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Can anyone please recommend free (preferably also portable i.e. no need to install) software for Windows XP or later to improve image quality of large (12 megapixel) terrestrial (not astronomical) photos, by deconvolution to reduce motion blur (preferably automatically)?

I've tried Unshake 1.5 by M.D. Cahill but the result seems worse than the original (looks oversharpened) and it crashes on 12 megapixel images.

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  • 3
    The term point spread function might help finding such software.
    – RomanSt
    Mar 9, 2011 at 22:56
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    Does it perhaps crash because you don't have enough RAM? (Just an idea.)
    – Simon A. Eugster
    Mar 10, 2011 at 14:10
  • Indeed, I get this error 'Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space' even with 2GB free according to Windows Task Manager.
    – Gnubie
    Mar 11, 2011 at 20:21
  • To fix the crash of the Unshake Java software, you could try to expand the Java Heap space, the 128Mo default value seems to be too small. This can be done in the Java Control Panel or on the command line launcher of the application, if it has one.
    – Laurent Jégou
    Mar 13, 2011 at 9:51
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    Java will only allocate well below 2GB unless you pass the extra -Xmx command line flag.
    – You
    Mar 21, 2011 at 9:41

5 Answers 5

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In case this is useful to anyone else, I found that Image Analyzer 1.33 from MeeSoft is a freeware claiming to do "Deconvolution for out-of-focus and motion blur compensation".

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SmartDeblur 2.0 is a free program providing 4 distinct methods for restoring defocused / blurry pictures:

Automatic parameters settings:

  • Blind Deconvolution Deblur

Manual parameters settings:

  • Out-of-Focus Blur
  • Motion Blur
  • Gaussian Blur

A bit slow in the Automatic Deconvolution processing phase (1-3 minutes, depending on original); subsequent optional smoothing phases are much faster; can produce some amazing results indeed

Cannot get much better for the price; well worth a try; get it here:

http://smartdeblur.net/index.html

SmartDeblur's author, Vladimir Yuzhikov, also conveniently elaborates on

  • The Theory of restoration of defocused and blurred images
  • The Practical aspects of operations

Cheers,

__philippe

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  • Version 2.0 for windows is a free download; the previous 1.27 version (which lacks automatic detection) is open source under the GPLv3 (written in C++ with QT).
    – mattdm
    Apr 15, 2013 at 13:50
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    Free version adds watermarks all over.
    – Noumenon
    Aug 31, 2014 at 20:21
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have a look at ImageJ, which is an open source project, written in Java, which will run on 32 and 64-bit Windows, OS X and Linux platforms

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  • Specifically rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/plugins/deconvolutionj.html, or there others? That plugin looks to require a rather large amount of user expertise.
    – mattdm
    Dec 6, 2011 at 11:33
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    yes, that's the one... agree that it's a tall order, but then, deconvolution is not for the faint of heart :-O
    – Florenz Kley
    Dec 15, 2011 at 22:47
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Give Blurity a shot. It has a free demo mode, though you'll have to pay for it if you want an un-watermarked image. It's quality software, and quality software has a price.

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    Some quality software has a price. A lot of really poor software is expensive, whereas there is both high and low quality free software .Android, Eclipse, Paint.net, Ubuntu and Angry birds are all free, and quality software. Some of them even provide you with the source code so you can learn and improve it yourself.
    – user3739
    Apr 15, 2013 at 14:18
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You could try Topaz InFocus or Topaz Detail both are extremly good programs.

InFocus - rescues blurred images using deconvolution

Detail - sharpening, tonal contrast

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    Could you provide a little more explanation? Why do you like these, and what are the differences?
    – chills42
    Mar 10, 2011 at 15:36
  • Thanks, but according to topazlabs.com/infocus and topazlabs.com/detail, they cost about $70 and $40 respectively. Any free ones?
    – Gnubie
    Mar 11, 2011 at 20:13

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