Good point about retaining a natural look within one’s image. When I use Prime (sometime I prefer Fast NR not to save time but because it leaves some high ISO grain in the image which can look more natural - this is on Canon images and it depends on the original ISO and original exposure level, on a per image basis), I usually dial it way down to 12 from the 40 which is default. Noise reduction remains plenty strong, even at very low levels but that artificial/synthetic look diminishes.
Good tip on using Nik ColorFX or Analog Efex Pro for adding grain. Nik’s film looks are more powerful and can look more organic.
Technical Note:
You wrote:
Adding noise within DPL requires an additional step because PRIME beats/cancels (FilmPack) grain.
I’ve just tested this on a .cr2 image. Even with Prime dialed up to 79 PhotoLab film emulations are available and visible. I would be very unlikely to use the Adox Color Impulsion grain in a real project - but wanted something very visible. I thought the order of the filters in the sidebar would matter. No, even if I move the Grain effect ahead of Prime, the Grain remains visible and untouched by Prime.
