RAW pictures noisy

[danimal]

Hi all,

It seems like there are a number of posts similar to this but I'm not sure if it's the same problem. Basically, I'm using the software that came with my Canon Xti (Digital Photo Professional) to convert my RAW pictures to JPEG. I've been taking my pictures at RAW+L and when I compare the L pictures and the ones converted from RAW, the converted ones are always very noisy. Am I doing something wrong? (All my settings on Digital Photo Professional are default)

Thanks,
Dan

[Papaw]

Have the Raw images been converted that you are comparing to the JPEG? I know the RAW images can look pretty sick while still RAW.

[drparker]

Post some samples. The JPEG uses the same raw data but gets processed in camera. So the raw can't really have more noise it just that the settings in your raw converter aren't adjusted correctly.

[th3r0m]

I have noticed that photo's appear much noisier in DPP than in other programs like Photoshop. I edited a bunch of RAW files with photoshop for a photobook I printed for my brother and the photos looked great, not noisy at all. However, I was startled when I looked at them in DPP because they looked terrible, very grainy and what I thought were subtle vignettes in Photoshop appeared very hard. I had already sent the book off for printing, so I was pretty worried that my book would come back with terrible looking photos, but when I got the book back they had printed the way I saw them in photoshop, not how I saw them in DPP. Long winded I guess, but the point is DPP seems to display some things quite a bit differently than other programs especially in regards to "noise", not sure if there is a setting that can be changed to fix this.

[yb98]

I use DPP 2.2 and I didn't noticed anything like that.
Can you post a jpeg and it's corresponding raw file ?
We will converte the raw file and see if it is more noisy.

[tzalman]

A couple observations -
1. Camera produced jpgs seem to have had some noise reduction done to them. DPP will also do noise reductuction, you set it in Preferences. However, the effect of the NR is not seen on screen unless you have set Quality display mode in Preferences.
2. Sharpening always makes noise more visible (and the other side of the coin, NR reduces sharpness). Try reducing the sharpening you have set in DPP. The same is true of contrast.
3. Underexposure and subsequent correction in the RAW converter by moving the Brightness/Exposure slider to the right will increase noise, especially in high ISO shots.
4. It is a common newbie mistake to try to judge the effect of noise by viewing the image at 100%. This is the equivalent of viewing a very large print - like 40 inches wide - from very close up. A better way is to view at a display size that is close to the size of the print you will eventually make.

[danimal]

photobucket resizes the pictures...

here is the raw file converted to jpeg:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/hsuperman/misc/convertedraw.jpg

here is the jpeg file from the camera:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/hsuperman/misc/jpgfromcamera.jpg

here is a cropped section of the raw file:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/hsuperman/misc/raw.jpg

here is the same section of the jpeg file:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a14/hsuperman/misc/jpg.jpg

[yb98]

it seems there is just more sharpening applied during the conversion from raw

[larsla]

DPP is a very good tool (in my opinion) to extract detail and produce crisp images, but often to the price of higher noise. I usually decrease the sharpening setting when converting photos taken with high ISO.
To get the best results I often use stand alone noise reduction software after converting images with DPP since the built-in noise reduction in DPP is pretty weak.
The one I prefer is Noiseware which exists both as a free version and as plugins for Photoshop compatible image editors.

Good luck,
Lars

[cfcRebel]

The samples you posted above, the one from DPP is a lot sharper than the jpeg straight from camera. Sharpening also causes noise to become more conspicuous. So, in your case, it is really just the camera applied less sharpening than DPP on the same photo. It's neither's fault.

[PhotosGuy]

The samples you posted above, the one from DPP is a lot sharper than the jpeg straight from camera. Sharpening also causes noise to become more conspicuous. So, in your case, it is really just the camera applied less sharpening than DPP on the same photo. It's neither's fault. + a compressed jpg will lose info detail, & a lot of that is the noise.
Interesting "trivia" & why I don't bother with RAW+JPG: Take 2 identical shots,one in RAW & one at max jpeg. Use a tripod to be sure each shot has the exact information in it. Convert the RAW file to jpeg. Look at the two file sizes.
A max jpg from my 20D is 2,754 KB. The exact same shot with the jpg extracted from RAW is 4,315 KB which is 1.57X larger.
Why throw those extra bits away? True, you might think you won't see the difference in a web image on your screen, but that's not true. Look at post 58 on page 2 in this thread:
Auto White Balance - works really well (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=234507)

[danimal]

which thread?

[PhotosGuy]

Sorry! I put it above.

[Tee Why]

RAW applies no noise reduction. The trade off is more detail as you can see. In DPP, you can select from Tools/preferences both chroma and luminescence noise reduction levels.

Shooting in JPEG automatically applies noise reduction at the sacrifice of some detail.