PowerShot S2 IS - major noise problem

[lylalyla]

Hello!

I have a Powershot S2 IS. It's a pretty good camera but i'm having major problems with noise in my photos... even at a low ISO like 100. It's a 5 mega pixel camera and I'm shoting in the largest format it provides 2592x1944. It's set at the "super fine" level.
I still get major grain.

My old camera a Nikon Coolpix 995 took much clearer pictures. It had very little grain... and thats' with only 3 mega pixels and a lower res 1280x960.
Should I get a different camera? Is this a just a lemon... should i call Canon? or am I doing something wrong?


thank you!
Lyla

[Jon]

Smaller physical sensor sites mean more noise. They don't collect as many photons, so stray noise can have a bigger impact. But there are applications (and plug-ins_ for removing noise. Some are Noise Ninja or Neat Image.

[lylalyla]

Does that mean this camera just has a lot of grain/noise? Is there a prosumer camera that's better?

[bkstyl]

Could you post a sample or a link to a sample photo which shows noise? I have the S2 and I have very few noise problems at 100 ISO. For me, ISO 200 shows some noise and ISO 400 has noticable noise. 400 ISO in night photos shows really bad noise that even noise removal programs can't completely remove.

[lylalyla]

Examples of noise:

this was shot at 200 ISO:
http://www.lylawarren.com/test/IMG_0653.jpg

this was shot at 400 ISO:
http://www.lylawarren.com/test/IMG_0612.jpg

both have pretty abysmal noise/grain...

is there a way to lessen the grain without using an outside program? or is the PowerShot S2 IS a dud...should I get a different camera?
thanks!
lyla

[RossW]

Photoshop seems to have killed some of the critical EXIF data about the shooting mode, etc. that you used (compared to data from an original image right out of an S2) which makes me wonder if you opened the image, and re-saved it -- perhaps more than once? Each time you re-save a jpg image you will lose some quality.

I don't think the sunset scene at 200 ISO is exceptionally noisy, although I'm surprised you had to shoot it at 1/60 and wide open at that ISO. I have some similar shots that aren't quite as noisy, but were taken at settings more like 1/250 and f/4. The ISO was auto, so I don't know exactly what my camera picked. I'm assuming it used an ISO in the 100-200 range.

In short, the S2 isn't a dud -- although I wouldn't go higher than ISO 200 if at all possible.

[Stefan A]

I see the noise in both shots - particularly when I view it full size. As has been noted, the S2 does not do so well at 400, and 200 is pushing it. When I shoot at those ISO's on the S2, I expect that I will have to do a noise removal.

The other thing is that the 2nd shot should have been shot at 50 or 100 ISO considering the exif info. Was that an accident?

If you make it a point to always keep your ISO low, you shouldn't have a problem. And if you are using a tripod, keep it low regardless of the light. The only time you should need the highest ISO is when handholding shots in low light.

Stefan

[waussie]

Sunset looks very noisy, my experience is that anything over ISO 100 is noisy.
Low light so you up the ISO and thats what happens.
I don't think the S2 is a dud but that is a limitation, and not one I expected :(

[GyRob]

i find my s2is noisey at anything above iso50. to be honest i do have dslr's and 400iso is better than the s2 iso 100 just the way it is im afraid .
Rob.