7D and noise

I feel like i am getting too much noise, even at ISO's as low as 500. How do I assess if it is user error or a camera problem?
I posted unadjusted samples: http://www.flickr.com …t/sets/72157626​111571415/

Thanks for any guidance on how to judge this.

NJ

They look about the same as what I get from my 7D. It does not show up on prints. If you find it objectionable, they clean up very nicely with Noise Ninja using their supplied camera profiles.

I feel the same way NJ! When I use my 5DMII there is no noise at all unitl I get to ISO 800 but witht he 7D even using ISO100 you can see some noise. However, BSmotril is correct too you don't see the noise once you print them. I recently ( last Friday 3/4/11) got back my 7D from Canon and they told me that the noise was normal due to how amount of information being stored in such small chip. I also asked why objects looked bigger on my 7D photos than in the 40D or 20D even though they all are 1.6 crop (tripod/same lense/same ISO/same Focal Lenght).... never got an answer from Canon on that question...

KC

KinoC wrote in post #11993919
I feel the same way NJ! When I use my 5DMII there is no noise at all unitl I get to ISO 800 but witht he 7D even using ISO100 you can see some noise. However, BSmotril is correct too you don't see the noise once you print them. I recently ( last Friday 3/4/11) got back my 7D from Canon and they told me that the noise was normal due to how amount of information being stored in such small chip. I also asked why objects looked bigger on my 7D photos than in the 40D or 20D even though they all are 1.6 crop (tripod/same lense/same ISO/same Focal Lenght).... never got an answer from Canon on that question...

KC

? I have no idea what you mean


As for the noise, I cannot comment well because:

A. We don't know how you are post processing or NR setting if using JPG
B. these don't look like 100% crops.

KinoC wrote in post #11993919
I feel the same way NJ! When I use my 5DMII there is no noise at all unitl I get to ISO 800 but witht he 7D even using ISO100 you can see some noise. However, BSmotril is correct too you don't see the noise once you print them. I recently ( last Friday 3/4/11) got back my 7D from Canon and they told me that the noise was normal due to how amount of information being stored in such small chip. I also asked why objects looked bigger on my 7D photos than in the 40D or 20D even though they all are 1.6 crop (tripod/same lense/same ISO/same Focal Lenght).... never got an answer from Canon on that question...

KC

They look bigger because you have more pixels on tap recording your scenes than the 20D or 40D. 20D = 8mpx, 40D = 10mpx, and 7D = 18mpx. Thus when you pixel peep 100% into the 7D, you are drilling into more data that it recorded over that of the 20D or 40D. Take an image from a 60D and 7D, see what happens there.

Don't 100% pixel peep, the more resolution the camera has, the more senseless it becomes. You will see more CA on a 7D due to the higher resolution (more pixels capturing the same amount of CA from a lens), etc. but in a print, it won't be any more noticeable than a print from the other cameras. Ditto with the low ISO smattering of lum. noise that the 7D seems to have...

KinoC wrote in post #11993919
I feel the same way NJ! When I use my 5DMII there is no noise at all unitl I get to ISO 800 but witht he 7D even using ISO100 you can see some noise. However, BSmotril is correct too you don't see the noise once you print them. I recently ( last Friday 3/4/11) got back my 7D from Canon and they told me that the noise was normal due to how amount of information being stored in such small chip. I also asked why objects looked bigger on my 7D photos than in the 40D or 20D even though they all are 1.6 crop (tripod/same lense/same ISO/same Focal Lenght).... never got an answer from Canon on that question...

KC

Would this be do to 7D having 100% VF and the other do not.

so when you snap an images..... what you see is what you get on the 7D.
On XXD or rebels, you get a little wider image because the VF is 98%. You physically can not see the edges of the area covered by the sensor - in the VF (view finder)
This does not show up until you review the image.

Make sense?

I must be blind. Even the crop of the purple leaf looks pretty clean to me!

dave

as for the noise ....
2 thoughts.

1. what other have said about printing.
2. You want noise .... go shoot some film ... anything and lets talk noise. We are ALL spoiled with the technology we have in our hands.

-Mark

NJ, your noise levels are pretty typical of the 18mp chip in the 7D, your camera is fine. The noise you are seeing can be easily cleaned up in Canons' Digital Photo Professional (DPP) software that came with your camera. As pointed out above, if you are printing you will not see the noise, you really only see it if you pixel peep (which can become an debilitating affliction causing you to think there's something wrong with your equipment when in fact it is working perfectly). Try using DPP to clean up whatever noise you are seeing and don't spend too much time stressing over it. Some noise is always going to be there when you stuff 18 million pixels on a relatively small chip, it's just the current state of technology.

snyderman wrote in post #11994232
I must be blind. Even the crop of the purple leaf looks pretty clean to me!

dave

It is pretty clean, if you really stare you can see some but otherwise it seem pretty normal to me.

I don't see any noise above what is normal on my 7D.

(I see far less noise than my Fujichrome 100 shots produced actually. I never understand why people keep complaining about noise nowadays, when there is almost none)

Thanks for all the comments and the chip explanations. I feel a little better that it isn't just my slightly left exposure habit. I have printed quite large and true, the noise is far less noticeable-also after using Define it is much better. As for the images I posted-they were from original maters in Aperture 3, RAW. I did export as jpg for flickr however, but applied no adjustments prior. The purple leaf was cropped slightly.

It has been suggested to me that I should perhaps use the canon software...but not sure this will make a big difference and will certainly add less flexibility and more steps to my workflow with Aperture. Am i correct in this thinking?

Thanks
NJ

Canon's DPP noise reduction is trash if that's what you're worried about; I wouldn't bother if you're getting great results from Aperture. I have yet to integrate it into my workflow, but I'm using Lightroom 3 instead.

Here are some pics for comparison. No Luminance noise reduction or sharpening applied.

The pics on the left is ISO 400 and the one on the right is ISO 800. 100% crops

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Here is ISO 3200

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