the update packages, which also work on top of their own 10-15% sale, which makes it pretty reasonable. I purchased a year of upgrades with the 35% off a while back and that's me covered until 2023 now.
 
TCR4x4 said:
I have to be in defence of them.
In roughly 2011, I bought a disk from the Photography show at the NEC.
It was very much a whim, and I think I installed it once and never looked at it again.

Cue a few months ago, I go to buy the latest versions, completely forgetting Id bought it way back in 2011.
As I went to checkout, I was greeted with my cart reading £0.00 for Denoise AI, Sharpen AI and Gigapixel AI.

Yes, I have to pay if I want to keep the latest version next year, but to allow me to use the products for free for a year because I bought it in 2011 is pretty good. If only Adobe followed suite.

Also, there are few 20% discount codes on YouTube that work on the update packages, which also work on top of their own 10-15% sale, which makes it pretty reasonable. I purchased a year of upgrades with the 35% off a while back and that's me covered until 2023 now.
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I didn't know of the 20% discount code, could you share please?
 
On the other hand you have the likes of Portrait pro who sell you their product with all incremental upgrades free of charge, only they never produce any incremental updates, only a new version every year, offered at a near full price as an upgrade to their poor long suffering loyal customers.
 
I wonder if sharpen ai v3 is still broken creating Orton effect and shifting pixels. After trying and going back to V2 several times I gave up. 2 months left... Don't think I will be 'rebewing' if I'm forced to stick with old version regardless
 
Hi Stu, not sure about the subscription model but I bought my DeNoise in March for about £50 and have received three updates since at no cost. I seemed to remember that this free update is valid for 12 months. Mine was definitely a one-off payment.
 
Guys thanks so much to all for the replies and thoughts..............yes my paid for denoise still works............and personally I've found it a fantastic product,........really enabling......... allowing to push further into the low light situations I oft find myself in making images of crepuscular species ( wildlife) in blightly,hmm even into the middle of the night with foxes lit by small continuous LEDS

At some stage i'd also like to invest in other topaz products especially on my mind is the AI sharpen. I'm sort of on the fence personally about the change,part of me feeling the free update for life policy isn't sustainable, for Topaz and their products being of such use to me i'd like more and to see them do well and have the funds to keep pushing forwards. Part of me feeling slightly miss sold .

I suspect when I have more time ( i've not being doing a huge amount of toggin' of late which is horrible for me ) i'll buy into the new subscription " ethos"

I kinda wanted to hear how other users felt as much as anything so huge thanks to all of you above , my personal feeling is they are a genuine lot and the new model isn't greed it's some thing to enable them, but often times I try to see the best in folks and am oft proved wrong. Maybe not as cynical as I should be hence the request


thankyou
 
Just wondering about this........

I have Topaz denoise AI v3.1.2 and find it useful for sharpening as well as noise removal; when you import a file it shows four comparison windows and almost without fail I feel I get the best results from "Clear". Does anyone else find this?
 
jerry12953 said:
Just wondering about this........

I have Topaz denoise AI v3.1.2 and find it useful for sharpening as well as noise removal; when you import a file it shows four comparison windows and almost without fail I feel I get the best results from "Clear". Does anyone else find this?
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No, I rarely use clear. I guess it depends on your camera model and style of shooting.
 
I cannot understand so many photographers moan about paying for software. I bought a Canon Ftb in 1973 and would you believe it, I have had to buy new canon models since then as they would not give them to me (a loyal customer) for free. I believe their reason was that it costs a lot of money to develop new cameras. It is the same for software.

Topaz has been generous to existing customers. I bought AI Clear when it first came out and later they withdrew this incorporating it into DeNoise AI. As I already had the earlier DeNoise and Sharpen, Topaz gave me DeNoise AI at no cost. Also if you add to your collection, they will make a generous offer when upgrading to the new AI software. They also have several special offers during a year and I have used discount codes with the special offers.

Dave
 
jerry12953 said:
Which do you tend to use?
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Jerry AI clear was my go to until an update that included low light......... like Tom I try to work with the sliders rather than auto settings. I don't think severe has appeared on my radar as yet

Jerry topaz Denoise enabled me to make fox images at night with tiny continuous lighting....as was my want not flash...because of my concerns about my fluffy mates driven by cold hard hours and hours and hours of observation of my indiividuals . They were spooky and me spooking them could put them under a car


At ISO's that still seem unreal to a humble lad like me. 16000 is ruddy nutz no not 1600 I really do mean 16K

_S2I5484 Sneakin' smj TDn by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

So personally I love the company they simply enable humble folks like me to go places we / I never thought possible.

I do feel slightly miss sold Jerry ,by the same token even not being bestowed with this stuff they call intelligence and graciously accepting some artificial stuff will do ........................ I couldn't see that business model being sustainable and allow then to push forwards


which then enables us to push forwards.

That's what all this is about using a toolkit to go somewhere we haven't previously

that's enough cobblers I'm off to bed:LOL::p

take care



stu
 
jerry12953 said:
Which do you tend to use?
Click to expand...
I use "Clear" mostly- depending on the quality of the original image :)

Only bought this software a day or 3 back so I am still discovering what its capable of

Les :)
 
jerry12953 said:
That's a very pretty portrait, Stu and very useable, considering it was shot at 16000! I don't think my Olympus kit (m43) would cope with ISO's that high. I'm reluctant to use higher than 1000, even using Topaz, although perhaps I'm too cautious.
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Give it a go- what can you loose ?? I shot a Robin @ ISO 5,000 by mistake and it came out lovely


Les :)
 
jerry12953 said:
Aren't you a Sony user, or have I got it wrong?
Click to expand...

No I have a few Sony bodies- not sure I see the point of your question? Even Sony camera's can suffer noise issues :)
 
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Lez325 said:
Give it a go- what can you loose ?? I shot a Robin @ ISO 5,000 by mistake and it came out lovely


Les :)
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This Jerry ............Les has the nail on the head............ what can we loose?



Thanks on the above what a joy ! Ahh mate what a joy!

I wasn't really looking for kind words on an image ......... more wanting to get out pushing the hell out of the tools and how much Topaz labs helped with all that:)

Take care both
 
Stuart Philpott said:
This Jerry ............Les has the nail on the head............ what can we loose?



Thanks on the above what a joy ! Ahh mate what a joy!

I wasn't really looking for kind words on an image ......... more wanting to get out pushing the hell out of the tools and how much Topaz labs helped with all that:)

Take care both
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PS Nice Image Stuart :)
 
jerry12953 said:
That's a very pretty portrait, Stu and very useable, considering it was shot at 16000! I don't think my Olympus kit (m43) would cope with ISO's that high. I'm reluctant to use higher than 1000, even using Topaz, although perhaps I'm too cautious.
Click to expand...
Yes it will if you use de.noise A1 ,I spun my 1-mkiii up to 20,500iso a few weeks back and got acceptable images ,.try it
 
Thanks Les ( silly sausage call me stu or I think I'm gonna get a beating :LOL:) and nice one Jeff:cool:

as above an enabler
 
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