Noise with my 7D

Ever since I got my7D I've been extremely unhappy with noise even at a setting of 320ISO so I finally wrote to Canon and sent some images at 320 ISO and got a responce. Here is part of theresponce the rest goes on to tell me to send it in for repair. I'm a bit frustrated with it.
Dear Cheryl Molennor: We appreciate your continued correspondence regarding your EOS 7D. I was able to download the pictures and did notice a lot of noise in your images. As a first step towards resolving this issue, we suggest that you restore the camera's default settings. You can reset to the factory settings by following the procedure below. This will erase all settings on the camera.

Interesting. As if the noise is related to your settings...Did you change the in-camera NR settings from the factory defaults? I have the 7d also, and I have noticed about the same level of noise as my 40d had (no worse, but no better), and I was never terribly satisfied with the 40D's noise level.

My experience is similar: I don't go above 320 without serious noise, and in a camera that boasted high ISO capability, that just doesn't seem right.

Are you seeing noise in the Raw image, or after processing? I've noticed that I process more (in LR, Nik, and Photomatix) and need to do more NR than before.

Why did they suggest "repair" if it is about your settings, I wonder?

I'd love to know how all this pans out for you.

Cheryl,

I've not heard many complaints about noise from 7D users and I've had dozens of folks use them of photo workshops this year alone.

Your ISO setting is not nearly enough information. Are these long exposures? Are your images consistently underexposed? Most noise complaints, after looking at the file and the settings later, are the result of underexposed images that have exposure added during processing - both RAW and in PS.

Cheryl - This may not help, and maybe you know this already, but :

How are you comparing noise? Are you looking at 100% views? Or at a final JPG output or print?

Because if you're looking at 100% views, on a camera that has 18 MP, you're probably thinking the noise is a lot worse than it is. An 18MP image at 100% on a monitor is a huge enlargement, which of course will show more noise. This noise may not be so prevalent with your final image or print though, viewed at the intended size. When you downsize for your screen image, or convert to the size needed for printing, you are going to greatly affect the noise characteristics.

Some people take something like a 30D, and a 7D, and try to compare noise at 100% views, which puts the 7D at a pretty big disadvantage.

Just a thought - you may still not be happy with the noise in your 7D image (some folks seem to be happy with the 7D, and some don't), but at least you'll be looking and evaluating it the right way.

Cheryl,

I have the 7d and use it solely for avian images with my only remaining Canon lens the Canon 500. My experience with regard to noise has been positive. It seems a touch better to me than the 40D at ISO 400. As far as I know, I haven't changed any noise settings from the factory default. Unless you're intentionally shooting underexposed for some reason and then bringing your brightness/exposure up in post processing, (I routinely do this when shooting flora.) I'd think your noise levels would be acceptable at 400. I'm not thrilled with the 7d. I've had it in for repair once but it wasn't a noise related problem.

Pat

Others have already stated that you shouldn't underexpose, but I'll go further. The best way to minimize noise in a DSLR is to expose to the right - that is, expose so that you just barely avoid blowing out the highlights. Yes, in a lot of cases, this is overexposed, but that can be corrected easily during RAW development, and since you've maximized the amount of light gathered, can really help lower the noise.

Some folks (myself included at times) find trying to adjust for this too much of a pain. But if you're intent on minimizing noise and have some headroom in your exposure, it's a great technique.

The Canon rep only suggested the setting thing then went on to say that he more suspected a repair which really bugged me since the camera is rather new and I had this problem all along. The exposures are not long nor under exposed as a matter of fact this shot was a sunny bright morning with a 2.8 lens. Look closely at the bg lotsa noise. This is theraw coverted to tiff and then un touched. I sent the rep the raw image and he saw the noise. ISO 320 f4.5 @1/1250. Sigma 150 2.8 lens.
I did what he suggested and am up now at the crack of freekin dawn to go shoot some birds... we shall see.

Lots of good advice and input so far. I do hope your issue gets resolved because I have a 7D, routinely shoot much higher ISO than you are and am terribly happy with the results. The noise is much less than the 20D, 30D, or 40D bodies I had previously. I routinely shoot at ISO 640, 800 and up to 1600. When I go to 3200 or blow the exposure (at any ISO) and do begin to see some noise, the new ACR is CS5 makes it go away with wonderful results. Cameras are man-made devices and as such, no two are alike and some will have issues and some won't. Let's hope that whatever the issue is with yours gets corrected and soon so you can get as much enjoyment from your 7D as I get from mine. It IS possible. Hang in there and good luck. JR

I rented a 7D for my Alaska trip recently and while I loved the camera, the noise was pretty bad. On the other hand, I used whatever ISO's I had to do to get sharp photos in dark light since it was dark and overcast much of the time.

Hey Cheryl, I'm not trying to be the Big Jerk here, but that's a great image you posted and unless my eyes are going on me, the BG doesn't look bad at ALL. Am I missing something, lol!? In my normal workflow I'd select the BG with about a 8px feather and hit it with Noise Ninja at default settings, then Fade the effect back to about 65-75% and call it a day (which would nicely cream up the BG even more). Great capture subject-wise, btw.

I'm at work on a cheap Dell monitor, so if there's obvious noise and I just can't see it, let me know and I'll crawl back into my cave.

Paul and Cheryl - I'm assuming that image has been resized - specifically, down-sized. Downsizing will largely clean up any noise, since several pixels are sampled into 1 at the smaller size. Most web images are much less noisy then a full sized image.

Cheryl - posting a 100% crop would display the noise more.

Hey Paul Thanks for the compliment but as David noted because of downsizing, youcan't really see it. The noise is bad and well seen on a larger size image. I changed my setting as suggested and shot all day today but havn't had a good look yet mostly cause I'm pooped!!!

Cheryl, Gail and I have been using a 7D since October last year. We have had no issues with noise. As mentioned above if we view at 100% we can see it, but once processed and re-sized ad printed the images are super. We have shot up to ISO 1600. I am attaching a file of an image with this ISO. On this image I did use a bit of noise reduction with Noiseware Pro, but remember I started with ISO 1600. The image is a slight crop. We are careful to expose to the right and do minimal post processing in PS.

If you still have noise issues it might be worth it to send the body in.

Good luck.

How do you find the noise issue now or is this maybe simply just a 7D thing? I have read on other forums that backgrounds like the one in your image is prone to noise when viewd at 100%.

Make sure you have disabled Auto Lighting Optimizer or you might be underexposing and not know it.

Hey all. Well I still think there is more noise than should be and I've pretty much given up on it till I get my next camera which will definately be a MKiii or iiii. Thank you friends