20D Noise

[Doom1701e]

Ok, I have been told that the noise on the 20D is better than the 10D, but from this sample image the noise looks horrible and I am not pleased. This is a 100% crop with the camera set to M, ISO 100, 4.0@1/1250 sec w/ Canon 300mm 4L. Am I being over sensitive about the noise or is there a problem with this camera?
http://www.firemaplephotography.com/offsitephotos/noise.jpg

[PrimaPhoto]

Hi Doom1701e ,
I'm on the verge of going to a D20 and would like to find out if you are happy with its preformance?

I'm looking for input on the D20? It's a big step?
This is the price here in Canadahttp://www.vistek.ca/details/detail_over.asp?eCode=217205&TYPE=&Specs=N&Box=N

Thanks
PrimaPhoto
(kind of hooked on my Mamiya 645)

[Malaxos1]

I have noticed the same thing with my 20D. It seems like the low noise is a compromise, ISO 100 is a little more noisy than I am used to, but ISO 400 and up are incredible. Good news is that ISO 100 noise seems to clean up real well and doesn't degrade (soften/loss of detail) the photo all that much...Dean

[phili1]

Well maybe I am blind but I do not see the noise you are talking about. I see and unsharp picture, blow up to the point you can almost see pixels.

I did some test shots with my 20D at ISO 800, and no noise. If you blow a negative up to much you will see grain and if you do it to a sensor you will distortion. In the picture I have below if you do original you will see what appears to be noise but thas distortion.

See for your self.

http://www.pbase.com/phili1/image/34336410

And Prima Photo all I can say about it is the best Camera I have owned and I had Hasseblads. I thought it needed only certain lenses but the new firmware solved my incompatabilty problem. Buy It

[drisley]

I've been thinking about this too.
It seems to me that the 20D does have slightly more noise in the shadows than the 300D/10D especially at low ISO's.
I find that if I try to recover shadows at any ISO, I get alot of banding. The higher the ISO, the less recovery you can do before banding occurs.
With the 300D I found that you would just get alot of noise if you tried to recover a dark picture. I'm finding the banding to be a bit of a pain.

However, then again I'm not really comparing apples to apples.
I used C1 Pro exclusively for my Raw conversions with the 300D, and I consistently found that it produced cleaner images than either the Canon Software, or Adobe PS CS (the adobe was the worst for noise).
So, I wont be able to make a complete comparison until the C1 Pro update comes along.
Generally, I find the Canon DPP software to have very high contrast. The Adobe software has lower contrast and tends to preserve highlights better, but also shows more noise and banding.

All I know is that I was able to get images like this (http://www.mts.net/~lftbrain/iso1600crop2.jpg) on the 300D at ISO800 with NO noise reduction.

[PrimaPhoto]

Thanks guys(maybe gal) Those images are incredible and I appreciate your comments. To tell you the truth I like my G2 I bought used better than my Minolta Dimage Hi i have at work. it's something about Canon's image quality.

Any comments on the Canon 20D with EF-S 17-85 IS USM Lens?
primaPhoto

[Doom1701e]

blow up to the point you can almost see pixels

The picture is at 100% view. It hasent been blown up beyond normal viewing. The noise I am talking about most in the dark areas on the rollbar and above the windwshield and visor.

[drisley]

I just did some tests.
I would say that the shadowy areas at ISO100 have about the same noise as the 300D at ISO400. Very peculiar.

[drisley]

Here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=43949) is a very intreresting comparison between the 20D and 300D at ISO800-3200.
The 20D is a vast improvement in noise, dynamic range, and colour.
But, I would like to see a similar test at ISO100-400.

[drisley]

Also, this review (http://www.dpreview.com/articles/canoneos20d/page14.asp) shows that the 20D has slightly more colour noise at ISO100 and ISO200 than the 10D (but better luminance noise at ISO400+)
While the 20D has lower noise in the blue channel over all, it has more noise in the red channel. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Weird thing is, on the bottom chart, the D70 has lower noise than both the 20D and 10D, even at ISO1600.

[malum]

I tend to use my time taking pictures rather than looking for noise, but hey whatever floats your boat.

[Morden]

Noise is the new Black. :P