ISO 1600 on Rebel XT

[reemas]

I shot some sunset photos at ISO 1600 with my XT. These are just about some of the most grainy pictures I have ever seen! I thought the quality of ISO 1600 on the XT was supposed to be decent? The amount of noise and grain is incredibly high. If you look at the photo, it's the first thing you notice. I will post a few samples when I get home, however, is the ISO 1600 performance poor in low light?

[TheObiJuan]

If you underexpose the image, noise will be more obvious. If you adjust the exposure in photoshop, noise will be more obvious. I have many 20D images and 350D images, (from when I owned it) and they are very similar.

[reemas]

so i should over expose it? i heard the 20d has much better ISO 1600 clarity from other users. im confused on that

[Michaelmjc]

I shoot at 1600 iso quite often and my shots come out crystal clear.. no noise at all. I dont even post process them. I think it has to do with the lens how good it will come out, the pictures arnt as good with my kit lens as they are with my sigma.

[robertwgross]

I think some facts are getting mixed together here.

Digital Rebel XT will go as high as ISO 1600. The 20D will go to ISO 1600, and it can be pushed to ISO 3200.

In virtually every camera, the higher in ISO you go, the more color noise you'll get. Also, high thermal temperatures and very long exposure times will generate more color noise. If you have a well-exposed image, then that degree of color noise may be nicely acceptable, and if you find it a bit much, then there are color noise reduction programs that can fix it up as long as it isn't too bad.

If you have a poorly-exposed image, then all bets are off. Sunsets can be really tricky to expose correctly. Also, it depends on how it was captured, as RAW or JPEG. If you get a sunset exposure a little off in RAW, you can still pull it out of the muck by editing at the RAW file conversion. If you did it as a JPEG, and then if you try to make any edits, you are bound to see problems.

---Bob Gross---

[Michaelmjc]

Here is a picture I took today at 1600 iso and at 1/4000.

[reemas]

its the night 1600 photos or the semi dark ones like sunset (when you need iso 1600) that it becomes unusable.

[Michaelmjc]

ahhh... havent tried any at that time, maybe thats why. Oh well... just dont use it at night then.

[jobber73]

Photo from the amusement park. Taken handheld (sorry for the blur, it's a throwaway - but we're talking noise, not clarity, right?) at 9:20pm

Exif info:
Shutter: 0.4 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 1600
Focal Length: 18mm

This is with no post processing at all, just downsized:

[jobber73]

Same shot with noise reduction and USM:

[dave_bass5]

I took this hand held at 1600, no flash and no PP except for C1 conversion to jpg on my 350d

http://davepearce.smugmug.com/photos/23957014-M.jpg


At 100% it looks grainy but printouts (from larger version) look great.

Dave.

[CyberPet]

I find that the Noise Ninja does a great job at removing the noise from the 350D shot with ISO 1600. They have a plug-in for our particular model, which helps.

Here's the resized original, the noise isn't too obnoxious.
http://www.bazazz.com/pics/noise/Original1600.jpg

But when you look close you see it.
http://www.bazazz.com/pics/noise/CloseUpOriginal1600.jpg

So after a run in Noise Ninja, this is how it looks like in 100% view.
http://www.bazazz.com/pics/noise/CloseUpBrusfri1600.jpg

(shot in available light, indoors, at night)

[badrotation]

so i should over expose it? i heard the 20d has much better ISO 1600 clarity from other users. im confused on that

here is a quick shot from my 20d at ISO 1600 in a dimly lit room....

Sorry about the crappy shot. nothing in my room to take pics of, so I pointed it at my 38" monitor and clicked away... :lol:

http://img76.echo.cx/img76/3272/img53742jo.jpg