RAW&NOISE:how did it happen?(56K warning,&even 16K modem users -beware!)

Ok, I have have the same problem. I recently went on a trip and dedicated my pictures to RAW format for the first time. Almost all my pictures taken at or above iso 400 had noise. I also use DPP to do the basic pp of my RAW files and then convert them into photoshop, however I do not know how to use any of the noise reduction in DPP. How do I do that? Thanks.

ben4633 wrote in post #3202123
Ok, I have have the same problem. I recently went on a trip and dedicated my pictures to RAW format for the first time. Almost all my pictures taken at or above iso 400 had noise. I also use DPP to do the basic pp of my RAW files and then convert them into photoshop, however I do not know how to use any of the noise reduction in DPP. How do I do that? Thanks.

Several points:
First, do not judge noise at 100% display. Use a screen size that is similar to the size of the print you will make or the image you will post. See: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=317958
Better yet, make a trial print.

Second, if you haven't updated to DPP 3.0, do so now. It will allow you to do NR on a per-image basis, rather than globally.

Third, be sure that DPP Preferences is set to High Quality viewing.

Fourth, try to avoid increasing Exposure (RAW/Brightness) more than +1.0 for 400 ISO images, +0.5 for 800, or at all for 1600, in order not to increase noise.

Fifth, move the NR sliders to the right. You don't have a lot of choices, just Low and High. See what looks good to you (remember my first point). Be aware that Luminance NR reduces sharpness and visible detail.

If you still aren't satisfied, investigate NR programs. Noise Ninja, Neat Image and Noiseware are the leaders in the field.

tzalman wrote in post #3202660
Several points:
First, do not judge noise at 100% display. Use a screen size that is similar to the size of the print you will make or the image you will post. See: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=317958
Better yet, make a trial print.

Second, if you haven't updated to DPP 3.0, do so now. It will allow you to do NR on a per-image basis, rather than globally.

Third, be sure that DPP Preferences is set to High Quality viewing.

Fourth, try to avoid increasing Exposure (RAW/Brightness) more than +1.0 for 400 ISO images, +0.5 for 800, or at all for 1600, in order not to increase noise.

Fifth, move the NR sliders to the right. You don't have a lot of choices, just Low and High. See what looks good to you (remember my first point). Be aware that Luminance NR reduces sharpness and visible detail.

If you still aren't satisfied, investigate NR programs. Noise Ninja, Neat Image and Noiseware are the leaders in the field.

Thank you for your response. First how do I know which version of DPP I have and if I dont have 3.0 where can I upgrade at? Second, how can I be sure that my preferences are in fact set to high quality viewing? (btw I can view jpeg files and they look fine) Also, this noise that I am seeing in my iso 400 RAW photos is straight out of the camera and at the default viewing size. Also, I dont believe I have any NR sliders on my version of DPP unless I just dont have it selected. Would it be in an obvious location? Thanks again for all your help

Click for the download location.


'High Quality' viewing can be set in the preferences. (Digital Photo Professional > Preferences > General settings)
NR is in the prefs of DPP 2.2 (globally), and 'per image' in a seperate tab in DPP 3.
While in the prefs, also make sure that you have set your monitor profile to the monitor profile, not sRGB. (See the link in my sig for some screenshots).

When applying NR, you would want to look at 100%, to see what's happening.

ben4633 wrote in post #3203127
Thank you for your response. First how do I know which version of DPP I have and if I dont have 3.0 where can I upgrade at? Second, how can I be sure that my preferences are in fact set to high quality viewing? (btw I can view jpeg files and they look fine) Also, this noise that I am seeing in my iso 400 RAW photos is straight out of the camera and at the default viewing size. Also, I dont believe I have any NR sliders on my version of DPP unless I just dont have it selected. Would it be in an obvious location? Thanks again for all your help

You can see the version number by clicking on Help/About. (This applies to just about every program I've ever seen, not just DPP.) Preferences is also accessed from the Menu Bar, from the Tools menu. I'm surprised to hear that you have a lot of noise at ISO 400. Perhaps you could crop a small bit of a photo and post it here for us to see. You can do this easily in DPP by selecting the image and then opening the Trimming tool. Select a section where the noise is bad. A square about 400x400 pixels will do, you can see the pixel size where it says Width and Height. Convert and save as a jpg with quality 8. And please post your Exif. The easiest way to do this is to click File/Info, highlight and copy the most important items and paste them into your post.

tzalman wrote in post #3204002
You can see the version number by clicking on Help/About. (This applies to just about every program I've ever seen, not just DPP.) Preferences is also accessed from the Menu Bar, from the Tools menu. I'm surprised to hear that you have a lot of noise at ISO 400. Perhaps you could crop a small bit of a photo and post it here for us to see. You can do this easily in DPP by selecting the image and then opening the Trimming tool. Select a section where the noise is bad. A square about 400x400 pixels will do, you can see the pixel size where it says Width and Height. Convert and save as a jpg with quality 8. And please post your Exif. The easiest way to do this is to click File/Info, highlight and copy the most important items and paste them into your post.

Ok, so I got the new version of DPP and I do now have the NR tab. I also was a bit suprised to see noise in my RAW pics at iso 400. About cropping a small part of one of my photos, for some reason the trimming tool under the tool tab is grey and is not allowing me to use it for some reason. What can I do to use it. Im sure there is something I am doing wrong, im still fairly new to DPP.

I looked at the image in ACR4 and besides being terribly underexposed, it looked fine and there was no noticeable noise at 200% magnification. I noticed that if sharpening were applied, the effect that you are experiencing occurs, so that may be the problem. Re-do the processing in ACR without any sharpening and you may get much better results. I have only been using ACR for a few days. Initially, I did not like it and preferred DPP, but after learning a lot more about using it, I now get much more control over the final results. Here are the results of what I was able to do to the picture ... unfortunately, shrinking it and converting to jpg doesn't lend itself to close examination ... a 100% crop in jpg would have been better.

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bill boehme wrote in post #3204981
I looked at the image in ACR4 and besides being terribly underexposed, it looked fine and there was no noticeable noise at 200% magnification. I noticed that if sharpening were applied, the effect that you are experiencing occurs, so that may be the problem. Re-do the processing in ACR without any sharpening and you may get much better results. I have only been using ACR for a few days. Initially, I did not like it and preferred DPP, but after learning a lot more about using it, I now get much more control over the final results. Here are the results of what I was able to do to the picture ... unfortunately, shrinking it and converting to jpg doesn't lend itself to close examination ... a 100% crop in jpg would have been better.

Bill -
Excuse me, but you are answering a post from two months ago.

tzalman wrote in post #3213971
Bill -
Excuse me, but you are answering a post from two months ago.

Who asked you? Can you quote a time limit in the rules?