I have not shot much in the last year or so, but have had the opportunity to go out a couple of times in the last two months and shoot with my Canon 5d. I've noticed a surprising amount of noise in low contrast/shadow areas, and also in red subjects, even at iso 100.
Please see the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikester_guy/
Exposing to the right to produce clean images is a concept I'm familiar with, but I'm wondering if the noise output looks normal to all those 5d users.
In one case, in a scene of flowers shot at iso 400, I bracketed a scene with several exposures. However even in the high exposure shot shown at flickr page, the noise made the photo unusable except at small sizes.
In another instance, shooting at iso 100, there is also significant shadow noise, much more than I remember getting with my old Nikon d50 at iso 200.
I would post photos here, but it looks like I can post only one.
There have been times when shadows got chunky on my like that, and honestly, I just think it's due to underexposure in those parts of the image. But one thing working against you is shooting JPEG (I think I saw that in your comments), you'll get steamrolled in underexposed shadows. For those types of scenes where your dynamic range is wider than the sensor can handle and you aren't able to control it with a graduated ND filter, etc, you need the wide bucket that RAW offers, not the shoebox you get with JPEG. If you did shoot RAW, skip what I just babbled on about!
The other thing is your in-camera sharpening, that'll accentuate the tender low-light areas that jpegs have a hard time with. Remember that if you shoot RAW, those in-camera settings and picture styles don't apply. I would do this: set your 5D to capture both RAW & jpeg and compare the two image files in a scene with wide luminance. I bet the shadows in the RAW image will clean right up in post. If NOT, then send that thing into Canon and get 'er tuned up. BTW, was the camera in the sun cooking? Heat can accentuate noise also.
If you are using Photoshop CS5, the Camera RAW that comes with that has EXCELLENT noise reduction, all non-destructive of course. For ACR versions prior, don't bother, noise reduction didn't work well. I'd download Noise Ninja if you don't have it to clean up what you have taken. Those are nice shots and should be worked on and cleaned up and sold for thousands of dollars.
Paul, thanks for your thoughts. I included the jpeg to show what it looked like straight out of the camera, but I always process in RAW. My current habit is Shooting RAW with the small jpeg option. Both RAW and jpeg exhibited a great deal of noise, and noise reduction did not help much in the flower shot (details were so soft that it made it look plastic-like). I may send it in to Canon, but I want to get some feedback to see if others have noticed similar behavior with their 5d.
Ah, OK, sounds like a service call might be necessary. Pick Irvine, CA over the other two locations if you send it, I've used all three, and the crew at Irvine like to go that extra mile and fix other little things they find and not charge you for it.
Discussion
3 repliesPlease see the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hikester_guy/
Exposing to the right to produce clean images is a concept I'm familiar with, but I'm wondering if the noise output looks normal to all those 5d users.
In one case, in a scene of flowers shot at iso 400, I bracketed a scene with several exposures. However even in the high exposure shot shown at flickr page, the noise made the photo unusable except at small sizes.
In another instance, shooting at iso 100, there is also significant shadow noise, much more than I remember getting with my old Nikon d50 at iso 200.
I would post photos here, but it looks like I can post only one.
Thanks in advance!
There have been times when shadows got chunky on my like that, and honestly, I just think it's due to underexposure in those parts of the image. But one thing working against you is shooting JPEG (I think I saw that in your comments), you'll get steamrolled in underexposed shadows. For those types of scenes where your dynamic range is wider than the sensor can handle and you aren't able to control it with a graduated ND filter, etc, you need the wide bucket that RAW offers, not the shoebox you get with JPEG. If you did shoot RAW, skip what I just babbled on about!
The other thing is your in-camera sharpening, that'll accentuate the tender low-light areas that jpegs have a hard time with. Remember that if you shoot RAW, those in-camera settings and picture styles don't apply. I would do this: set your 5D to capture both RAW & jpeg and compare the two image files in a scene with wide luminance. I bet the shadows in the RAW image will clean right up in post. If NOT, then send that thing into Canon and get 'er tuned up. BTW, was the camera in the sun cooking? Heat can accentuate noise also.
If you are using Photoshop CS5, the Camera RAW that comes with that has EXCELLENT noise reduction, all non-destructive of course. For ACR versions prior, don't bother, noise reduction didn't work well. I'd download Noise Ninja if you don't have it to clean up what you have taken. Those are nice shots and should be worked on and cleaned up and sold for thousands of dollars.