is my 5D broken?

[EOS-GD]

I don't know, but the noise levels I'm getting in my images @ ISO 100 seem too high. The camera has nice high-iso performance as far as noise goes, but at low ISOs, it seems to have a lot more noise then what my digital rebel was throwing into images.

Here's an example:


That shot was @ ISO100, and it's full of noise, look at the green areas above the fly.

I shoot in raw, and sharpen in post-processing. I don't think my post processing is introducing the noise, I basically do the same post processing I have always done with my 300D, but my 5D files are coming out with a lot more noise @ ISO 100.

I was told before that perhaps my raw converter is the one to blame, but I have tried both Rawshooter and ACR but both seem to produce noisy images @ ISO 100.


The majority of my work goes on stock photography websites to earn me some money, and they are sometimes rejecting my images saying they contain too much noise to be used. My 300D images were never rejected for having too much noise.

Am I being too critical? Are those noise levels acceptable for ISO 100? Is it normal to have to run neatimage on all images?

[PacAce]

Looks OK to me. I don't really see any noise at all, at least not the kind I'm used to.

[Blue S2]

Are you ramping up the levels in any way??

[Ianfp]

I am very interested in this thread because I have noticed a similar effect with my 30D. I feel sure my 20D did not suffer noise quite like this, but had had my 20D in winter and 30D in warmer weather. All sensors will have an inherent noise level, which gets higher with temperature. I see noise in background sky if I crop to 100% or more at ISO 100. I tried a Nikon D50 and it didn't seem to have the same level of noise even though it was ISO200. There are 2 types of noise as I understand - Chrominance and luminance. CS2 has some good noise reducing software to enable selection of either. I think I will get used to the noise (when I get my 30D back from Canon). I still haven't fully got to grips with it though.
Your fly photo is great and unless you had mentioned the noise, Iwould not have found it to be obtrusive or indeed a problem.
I would love to read some other views on your photo!

[spaced]

It looks like PP or cropping to me?

What lens was this shot taken with?

[EOS-GD]

Originally Posted by spaced

It looks like PP or cropping to me?

What lens was this shot taken with?

The only PP I did was sharpening and cropping. The crop is maybe like a 30% crop. Most of the noise was there before sharpening, I only really sharpened the fly itself.


Lens is the Canon EF 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.

Here is exif:
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Image Date: 2006:05:05 10:52:21
Flash Used: Yes (Manual)
Focal Length: 100.0mm
CCD Width: 7.41mm
Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
Aperture: f/13.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

[EOS-GD]

Originally Posted by Blue S2

Are you ramping up the levels in any way??

Just some minor adjustments in ACR, but that shouldn't really introduce much noise should it? If it does, that kind of defeats the purpose of raw.

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by EOS-GD

Just some minor adjustments in ACR, but that shouldn't really introduce much noise should it? If it does, that kind of defeats the purpose of raw.

Any time your exposure is under and you correct via raw converter or levels, you are going to see an increase in noise. How much you see depends on how much underexposure you corrected.

[EOS-GD]

Originally Posted by PacAce

Any time your exposure is under and you correct via raw converter or levels, you are going to see an increase in noise. How much you see depends on how much underexposure you corrected.

Here's what the histogram looks on that particular raw file at "straight from camera" settings.


It IS underexposed, but I'm noticing tons of noise in other images @ ISO 100 that are not underexposed. And on this fly one for instance, I can still see noise in the photo before I even do any adjustments to the raw file.

I'm convinced my 5D is defective. I owned the 300D for 2 years and never had the image quality problems I'm having with the 5D. Is there any way to trade my 5D in for another 5D using my warranty or something? lol.

edit: Oh, I'm going to go take a few shots in my studio in a few mins. My studio shots are always perfectly exposed, I'm going to check out the noise levels from those when I'm done and post results.

[Ianfp]

I think within 28 days, Canon will replace a defective camera, but after that it is warranty repair if they think there is a fault.

[racketman]

darker areas in high magnification macros tend to be a bit noisy.

[EOS-GD]

Originally Posted by racketman

darker areas in high magnification macros tend to be a bit noisy.

whys that?