In StarTools, your signal is processed (read and written) in a time-fluid way, by means of an ever changing equation for every pixel. Being able to change the past for a better future not only gives you amazing new functionality, changing the past with knowledge of the future also means a much cleaner signal. Tracking always knows how to accurately estimate the noise component in your signal, no matter how heavily modified. Unnecessary subjectivity, sub-optimal sequences and overcooking are - literally - taken out of the equation, yielding vastly better results in less time.
I'm relatively new to image processing and just wanted to say how straight forward and powerful StarTools is.
Noise grain caused by shot noise (aka Poisson noise) - the bulk of the noise astrophotographers deal with - exists on all size levels, becoming less noticeable as the size increases.
The HDR (High Dynamic Range) module optimises local dynamic range, recovering small to medium detail from your image.
Getting to grips with new software can be daunting, but StarTools was designed to make this as painless as possible.
You can convert everything you see to a format you find convenient. Give it a try!