Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 (for PC & Mac) - $119.99 (AfterCode) Shipped at newegg.com

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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 for both PC and Mac - $119.99 after code and free shipping

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LINK:
Newegg.com - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

 

so...can something like this be used for editing camera phone photos to reduce noise?

 

Yes, but a bit overkill

Camera phone pics are so low quality to start with using Lightroom to fix a phone pic would be like renting a tractor to fill in a hole your dog dug in the back yard.

Try a free alternative first like Gimp and see if that can do the job.

That said Lightroom 3 does have one of the best noise reduction algorithms out there right now, also a little known fact that Adobe Camera Raw that comes with photoshop is 90% identical to lightroom it has most of the features just in a different package that is sort of hidden from most users. I know it uses the same noise reduction.

 

ah, thanks. only sorta related, but do noise reduction algorithms work better with high pixel pictures?

 

More pixels = more data available so I would say yes.

There will be diminishing returns at some point, and you dont want to crank a PNS (point and shoot) camera to max resolution just for the sake of thinking it will edit better because often the image sensor in a cheap camera is not really suited for the highest resolution it can take pictures so it will induce more noise to the picture in the first place than a lower resolution would.

 

ah thanks. i was just asking because I was told that noise is a function of ISO and resolution. Assuming it was true, i was wondering if it would be worth it on the lower end cameras to:
1) sacrifice resolution to reduce noise
2) use full resolution to get more data for post processing(hence my question to confirm this idea)

 

Yeah the answer is a mix of both. Just depends on equipment.

If the sensor sucks larger images dont gain more detail so it just makes a larger file for no reason.

Lowest ISO possible is the best way to get your original picture to have the least amount of noise, but then you may induce blur if your not using a tripod or have enough light to keep a good shutter speed (also most camereas on auto will turn the aperture really wide and this can cause loss of sharpness and you wont get to focus range you want)