Today’s Question: The Super Resolution feature in Camera Raw [and Lightroom] sounds similar to Topaz Gigapixel, and I was wondering which you consider the best result.
Tim’s Quick Answer: In my experience Topaz Gigapixel (https://topazlabs.com/ref/273/) produces better enlargements than the Super Resolution feature in Camera Raw, Lightroom, and Lightroom Classic.
More Detail: While I’ve heard many photographers say they’ve gotten excellent results enlarging photos with the Super Resolution available in several Adobe applications, I’ve not been particularly happy with the results I’ve gotten in my testing. I find that Topaz Gigapixel (https://topazlabs.com/ref/273/) provides superior results for all images I’ve tested with both applications.
In particular, I find that with Super Resolution the enlarged images end up with a bit more noise and other visual artifacts. Gigapixel from Topaz Labs provides enlargements that I find to be smoother and sharper, with greater detail and quality.
In fact, based on the results of my testing, when I need to enlarge an image, I skip the Super Resolution feature and simply enlarge with Photoshop’s “Image Size” command. While I have consistently gotten better results using Gigapixel, I also wouldn’t say that the results are dramatically better than using Photoshop, so I don’t consider Gigapixel to be a critical tool in the photographer’s workflow.
However, my experience using Super Resolution causes me to specifically avoid using it, because at least in my experience it slightly degrades image quality compared to using other methods of enlargement.
