TopazLabs Photo AI 4, I thought it was only me

[Jorgen Udvang]

I found Photo AI 2 to be a pretty mediocre app, struggled with the user interface and found it to be a downgrade compared to the denoising, sharpening and upscaling tools from the same source. Still I decided to upgrade to version 4. After a few attempts using it, I thought my brain had gone soft looking at the results, so I shelved it, thinking that I'm simply not clever enough for advanced apps like that. Then I watched the video linked to below, and I realised that I'm not the only one. TopazLabs Photo AI 4, avoid at all cost.

 

[tenmangu81]

I stopped at version 3 but, frankly speaking, I don't use it and prefer Gigapixel, Denoise an Sharpen from Topaz. They work quite well for the time being, but I don't know how long for.

 

[MGrayson]

Also stopped using Topaz. Early GigaPixel was great, but everything started going downhill even before the AI labels appeared everywhere. I think their early stuff was too good - you can't NOT change your software over time, and all most of their decisions have been bad ones.

 

[shumicse]

Glad I’m not the only one. I had high hopes for v4 too, but it just felt clunky and the results weren’t worth the hassle. I will stick with the older tools for now.

 

[bags]

Still using Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise but have avoided Photo AI for this reason. I've heard DxO is terrific for sharpening, but because most of my photography involves negative conversion with neg lab pro which sits only in light room and then I export directly to photoshop, it's just too much of a hassle.