The upscaled image has a really bright (unnatural) edge on the back of the bird (similar to oversharpening or with excessive clarity boost). Interestingly, that edge is not visible everywhere, so I believe in certain lighting/background conditions it would not be that visible.
@@jacobl6572 Id describe Dark Side Of the Moon as thought provoking rather than depressing. Later albums became darker but even then the bands talent was to make the music itself (not themes or lyrics) uplifting. Thats why they were so popular.
@@markrigg6623 Being a product of the '70's, the drugs that came in with the band(s) were over the top. I also photoed some big bands since you could bring in your gear back then. A true story; I brought a insulated cooler of ice tea into the Floyd concert, kinda innocent of heavy drugs and the drug culture, a guy came up to me and asked, "Do you have any tea?" I thought to myself he can get his own ice tea, and said No. BTW, I play electric guitar and do admire Gilmore's leads, not to be totally against talented people.
@@markrigg6623 So true, he is nearly unmatched in soulful playing. They were my favorite group. I also saw them in 1978 in Cleveland. They were doing a couple shows a year to promote their albums. I have seen with this band and others, drugs skyrocket along with teen suicides going up. They identified the problems we kids could relate to back then and even now, so well, yet I was always left empty and cynical to the future and life in general as I soaked my mind into their music. Since they had no message of hope it helped facilitate me to fall into a deep depression, high anxiety and hopelessness. l was on prescription drugs just to function. Not to blame it all on them, I did not handle anger well. I ended up finding Christ as my Lord and Savior which gave me a new hope and a promising future, I also found total forgiveness and healing from my faith for the last 30+ years. So the band is a bitter sweet kinda thing for me. I came mighty close to being another brick in the wall.
If I understand this correctly from Topaz themselves this particular program is graphics card intensive (GPU) in processing. Having a highly functional graphics card is more important dealing with processing times than memory or mega CPU.
I guessed right. I felt like the A9 upscaled had a bit of a digitally enhanced look in the feathers on the belly and the scales on the feet. Really great video and info. Thanks!
As did I, it wasn't too hard to spot, but it wasn't glaring either. I'd be interested to see the test done on the same photos but with the current generation of upscaling tools (three years on). I'm betting the difference would be harder to pick.
Pretty incredible stuff. The problem with side by side comparisons is that people get too hung up on them. If Mark simply showed us the a9 upscaled photo as part of one of his traditional videos, none of us would question anything about it from a technical standpoint. THAT is the real test and it passes in my opinion. Since we are primed to nitpick in this video, we start seeing things that really aren't important. Edit: That's an interesting LR catalog name you got there
How do you know I haven't already included some upscaled images in my videos? Good point though and yeah, I am childish. I love naming things like the lr catalog with childish toilet humor.
Exactly. They both would be acceptable on my wall and no one would know the difference. Topaz has a big discount on this stuff today, so I will probably get it and have a new toy to play with.
Really interesting. I bought the a92 and because of work and now lock down have not really used it. My one silly concern was 24 versus 42 mpxls on my old a7R2. Now you’ve shown me a solution, that I may never have needed 😄 thank you
Not many of us have quality tele lens to get us close to our subject which means that cropping is needed and at times, heavy cropping so a high megapixel camera is needed so we don't lose too much detail and I'd rather keep the editing to just cropping
I expected a different result. For me, the a9 is a better experience and I rarely print. That said, when I’m not shooting birds and have good light, I use the a7iv. Another very helpful video Mark. Thanks
Problem with algorithms is that it works well when humans cant remember and differentiate pattern. Problem occurs when you can recognise the pattern then you will find fault in AI based upscaling.
SPEEDWEED on the other hand a Computer is even better in recognizing patterns than a person so the results may be even better in an image that has lots of them.
Thanks for this, Mark! Thought I’d add my own experience. I shot a mountain scene on my D850 and wanted to print large (48x32 inches). Tried Gigapixel AI and didn’t care for the upscaled image (mostly ok but some odd artifacts, even after a few attempts). Ended up sending the original 45 megapixel D850 image to printer and it looks amazing on the wall-fantastic detail. The lesson I took away was that 45 MP can give you a great print. Again, just my experience with a single image.
You can, of course, also apply the gigapixel-AI software on photos taken with the A7r iv. Not so much to blow these images up to incredible pixel dimensions, but to crop very heavily and upscale the crop with Topaz. I do this for bird photography and I don't mean the huge bird of prey in this video, but small and shy songbirds you sometimes have to photograph from 10 meters or more. I can crop so much that you can get a 2000mm photo from a 600mm lens.
Not sure why it takes your PC so long, I have an older AMD 1700x 8 core CPU and it only take about 30-40s to render upscaled shots. Also I never use jpg, I only upscale 16 bit tiffs, which are massively bigger than jpg. Maybe you have not enabled GPU acceleration or you don't have a supported GPU. I also don't upscale so much in general, I like to stick to say 25-35% enlargement which is like making the A9 go from 24MP to 37-44MP. Another tip don't do as much sharpening in Gigapixel and use Topaz Ai Sharpen to do the heavier lifiting in Photoshop. Anyway, great work Mark as usual.
Hi Mark, I think what you are seeing like me, the A7R4 has better color & contrast, that's what makes me like the left image better. Thanks for this vid!
I could tell the difference especially because a7r iv has finer detail on the dry feathers (you can see the individual strands) but surprisingly close. You notice a difference in clarity as well, like if there's a better lense on the a7r iv.
I actually thought the A9 one looked better before Mark called it out but maybe that's youtube. This type of AI will just keep getting better but at the end of the day it's about getting the shot that's where the man comes in 😁
I did the same comparison. I used A7R4 and A92 with 200600G. The results show that if the image quality is awesome. Topaz do a wonderful job. they will be slightly different between true high resolution and fake one. However, if the image is a little too dark, higher iso or non-focus. then A7R4 will get better image resolution.
I could tell which was which, but in all honesty I wasn't expecting the A9 file to be as good as it is. Amazing really. And, it's only going to get better. Thanks for making this video.
I've downloaded the trial version and used it to upscale some of my old 6 megapixel photos and the result have been great, I'm really impressed with the software, mostly been using it at 2x but 1 image I decided to upscale it by the maximum of 6x and I was truly amazed at the result. Nice video..
I have an old Canon and need a new camera. I know I need direction. Thx very much, I love your videos and the birding tours I go on, people bring a nice camera and takes nice photos, but yours are spectacular!
So glad you covered this topic, Mark. I just bought a new a9 and love love love its focus performance, but have been less than thrilled about the sensor resolution. It’s good to know that an a9 quality image can be upscaled to look 99% as good as an a7IV image. As for the extra cost (in time and software) involved to get it there, I think it’s worth it especially if you have some amazing images you’ve captured with the incredible a9! Keep up the great work. Love your channel.
Mark, You are the reason I bought Denoise AI and was interested in this program. All of the sudden I needed to upres an image I submitted to a contest for publication. My original was cropped and not high enough res for publication for them. I immediately got gigapixel and boom I have a hig res version of my cropped image. I played with the slidders till I could get it almost exact as the judges were seeing on the original. Thanks for the great videos!!!
I see a quite obvious difference. The edge of the osprey (I don't know if calling it the 'back') but basically I can see that it's oversharpened when it transitions from sharp dark bird to green soft background. You can see halo. It has done a really good job anyways
I use Topaz Sharpening and Denoise for most of my shots. I shoot 800 ISO and higher from a far distance, with my Ohio birds. The atmosphere seems to mush the image from being perfectly sharp and clear more than not having enough pixels from most of my images I get. Only on large crops I'll add in Gigapixel since it does not help me that much and it can be unstable to use. I'm using a Nikon Df with a well calibrated 150 -600 Tamron G2 set at F8. I just shot an eagle in flight and got some amazing clean up using all three programs. I'm thinking, " Mark would be proud of me"...... I was only at 1/1000 sec, M mode, at 600mm, while the bird was in the tree, then it took off, also I was in a kayak bobbing around.
Lightroom, photoshop and Gigapixel are why I haven't bothered to upgrade from my Sony A7II. All I really wanted was IBIS, and I've got that. Though I have considered getting the A7III or A7C when they get closer to a $800-$1000 price on the used market because I'm definitely interested in the silent shutter feature.
Great topic. I recently did this with some D500 limpkin shots that were cropped and I wanted to print 8 x10. I used a different resize product that I already own to upscale them and I was very happy with the prints.
To be honest, I would have appreciated the same test, but zoomed in on greater detail to the photos. Real pixel peeping. I also noticed you didn't share the full resolution of your image files. Very interesting all the same and thank you for sharing!
Two things. If you had to examine the two images side-by-side that closely to find a minute difference, then does it really matter? No one will notice if he or she is looking at the entire image. Also, if you hold down the shift key when in LR comparator mode, you can reposition either image so the same part of the file (Osprey in this case) is exactly side-by-side. Makes the comparisons much easier. You are an extraordinary photographer. Thank you so much for your videos and you and your family have my sincere and heartfelt condolences on your recent loss.
In my opinion, at the end of the day you can go broke upgrading equipment for every new sensor. I'll stay with my D850 at 45.7 megapixels. No matter how many megapixels in the camera it comes down to the lens, photo and how large a print you want...and of course most important...are you happy with what you took. I was unaware of the software....thanks!
Couldn't see the difference on my smartphone screen. LOL I suppose part of the fun of owning the A7R IV and the A9 would be holding them in your hands and shooting with them. Photographer's love their gear.
I find myself using the D850 more than the D500 just because of the larger resolution. I think these types of videos are very helpful when trying to decide to purchase a new software. Thank you 😊
Thanks Mark. I tried the Topaz AI Denoise based on your recommendation and I've been loving it! Will have to put this on my wish list. Hoping my business will survive virus shutdown
This really made me think about what camera I want to upgrade to. I currently use an A7Rii which is 42mp but the AF is pretty slow for birds. I've considered picking up a used A9 since they're getting cheaper and this program would help ensure I can still do high res prints. Great video.
Thanks Mark. You just proved what I have been thinking lately...Great comparison. I guess other camera attributes will become more important than resolution..such as focus speed, DR, micro contrast and more so ergonomics and easy of use. Cheers
Great video - I've been thinking about getting Gigapixel for use with my X-T3 which I my main wildlife camera and I may take the plunge. One issue with the high-res cameras I've heard is that you have to be very careful as any shake will be amplified greatly in IQ and as I am in my sixties shake is now becoming a consideration. As an aside, my other system is the Fuji GFX50S Medium Format camera which I use for architecture/landscape but I have used it to photograph our tame backyard fox and of course a 50mpx MF sensor gives you quite an advantage. Thanks again for an informative video.
Hmmm, you just saved me from buying a A7RIV alongside my A9, after seeing the cropping power of the A7RIV at work whilst photographing White-tailed Eagles yesterday! I recently purchased Topaz Utility Pack which has the Gigapixel in it but hadn't used t yet. Now I will!
Hi Mark, double check out the advanced preferences for Gigapixel. Toggle the "Enable Discrete GPU" to no (or vice versa - I had to change mine to no) and enable Intel OpenVino to Yes. I made those changes and my 12 core Mac Pro was singing where prior to those changes, it was taking minutes just as you described.
Thank you so much for this video, Mark. Perfect timing for me as I have been trying to decide if I really need/want to buy a higher resolution camera. I purchased Gigapixel recently but haven't used it much yet and also have DeNoise that I use on many photos. Your comparison was great and for now, will keep me from the expense of a new camera and dealing with the super high res files.
I did a similar comparison with and without a 1,4 tc with a tripod on a static, not living, subject next to a test chart. I used the same camera and upsized the image taken without the tc with 1,4 x in gigapixel. The result was that i couldn´t see much of a difference (at 100% view in Phoroshop). Maybe the upsized image was a small amount clearer with a little bit better sharpness but that could just be due to the sharpening within Topaz gigapixel. In any case, I don´t use tc´s very often nowadays!
I recognized the trick in the first pair of birds in less than 5 seconds. the image in the right side is artefactual, clearly. I still would go for a high resolution camera. Actually i like the image from the A9 with no tricks a lot more than the upscalled image. No AI for me so far...
Thanks for this video. My camera is a Nikon D7200. After playing around with Gigapixel, I was impressed and I wanted to see a quality comparison like this. A few more sample images would be fun.
I almost pulled the trigger on a D850 today for $2,100 USD but pulled back at the last minute asking myself will I ever really need double the res of my D750 which I've been pretty happy with so far. Can you or anyone in this forum address the central question of who really needs a D850 vs D750 (24mp). I don't see myself making really large prints at this point in my life. Thanks in advance. . . . Mike
I use a d750 and just started using gigapixel, the program does work, but it can be hit and miss but it does make a difference, but I was most impressed in how it brought to life some of my old D40 files. So I would get the trial version of gigapixel even though it leaves an ugly Watermark right in the middle of your photo sometimes that makes it hard to judge, you just have to Tinker with the program to get the best results
Hey Mark, I thoroughly enjoy your videos!! I have learned SO MUCH by watching them, and am AMAZED by many of your shots!! You and I certainly share the same passion for wildlife and wildlife photography ... and Ospreys!! Just wanted to let you know that I clicked on your Topaz link and bought the Gigapixel AI software. It has definitely made a difference in sharpening my photos, beyond anything I could do with LightRoom or PhotoShop. Thank you again for sharing your talents!!
I shoot with a 1DXii and a G9ii (mostly wildlife with the G9ii) and I totally agree. It would be nice to shoot with a high resolution body full frame body but I don't have the money for the body, or the lens, and it wouldn't suit my photography style any way. But it really doesn't matter. With denoise tools and upscaling (which have only gotten better since this video was released) I have everything that I need and can create fantastic images that look great printed, even at large sizes.
I tried topaz gigapixel app and I'm really impress by results. Saying that i probably wouldn't use it for pictures with people. BTW you can try this app and others for free now for one month!
Hi Mark! Very interesting, as always. My suggestion would be to apply the AI to the A7RM4 as well, just for fairness and then compare again, and then view both at 100% and then at 200% as well!...
Mark I noticed the eye color and some background colors were more muted on your A9 manipulated image than the A7RIV image. Do you think that was just the way the sensor interpreted those colors or do you think the color may have washed out a little as a result of using the software?
Mark, thanks for making this video. I have to use a smaller sensor camera to save weight due to a back injury. It's nice to know there's hope for those of us unable to afford or use megapixel cameras. I've had surprising good results in prints up to 20x24-inches though I'm still a big fan of what you've been able to accomplish with your Nikon and Sony gear.
Gigapixel does work much better than the Photoshop AI upscaling, especially when the photo was touched or is noisier (1600 ASA and up). Recommended is to use the raw unmanipulated to upscale (as Gigapixel can reverse the effect of Bayer filtering or the AntiAliasing filter when untouched which both makes lanzos upscaled pictures unsharp). If photos are manipulated before some of the hidden fine contrast details can not be restored. However the patterns that are still there and the edges are well reproduced.
On my iPad Pro, the A9 looks ever so slightly better. Like you say it could be because of YT. I did a simple comparison between my first DSLR D50 and my D850 and on my iPad it took a little zooming in before I could tell any difference. I always thought that little 6mp sensor was awesome.
Mark, did you enable your GPU in the options of your Topaz tools? You mentioned that you have a beefy PC, so I figure there must be a beefy high-performance graphics card (GPU) inside as well. Therefore, go the setting in all your Topaz tools and enable the use of your GPU in the processing. You’ll be very happily surprised about the huge performance increase! It’s fantastic! You’ll love it! Come On, Let’s Go! ;-)
Very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to make this very good video Mark. I will have to see how it compares with my A7R2 and A9. I will have to play and try it on both just for fun. Thanks again!
I purchased the Denoise and have no regrets. I use it also to sharpen even if iso is low. I’ve tried the sharpen AI and thinking about letting the trial version lapse, for my d500 the denoise seems to do the job. Maybe it’s just me.
Correct me if i am wrong but don't the higher end lower resolution cameras typically have better dynamic range? If so, I would think this software would be a godsend. Thanks for the video.
When comparing the two one thing I noticed was that the background of the ne on the right was better.I bought the sharpen Ai and at leaset the picture I printed didn’t show much difference.Maybe it was the picture.
Great video Mark, I use Gigapixel Ai and yes it takes a long time to process, as does Sharpen Ai which I don't use, I still sharpen in Photoshop. I love DeNoise and use it to remove noise in my photos. Love your shirt, the greatest rock group ever (my opinion!)
I have used D500 + 300mm f4 + 1.4x to shoot birds; the camera has about 20MP. If the bird was far away, after cropping, the image could be reduced to less than 10MP and was unusable. If we use the AI program to upgrade the pixels to say 45MP and then crop to say 20MP, would the image be usable?
Thanks for the interesting comparison Mark. I would love to see you compare a high res camera such as the Nikon D850 vs the Samsung S20 Ultra with it's 100x 'space zoom' for wildlife images.
You should show the before upscale with the after upscale to see if it makes that much of a difference. Does it make a difference in the two prints from both cameras and also a print from the before and after.
Great to see you posting Mark, real food for thought. I think you’d probably agree that having the print is only part of the pleasure, going out into nature and seeing these amazing spectacles is a massive part of what we love about wildlife photography. A bit like when I used to go fishing when I was younger , not catching a fish rarely ruined the day! Ultra high res cameras are definitely more demanding to use, I loved my D3 with it’s lowly 12 mp, the image quality was still fantastic. I digress lol, will check out the software . Cheers. Love Pink Floyd.
With lower pixels sensors, from my experiance using a 16MP Df, you can get great results with with Topaz, even more improvement than very dense sensors. There is less overall 'mush' to clean up.
@@jacobl6572 Well I'm not convinced cramming more pixels into a small space/sensor is the most pleasing visually or even the best way to increase resolution!
As always, I really enjoyed this one and it's made me think. After watching your de-noise video I tried it and bought it and I think it is a great piece of software. Now I'm going to try the Gigapixel trial and see. I think you've done it again Mark. thanks so much for keeping us going during lockdown. Just a thought. Do you use Gigapixel and denoise on the same image and if so in which order would you recommend? Thanks from across the pond in East Sussex England.
Hi Mark. Glad to see that you are doing well. One thing - how about showing the before and after of the smaller rez photo side by side to get a better idea of what gigapixel can do.
For personal projects like ultra-macro photography I'd say people would probably prefer the higher MP camera, but most commerical clients don't really care as long as the compressed file size is good. Especially if you're doing commerical work like texture photography and photogrammetric texture depthmap photography for game studios as they usually request 2x AI upscaled 24mp PNG files instead of high-res raws these days because it saves so much storage data for a similar quality of photo. Now that HEIF format is becoming more mainstream these studios will be switching over to that to save a great amount of bandwidth related to the packed textures. That'd save multiple GB compared to the PNG data. I mainly have experience in texture work and product photography, so the much higher MP cameras might be better for more real-world type work like weddings and stuff like that.
The Photoshop Upscale-function is actually better than AI megapixel (there are also a few comparisons from both you can find on YT). If you already own photoshop, you don´t need to spend extra money on the Topaz software. Since I tried the function in Photoshop it was clear to me: I definitely don't need a high resolution camera. Not only are these cameras much more expensive, but the amount of data is also much larger. In the rare cases where I would have liked more megapixels, I will now simply upscale the image. In addition, you can then use smart tools like Sharpen AI. I guess in the vast majority of cases this will be enough to get a visually appealing image.
very informative video, I shoot high school sports ( used to )and my iso at night games can be as high as 10,000, must fill the frame because crops look terrible even with a D5 but I purchased the Topaz Denoise two months ago and its amazing to see the improvement. I run almost all these shots through Topaz Denoise now. I always wondered how you got those extreme close ups of the bird's eyed, the iris. amazing. I live close to you, up near Publlix at 510 and 512. Oh, almost forgot you said you use a local printer for metal prints, mind sharing the business name? Thanks, Ted
Help support me and what I do: ko-fi.com/marksmithphotography
Condolences on your recent loss,thanks for staying with the videos,this is a great topic.Looking forward to shooting Ospreys again.
The upscaled image has a really bright (unnatural) edge on the back of the bird (similar to oversharpening or with excessive clarity boost). Interestingly, that edge is not visible everywhere, so I believe in certain lighting/background conditions it would not be that visible.
The background is how I knew which was upscaled. The branches closest behind the bird, at least to me, looked like it was modified / edited.
You get a thumbs up just for the Floyd shirt.
I had one like that from a 1975 concert. Great show but I moved on to less cynical and depressing music.
@@jacobl6572 Id describe Dark Side Of the Moon as thought provoking rather than depressing. Later albums became darker but even then the bands talent was to make the music itself (not themes or lyrics) uplifting. Thats why they were so popular.
@@markrigg6623 Being a product of the '70's, the drugs that came in with the band(s) were over the top. I also photoed some big bands since you could bring in your gear back then. A true story; I brought a insulated cooler of ice tea into the Floyd concert, kinda innocent of heavy drugs and the drug culture, a guy came up to me and asked, "Do you have any tea?" I thought to myself he can get his own ice tea, and said No. BTW, I play electric guitar and do admire Gilmore's leads, not to be totally against talented people.
Yes Gilmour is fantastic and he wasn't driven by the anguish Roger was.
@@markrigg6623 So true, he is nearly unmatched in soulful playing. They were my favorite group. I also saw them in 1978 in Cleveland. They were doing a couple shows a year to promote their albums. I have seen with this band and others, drugs skyrocket along with teen suicides going up. They identified the problems we kids could relate to back then and even now, so well, yet I was always left empty and cynical to the future and life in general as I soaked my mind into their music. Since they had no message of hope it helped facilitate me to fall into a deep depression, high anxiety and hopelessness. l was on prescription drugs just to function. Not to blame it all on them, I did not handle anger well. I ended up finding Christ as my Lord and Savior which gave me a new hope and a promising future, I also found total forgiveness and healing from my faith for the last 30+ years. So the band is a bitter sweet kinda thing for me. I came mighty close to being another brick in the wall.
If I understand this correctly from Topaz themselves this particular program is graphics card intensive (GPU) in processing. Having a highly functional graphics card is more important dealing with processing times than memory or mega CPU.
I've got that as well just forgot to mention it in the video.
I guessed right. I felt like the A9 upscaled had a bit of a digitally enhanced look in the feathers on the belly and the scales on the feet. Really great video and info. Thanks!
As did I, it wasn't too hard to spot, but it wasn't glaring either. I'd be interested to see the test done on the same photos but with the current generation of upscaling tools (three years on). I'm betting the difference would be harder to pick.
Pretty incredible stuff. The problem with side by side comparisons is that people get too hung up on them. If Mark simply showed us the a9 upscaled photo as part of one of his traditional videos, none of us would question anything about it from a technical standpoint. THAT is the real test and it passes in my opinion. Since we are primed to nitpick in this video, we start seeing things that really aren't important.
Edit: That's an interesting LR catalog name you got there
How do you know I haven't already included some upscaled images in my videos? Good point though and yeah, I am childish. I love naming things like the lr catalog with childish toilet humor.
Exactly. They both would be acceptable on my wall and no one would know the difference. Topaz has a big discount on this stuff today, so I will probably get it and have a new toy to play with.
Really interesting. I bought the a92 and because of work and now lock down have not really used it. My one silly concern was 24 versus 42 mpxls on my old a7R2. Now you’ve shown me a solution, that I may never have needed 😄 thank you
Not many of us have quality tele lens to get us close to our subject which means that cropping is needed and at times, heavy cropping so a high megapixel camera is needed so we don't lose too much detail and I'd rather keep the editing to just cropping
Topaz's products have an option to use GPU instead of CPU. It helps alot even if you have a slow GPU.
Absolutely! Too bad that option is disabled by default.
And the impact on performance is immense.
Great comparison. Btw you can type in the width or height that you want gigapixel to upscale the photos to so you can match the resolution exactly.
I expected a different result. For me, the a9 is a better experience and I rarely print. That said, when I’m not shooting birds and have good light, I use the a7iv. Another very helpful video Mark. Thanks
Problem with algorithms is that it works well when humans cant remember and differentiate pattern. Problem occurs when you can recognise the pattern then you will find fault in AI based upscaling.
SPEEDWEED on the other hand a Computer is even better in recognizing patterns than a person so the results may be even better in an image that has lots of them.
Love the T-shirt. Yes we are on the dark side of the moon.
CALTECH007
But we will exit hopefully soon 😳🤔🇿🇦
Thanks for this, Mark! Thought I’d add my own experience. I shot a mountain scene on my D850 and wanted to print large (48x32 inches). Tried Gigapixel AI and didn’t care for the upscaled image (mostly ok but some odd artifacts, even after a few attempts). Ended up sending the original 45 megapixel D850 image to printer and it looks amazing on the wall-fantastic detail. The lesson I took away was that 45 MP can give you a great print. Again, just my experience with a single image.
You can, of course, also apply the gigapixel-AI software on photos taken with the A7r iv. Not so much to blow these images up to incredible pixel dimensions, but to crop very heavily and upscale the crop with Topaz. I do this for bird photography and I don't mean the huge bird of prey in this video, but small and shy songbirds you sometimes have to photograph from 10 meters or more. I can crop so much that you can get a 2000mm photo from a 600mm lens.
Not sure why it takes your PC so long, I have an older AMD 1700x 8 core CPU and it only take about 30-40s to render upscaled shots. Also I never use jpg, I only upscale 16 bit tiffs, which are massively bigger than jpg. Maybe you have not enabled GPU acceleration or you don't have a supported GPU. I also don't upscale so much in general, I like to stick to say 25-35% enlargement which is like making the A9 go from 24MP to 37-44MP. Another tip don't do as much sharpening in Gigapixel and use Topaz Ai Sharpen to do the heavier lifiting in Photoshop. Anyway, great work Mark as usual.
Hi Mark, I think what you are seeing like me, the A7R4 has better color & contrast, that's what makes me like the left image better. Thanks for this vid!
Agreed
I could tell the difference especially because a7r iv has finer detail on the dry feathers (you can see the individual strands) but surprisingly close. You notice a difference in clarity as well, like if there's a better lense on the a7r iv.
Exactly
I actually thought the A9 one looked better before Mark called it out but maybe that's youtube. This type of AI will just keep getting better but at the end of the day it's about getting the shot that's where the man comes in 😁
Me too
One thing I noticed right away was the better dynamic range on the A9 compared to the A7.
I did the same comparison. I used A7R4 and A92 with 200600G. The results show that if the image quality is awesome. Topaz do a wonderful job. they will be slightly different between true high resolution and fake one. However, if the image is a little too dark, higher iso or non-focus. then A7R4 will get better image resolution.
I could tell which was which, but in all honesty I wasn't expecting the A9 file to be as good as it is. Amazing really. And, it's only going to get better. Thanks for making this video.
Cool Video. Thanks for the demonstration. I thought the birds looks very similar. The background is what gave away the difference.
I've downloaded the trial version and used it to upscale some of my old 6 megapixel photos and the result have been great, I'm really impressed with the software, mostly been using it at 2x but 1 image I decided to upscale it by the maximum of 6x and I was truly amazed at the result.
Nice video..
I have an old Canon and need a new camera. I know I need direction. Thx very much, I love your videos and the birding tours I go on, people bring a nice camera and takes nice photos, but yours are spectacular!
So glad you covered this topic, Mark. I just bought a new a9 and love love love its focus performance, but have been less than thrilled about the sensor resolution. It’s good to know that an a9 quality image can be upscaled to look 99% as good as an a7IV image. As for the extra cost (in time and software) involved to get it there, I think it’s worth it especially if you have some amazing images you’ve captured with the incredible a9! Keep up the great work. Love your channel.
You're right, the visual experience always exceeds the photograph. But I'm still going to look into Topaz products.
Mark, You are the reason I bought Denoise AI and was interested in this program. All of the sudden I needed to upres an image I submitted to a contest for publication. My original was cropped and not high enough res for publication for them. I immediately got gigapixel and boom I have a hig res version of my cropped image. I played with the slidders till I could get it almost exact as the judges were seeing on the original. Thanks for the great videos!!!
I love Denoise AI. I'm not impressed by GIgapixel
I see a quite obvious difference. The edge of the osprey (I don't know if calling it the 'back') but basically I can see that it's oversharpened when it transitions from sharp dark bird to green soft background. You can see halo. It has done a really good job anyways
On 4K 43" monitor the a7IV is clear winner here. I could tell in right away. The difference is actually big.
I use Topaz Sharpening and Denoise for most of my shots. I shoot 800 ISO and higher from a far distance, with my Ohio birds. The atmosphere seems to mush the image from being perfectly sharp and clear more than not having enough pixels from most of my images I get. Only on large crops I'll add in Gigapixel since it does not help me that much and it can be unstable to use. I'm using a Nikon Df with a well calibrated 150 -600 Tamron G2 set at F8. I just shot an eagle in flight and got some amazing clean up using all three programs. I'm thinking, " Mark would be proud of me"...... I was only at 1/1000 sec, M mode, at 600mm, while the bird was in the tree, then it took off, also I was in a kayak bobbing around.
Lightroom, photoshop and Gigapixel are why I haven't bothered to upgrade from my Sony A7II. All I really wanted was IBIS, and I've got that. Though I have considered getting the A7III or A7C when they get closer to a $800-$1000 price on the used market because I'm definitely interested in the silent shutter feature.
After pausing the video and studying the photos, I have come to the conclusion that they BOTH look WAY better than my iPhone 6 photos... 😂
Lol
The only time I use my iPhone6 to take photos - price tags in stores so I can compare prices.
Running phone images through the AI is possible though.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I use mine for 🐔 pics
This would've been interesting as well with the d500 and the 200-500
Why would the results be different?
Great topic. I recently did this with some D500 limpkin shots that were cropped and I wanted to print 8 x10. I used a different resize product that I already own to upscale them and I was very happy with the prints.
I have a A7III and I use that software to upscale the images shot in APS-C mode (10MB) and it does a pretty good job.
To be honest, I would have appreciated the same test, but zoomed in on greater detail to the photos. Real pixel peeping. I also noticed you didn't share the full resolution of your image files. Very interesting all the same and thank you for sharing!
Two things. If you had to examine the two images side-by-side that closely to find a minute difference, then does it really matter? No one will notice if he or she is looking at the entire image. Also, if you hold down the shift key when in LR comparator mode, you can reposition either image so the same part of the file (Osprey in this case) is exactly side-by-side. Makes the comparisons much easier. You are an extraordinary photographer. Thank you so much for your videos and you and your family have my sincere and heartfelt condolences on your recent loss.
In my opinion, at the end of the day you can go broke upgrading equipment for every new sensor. I'll stay with my D850 at 45.7 megapixels. No matter how many megapixels in the camera it comes down to the lens, photo and how large a print you want...and of course most important...are you happy with what you took. I was unaware of the software....thanks!
Couldn't see the difference on my smartphone screen. LOL
I suppose part of the fun of owning the A7R IV and the A9 would be holding them in your hands and shooting with them. Photographer's love their gear.
I find myself using the D850 more than the D500 just because of the larger resolution. I think these types of videos are very helpful when trying to decide to purchase a new software. Thank you 😊
Thanks Mark. I tried the Topaz AI Denoise based on your recommendation and I've been loving it! Will have to put this on my wish list. Hoping my business will survive virus shutdown
This really made me think about what camera I want to upgrade to. I currently use an A7Rii which is 42mp but the AF is pretty slow for birds. I've considered picking up a used A9 since they're getting cheaper and this program would help ensure I can still do high res prints. Great video.
Thanks Mark. You just proved what I have been thinking lately...Great comparison. I guess other camera attributes will become more important than resolution..such as focus speed, DR, micro contrast and more so ergonomics and easy of use. Cheers
Great video - I've been thinking about getting Gigapixel for use with my X-T3 which I my main wildlife camera and I may take the plunge. One issue with the high-res cameras I've heard is that you have to be very careful as any shake will be amplified greatly in IQ and as I am in my sixties shake is now becoming a consideration. As an aside, my other system is the Fuji GFX50S Medium Format camera which I use for architecture/landscape but I have used it to photograph our tame backyard fox and of course a 50mpx MF sensor gives you quite an advantage. Thanks again for an informative video.
I was able to tell the difference between the two and I knew that upscaled is on the right. The edge upscaled artifact is what gave it away.
Hmmm, you just saved me from buying a A7RIV alongside my A9, after seeing the cropping power of the A7RIV at work whilst photographing White-tailed Eagles yesterday!
I recently purchased Topaz Utility Pack which has the Gigapixel in it but hadn't used t yet. Now I will!
I like that T-shirt. Has been my first LP.
Hi Mark, double check out the advanced preferences for Gigapixel. Toggle the "Enable Discrete GPU" to no (or vice versa - I had to change mine to no) and enable Intel OpenVino to Yes. I made those changes and my 12 core Mac Pro was singing where prior to those changes, it was taking minutes just as you described.
Thanks
Thank you so much for this video, Mark. Perfect timing for me as I have been trying to decide if I really need/want to buy a higher resolution camera. I purchased Gigapixel recently but haven't used it much yet and also have DeNoise that I use on many photos. Your comparison was great and for now, will keep me from the expense of a new camera and dealing with the super high res files.
Reminds me of the audio world: what we need is a good 5 watt amplifier. What we need is a good 5 megapixel camera.
I did a similar comparison with and without a 1,4 tc with a tripod on a static, not living, subject next to a test chart. I used the same camera and upsized the image taken without the tc with 1,4 x in gigapixel. The result was that i couldn´t see much of a difference (at 100% view in Phoroshop). Maybe the upsized image was a small amount clearer with a little bit better sharpness but that could just be due to the sharpening within Topaz gigapixel. In any case, I don´t use tc´s very often nowadays!
I recognized the trick in the first pair of birds in less than 5 seconds. the image in the right side is artefactual, clearly. I still would go for a high resolution camera. Actually i like the image from the A9 with no tricks a lot more than the upscalled image. No AI for me so far...
For larger prints you will get nice results, a bit better than a screen.
didn't even know you could do somethsing like this...the software isn't expense...thanks Mark.
Thanks for this video. My camera is a Nikon D7200. After playing around with Gigapixel, I was impressed and I wanted to see a quality comparison like this. A few more sample images would be fun.
but you can upscale the a7v picture, i think for fare comparison you must upscale both pictures for 100 mp or maybe
more
I almost pulled the trigger on a D850 today for $2,100 USD but pulled back at the last minute asking myself will I ever really need double the res of my D750 which I've been pretty happy with so far. Can you or anyone in this forum address the central question of who really needs a D850 vs D750 (24mp). I don't see myself making really large prints at this point in my life. Thanks in advance. . . . Mike
I use a d750 and just started using gigapixel, the program does work, but it can be hit and miss but it does make a difference, but I was most impressed in how it brought to life some of my old D40 files. So I would get the trial version of gigapixel even though it leaves an ugly Watermark right in the middle of your photo sometimes that makes it hard to judge, you just have to Tinker with the program to get the best results
No I am biased as I shoot the A9II, really honestly thought it was the other way round the A9 was the A7R4! Amazing software
Mark, awesome idea for a video in the era of self quarantine!!
Hey Mark, I thoroughly enjoy your videos!! I have learned SO MUCH by watching them, and am AMAZED by many of your shots!! You and I certainly share the same passion for wildlife and wildlife photography ... and Ospreys!! Just wanted to let you know that I clicked on your Topaz link and bought the Gigapixel AI software. It has definitely made a difference in sharpening my photos, beyond anything I could do with LightRoom or PhotoShop. Thank you again for sharing your talents!!
Awesome and thanks
I shoot with a 1DXii and a G9ii (mostly wildlife with the G9ii) and I totally agree. It would be nice to shoot with a high resolution body full frame body but I don't have the money for the body, or the lens, and it wouldn't suit my photography style any way. But it really doesn't matter. With denoise tools and upscaling (which have only gotten better since this video was released) I have everything that I need and can create fantastic images that look great printed, even at large sizes.
For me i could tell the minute you put up the images, no contest, but GP Ai is really good.
I hope ye are keeping well Mark. Great video, a good option for people to know about.
I tried topaz gigapixel app and I'm really impress by results. Saying that i probably wouldn't use it for pictures with people. BTW you can try this app and others for free now for one month!
Honestly for me I think preferred the A9 upscaled.
Is that Jared Polin in the background?
ha! i think it is at least it looks like a fro bobblehead or something
Too tall to be him.
Great question. I will be answering it in my Q&A VIDEO coming soon!
Hi Mark! Very interesting, as always. My suggestion would be to apply the AI to the A7RM4 as well, just for fairness and then compare again, and then view both at 100% and then at 200% as well!...
Mark I noticed the eye color and some background colors were more muted on your A9 manipulated image than the A7RIV image. Do you think that was just the way the sensor interpreted those colors or do you think the color may have washed out a little as a result of using the software?
I had a shirt like that... in the early 70s It shrunk a bit and wore out. Good video. Interesting. The price is a bit much though for me.
No replacement for displacement 😜
Mark, thanks for making this video. I have to use a smaller sensor camera to save weight due to a back injury. It's nice to
know there's hope for those of us unable to afford or use megapixel cameras. I've had surprising good results in prints up to 20x24-inches though I'm still a big fan of what you've been able to accomplish with your Nikon and Sony gear.
Love to see this same experiment with a landscape photo
Gigapixel does work much better than the Photoshop AI upscaling, especially when the photo was touched or is noisier (1600 ASA and up). Recommended is to use the raw unmanipulated to upscale (as Gigapixel can reverse the effect of Bayer filtering or the AntiAliasing filter when untouched which both makes lanzos upscaled pictures unsharp). If photos are manipulated before some of the hidden fine contrast details can not be restored. However the patterns that are still there and the edges are well reproduced.
Why am I not surprised that you used an osprey in your example? Thanks, Mark.
Lol
Now i know why your A9 Pics Aer So Clear!!! Great Job
On my iPad Pro, the A9 looks ever so slightly better. Like you say it could be because of YT. I did a simple comparison between my first DSLR D50 and my D850 and on my iPad it took a little zooming in before I could tell any difference. I always thought that little 6mp sensor was awesome.
Mark, did you enable your GPU in the options of your Topaz tools?
You mentioned that you have a beefy PC, so I figure there must be a beefy high-performance graphics card (GPU) inside as well.
Therefore, go the setting in all your Topaz tools and enable the use of your GPU in the processing.
You’ll be very happily surprised about the huge performance increase! It’s fantastic! You’ll love it!
Come On, Let’s Go! ;-)
Love the stickytape-eyeglass-frame look.
Very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to make this very good video Mark. I will have to see how it compares with my A7R2 and A9. I will have to play and try it on both just for fun. Thanks again!
Thought about a D850 for wildlife, didn`t buy it - got a D500, love it...
Would love to buy a D820 with 36MP/10-12FPS....
I purchased the Denoise and have no regrets. I use it also to sharpen even if iso is low. I’ve tried the sharpen AI and thinking about letting the trial version lapse, for my d500 the denoise seems to do the job. Maybe it’s just me.
Correct me if i am wrong but don't the higher end lower resolution cameras typically have better dynamic range? If so, I would think this software would be a godsend. Thanks for the video.
When comparing the two one thing I noticed was that the background of the ne on the right was better.I bought the sharpen Ai and at leaset the picture I printed didn’t show much difference.Maybe it was the picture.
The new gigapixel 4.5 is insanely awesome.
Great video Mark, I use Gigapixel Ai and yes it takes a long time to process, as does Sharpen Ai which I don't use, I still sharpen in Photoshop. I love DeNoise and use it to remove noise in my photos. Love your shirt, the greatest rock group ever (my opinion!)
its real fast only takes secs with a gtx 1070 or higher u maybe got the old ver
I have used D500 + 300mm f4 + 1.4x to shoot birds; the camera has about 20MP. If the bird was far away, after cropping, the image could be reduced to less than 10MP and was unusable. If we use the AI program to upgrade the pixels to say 45MP and then crop to say 20MP, would the image be usable?
Try it
Thanks for the interesting comparison Mark. I would love to see you compare a high res camera such as the Nikon D850 vs the Samsung S20 Ultra with it's 100x 'space zoom' for wildlife images.
You should show the before upscale with the after upscale to see if it makes that much of a difference. Does it make a difference in the two prints from both cameras and also a print from the before and after.
I paused the video at 3:04. The A9 image is on the right and the A7RIV image is on the left.
An eye opener! Also good for Deep Sky photography....Thx Mark
Great to see you posting Mark, real food for thought. I think you’d probably agree that having the print is only part of the pleasure, going out into nature and seeing these amazing spectacles is a massive part of what we love about wildlife photography. A bit like when I used to go fishing when I was younger , not catching a fish rarely ruined the day! Ultra high res cameras are definitely more demanding to use, I loved my D3 with it’s lowly 12 mp, the image quality was still fantastic. I digress lol, will check out the software . Cheers. Love Pink Floyd.
With lower pixels sensors, from my experiance using a 16MP Df, you can get great results with with Topaz, even more improvement than very dense sensors. There is less overall 'mush' to clean up.
@@jacobl6572 Well I'm not convinced cramming more pixels into a small space/sensor is the most pleasing visually or even the best way to increase resolution!
As always, I really enjoyed this one and it's made me think. After watching your de-noise video I tried it and bought it and I think it is a great piece of software. Now I'm going to try the Gigapixel trial and see. I think you've done it again Mark. thanks so much for keeping us going during lockdown. Just a thought. Do you use Gigapixel and denoise on the same image and if so in which order would you recommend? Thanks from across the pond in East Sussex England.
Hi Mark. Glad to see that you are doing well. One thing - how about showing the before and after of the smaller rez photo side by side to get a better idea of what gigapixel can do.
You could tell which was the higher MP from the first second you showed the comparison to be honest.
For personal projects like ultra-macro photography I'd say people would probably prefer the higher MP camera, but most commerical clients don't really care as long as the compressed file size is good. Especially if you're doing commerical work like texture photography and photogrammetric texture depthmap photography for game studios as they usually request 2x AI upscaled 24mp PNG files instead of high-res raws these days because it saves so much storage data for a similar quality of photo. Now that HEIF format is becoming more mainstream these studios will be switching over to that to save a great amount of bandwidth related to the packed textures. That'd save multiple GB compared to the PNG data. I mainly have experience in texture work and product photography, so the much higher MP cameras might be better for more real-world type work like weddings and stuff like that.
the difference is so small
I dont know why, but i like the images from the a9 better! Its somewhat more pleasing
Topaz is draining my bank account, I have already bought Denoise and Sharpen AI and I think I will get this one too ;-) Great one as usual Mark :)
same here
It also come in a bundle pack, 4 programs for $250
The Photoshop Upscale-function is actually better than AI megapixel (there are also a few comparisons from both you can find on YT). If you already own photoshop, you don´t need to spend extra money on the Topaz software.
Since I tried the function in Photoshop it was clear to me: I definitely don't need a high resolution camera. Not only are these cameras much more expensive, but the amount of data is also much larger. In the rare cases where I would have liked more megapixels, I will now simply upscale the image. In addition, you can then use smart tools like Sharpen AI. I guess in the vast majority of cases this will be enough to get a visually appealing image.
very informative video, I shoot high school sports ( used to )and my iso at night games can be as high as 10,000, must fill the frame because crops look terrible even with a D5 but I purchased the Topaz Denoise two months ago and its amazing to see the improvement. I run almost all these shots through Topaz Denoise now. I always wondered how you got those extreme close ups of the bird's eyed, the iris. amazing. I live close to you, up near Publlix at 510 and 512. Oh, almost forgot you said you use a local printer for metal prints, mind sharing the business name? Thanks, Ted
I will be answering this question in my upcoming Q&A video. Stay tuned.