Who has the best film grain emulation?

S

squirrel$$$bandit

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Just curious, what's the current state of the art in software film grain emulation? I'm not just talking about adding noise to photos, but algorithms that actually try to replicate how grain behaves according to exposure, how it handles transitions, etc. I'm also curious if there are any grain emus that attempt to emulate the differing character of grain from film to film.

Please don't tell me to shoot film and scan it. I do that, too, often.
 
It looks unanimous. I'm a SEP2 user as well, but this week I've been testing DXO Filmpack 5 and I like it. The trial is worth a look.

John
 
Silver EFX

Silver EFX

Silver EFX Pro, love it.
Its early, just got a Fuji Xpro2, but I dare say I am truly in love with the camera and the files!
 
Thanks, all—can't beat the price! Is Color EFX Pro its equivalent for color, including grain?

jasonhupe said:
Silver EFX Pro, love it.
Its early, just got a Fuji Xpro2, but I dare say I am truly in love with the camera and the files!
Click to expand...

Curious how you like the Acros simulation. I'm using an X-E2 for now but hope to get an XP2 one of these days...
 
mabelsound said:
Thanks, all—can't beat the price! Is Color EFX Pro its equivalent for color, including grain?...
Click to expand...

Yes, Color Efex is the color counterpart. As I recall it has separate grain capability.

Funny, you mentioned "grain" and everyone assumed black and white.

John
 
Capture One has by far the most realistic looking and behaving grain I've seen in an emulation.

5 different grain patterns, all are based on the tones in the picture and all are tweakable with sliders in "Impact" and "Granularity"

100% view:
c1grain.jpg
 
I was just looking at the cost of capture one pro ... close to four hundred dollars AUD. :eek:
 
The grain simulator in SPP (Sigma Photo Pro) has always impressed me ... at least as good as what silver efex offers in my opinion.
 
I don't mind using SPP at all. Gives decent results and easy to use. I don't even know if ACR supports the Merrill DP's because I just clicked with SPP. Might not help if you use Fujis...
 
It's obviously a personal thing, but some time back I did some comparisons in an attempt to determine a software and workflow I wanted for digital B&W conversions. The three tools I considered at the time were Photoshop's grain filter | Nik Sfx | DxO Labs Filmpack. My view at the time was that DxO Lab's Filmpack gave the best results (especially how it handled close to blown highlights). Even now, images I process through Nik Efx get grain subsequently applied with Filmpack. I do use Capture One (v9) as a RAW converter and DAM but have not made any comparisons with its grain engine, so no thoughts there.
 
I like DXO Filmpack for post processing.

In camera Fuji's ACROS simulation works well. Control the amount of grain by changing your ISO.

Shawn
 
Whenever I use a film simulation for a digital image, I dial the grain to almost 0 because I'm doing digital and don't want that stuff in my image.
 
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