Picture Cooler
Picture Cooler reduces noise, provides sharpening options such as deconvolution and high pass sharpening, and can help to minimize the effect of camera shake. It lags behind top commercial software on features, but is highly competitive on price -- because you can download it free of charge. However, it comes only as a standalone program, without a plugin mode.
Features include a large preview window, toggling between preview and original image, and facilities to apply different levels of noise reduction to various parts of the image. The latest version also has a very good camera shake algorithm.
Comment
Ronnie Kroonenberg's Picture Cooler came in as a high recommendation on Michael Almond's (now dated) list of 22 noise reduction programs some years ago. It takes only a minute or two to download, install and try -- and it comes ready-loaded with a trial picture.
Many users have said they like the "kill noisy pixels" settings and the way the program switches between the original and the cleaned image. Does it perform noise reduction any more efficiently than the standards algorithms in today's top-rated photo editors? No, but it's there if you need it -- and it's FREE.
Tech info
- OS: Windows 98SE onward
- Price level: FREE
R. Kroonenberg
Dutch developer Ronnie Kroonenberg has won many plaudits for Picture Cooler and he continues to add new features to it.
From the same vendor:
- (none known)
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