A processing component (122) processes images based on an iterative reconstruction algorithm with regularization and/or de-noising algorithm. The processing component includes a set point determiner (224) that determines a quality set point (216) between predetermined lower and upper quality bounds (226) based on a quality variable (228) indicative of an image quality of interest. The processing component further includes a comparator (214) that compares, each processing iteration, a quality metric of a current generated image with the quality set point and generates a difference value indicative of a difference between the quality metric and the quality set point. The processing component further includes a regularization factor updater (220) that generates an updated regularization factor for a next processing iteration based on a current value (222) of the regularization factor and at least the quality metric in response to the difference value indicating that the quality metric is outside of a predetermined range about the quality set point.