Default Denoise Settings

[KateW9423]

Is there a way to change the default Denoise setting?  50 is way too high - I'm usually between 15 - 20, at the most...  Or, should I just create a preset  and apply it on import?

[dj_paige]

Create a preset with denoise set at 20 (or any other number), and apply the preset to your photos.

[KateW9423]

Thank you. That's what I thought I would have to do, until it gets fixed.  (very annoying because the majority of the time I don't need denoise...)

[dj_paige]

I don't know that it will get fixed, it is my understanding that the default is supposed to be 50, so it is working properly and so nothing to fix.

@ExUSA I'd like to read where it was reported, can you share the link?

[ExUSA]

I'm not sure where, it was in the flurry of comments posted when Lightroom and ACR switched to not creating a DNG file. A lot of posters wanted the old UI of being able to specify the Denoise amount before it was applied.

Import profiles don't work properly at least in Camera RAW, if you include Denoise the box will be checked but its not actually applied and apparently this is as-designed.

[dj_paige]

I'm not sure where, it was in the flurry of comments posted when Lightroom and ACR switched to not creating a DNG file. A lot of posters wanted the old UI of being able to specify the Denoise amount before it was applied.

By @ExUSA

These comments are probably considered feature requests, rather than bugs that need to be fixed. At least two of us, myself and @johnrellis, think Adobe will not be adding this feature request. We'll see if Adobe changes anything. 

[johnrellis]

Building on dj_paige's comments, the way to create a "default" for Exposure, Contrast, or any other Develop setting is by creating a preset. So I think it is unlikely that Adobe will create a different mechanism for Denoise.

[ExUSA]

Except import presets are broken. Denoise is NOT applied even if specified in a preset. So yeah great idea if it worked.

[dj_paige]

It can be a Develop preset that sets Denoise to 20. And I'm sorry if your Import presets are broken, however they are not broken for most people.

[ExUSA]

Neither of us knows that. I can only report what I see on multiple computers.

[Ian Lyons]

@ExUSA 

If you're seeing an issue with applying certain presets during import, then start a new thread, describe the issue, and provide the necessary steps so that we can check.

[ExUSA]

I did start one a while back, and the answer was that it is as-designed.

[dj_paige]

I did start one a while back, and the answer was that it is as-designed.

By @ExUSA

Link, please!

If they are working "as designed", then please don't tell us they are broken. They are not broken. THe issue is that you don't like what they are doing, which is perfectly fine, and you should submit a feature request.

[ExUSA]

Find it yourself! I don't have a list of links. And if including the denoise setting in a preset doesn't work, then it doesn't work. That's called broken. So telling someone to make a preset won't solve the problem.

[johnrellis]

@ExUSA: "Except import presets are broken. Denoise is NOT applied even if specified in a preset."

Including Denoise in an import preset works the same way as including other AI Settings (AI masking, lens blur, generative remove). LR applies the parameters of the setting (e.g. the denoise amount) to all the imported photos but doesn't compute the actual pixels. If you take one of the imported photos into Develop, you'll see that the AI Edit Status button is yellow.  After the import completes, go to Library, select all the photos in Previous Import, and do Photo > Develop Settings > Update AI Settings to compute the actual pixels.

This is the way Adobe designed the interaction between import presets and AI settings. There's an outstanding feature request for an option that would automatically do Update AI Settings at the end of the import, saving a few keystrokes and the need to do two batch operations instead of one:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-masking-force-presets-to-update-the-ai-mask...

[ExUSA]

Yes exactly. Its as-designed that the setting is shown as selected but it hasn't actually been applied. 

[Ian Lyons]

If it was actually applied your import would take significantly longer than it does not. 

[ExUSA]

Yes, I assume that's why its setup like it is. The UI is already poor IMHO so this is just one more thing. Functionally its ok, but the advice of "create a preset" isn't the entire answer. Everything else in a preset is applied on import so this is the one outlier.

[johnrellis]

"Everything else in a preset is applied on import so this is the one outlier."

The other AI settings are handled the same way (AI masks, Adaptive Color, Lens Blur, Generative Remove).

Auto Settings is handled differently (and worse): when it is applied to a batch, LR uses low-resolution versions of the photos to compute the settings, which are visually different in about 6% of photos. There's no way to correct that other than going to each photo individually.

[ExUSA]

Yeah I'm not sure what the fix is, there has to be a better way to handle this type of need. 

[johnrellis]

"there has to be a better way to handle this type of need."

It would be simple and low-cost for Import to provide an option Update AI Setting that ran that command after applying the import preset. This would allow a user to start the import and walk away until it was completed.

My plugins Any Menu and Copy Settings provide similar control over whether AI settings are updated.

[Ian Lyons]

I believe you'll find that the same behaviour applies to: Raw Details, Super Res, any of the Adaptive presets that utilise AI masks, and the Adaptive Color profile.

I may have forgotten some, but I think you should get the message.

[ExUSA]

Yes, the message is that settings in your import preset do not behave consistently. Some are automatically applied and others are not. Couple that with "I may have forgotten some" and that looks like a problem to me. How would the OP of this thread be able to keep track?

[Ian Lyons]

@ExUSA 

"Couple that with "I may have forgotten some" and that looks like a problem to me. How would the OP of this thread be able to keep track?"

I don't disagree. It's actually a point that has been made numerous times since presets using AI features became a thing.

[ExUSA]

This is one of the UI issues that was reported, along with a bunch of others. Hopefully the whole thing is being redone to make it more usable.