Hi all. I was hoping someone could give me some advice regarding the noise performance of 7D. I recenty upgraded from 550d to the 7D and am still getting used to the camera. I find it more unforgiving than the 550d as I feel one needs to work harder to get a good shot with the 7D. However when one does get a good shot it is great. One difference I have noticed is the amount of noise even in quite low ISO settings like 400 / 640. With the 550d I could use ISO 1600 and see negligable noise. It seems I can't do that with the 7D. I was wondering if i could get some advice maybe regarding in camera settings as to how to help improve the noise performance. Thanks in advance. ( I am very happy with the 7D it is just a big learning curve stepping up )
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Canon 7D lots of noise? (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter arjacee
- Start date
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
The 7D should be very clean up to ISO 1600 and even beyond that. You do need to get the exposure more or less right in the Camera though - if you under expose and then try to push in processing you will increase the noise. I always shoot in RAW to give a bit of leeway and also try to shoot to the right (ETTR).
Attached are a few of images I have taken with the 7D at ISO 3200 which I do not think are too shabby. These are good examples as they have large areas of plain colours which always show the noise more.
I should add that these shots are also fairly heavily cropped so any noise is amplified - full frame capture will be cleaner still.
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Dean Eades
Dean Eades Wildlife Photography One to One's
valid point Roy
mookadabird
Active member
Yeah I err on the side of over exposing, +1/3 for gray birds to +2/3 - +1 over exposing dark birds if I'm using evaluative metering. Most of my shots are manual and for that you can add +1/3 of a stop to the above, I'll set the exposure with full manual mode using a spot meter on grass or what looks like a neutral rock or other object. On a bright day with a white bird I might go as low as -2/3 but rarely lower. I've found with RAW it's easier to get back blown highlights, but shadows will always give you less headroom to play with and more noise. Don't be afraid to play in the high ISOs on the 7D, it performs best above 400 in my opinion. Worst case is your shutter speeds will be too fast... (Wait that's impossible.) =)
BodyResults
Well-known member
I suspect you are comparing very different images. The 550D and 7D have the same sensor and will exhibit the same noise of the same shot. I have both and that's what I see.
Doug
Doug
I am just making the observation that no matter what the settings on the 550d there wasn't any issue with noise under 1600 ( or very little anyway ) but unless the settings are spot on with the 7D there does seem to be noise even with a relatively low ISO setting. Just my observation! I appreciate the advice about over exposing. I will try that! Thanks.
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
Are you using OOC jpegs or converting RAWs?
If jpeg, it's possible that the 550D applies more NR by default: if RAW, what converter?
If jpeg, it's possible that the 550D applies more NR by default: if RAW, what converter?
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
Exactly, Rob.
I am shooting only in jpeg. Same as I shot with the 550 d!
gergrd
GREG
I just skimmed DP Review's old report on the 550D and it mentions that the 550D defaults to fairly aggressive high ISO noise reduction via Custom Function II -5 for JPEG images. The equivalent Custom Function in the 7D is II- 2 and I believe it defaults to a less aggressive noise reduction value. If you set the 7D to the same value as you have in the 550D, you should get similar results. Like many others who have commented, I usually shoot RAW and probably have this function disabled. Hope this is helpful.
Thank you so much for going to the trouble to giving me this info. Much appreciated. I will make the necessary changes. Thanks again!
Keith Reeder
Watch the birdie...
Well there ya go...
Seriously though - you want the best out of either camera, shoot Raw.
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Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
If you do insist on shooting jpeg I suppose you could always change the High ISO speed noise reduction - you have the choice between standard, low, Strong (or disable), mind you the more noise reduction you have in Camera then the more detail you will lose because of 'smoothing'. Most people would shoot in RAW and apply any noise reduction (selectively) in post processing. Another thing to consider is if you set strong noise reduction in Camera then the max burst speed will reduce.
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redeyedvideo
It's like water off a duck's back!
This same subject crops up time and time again and I was thinking of starting a thread with my own findings after following advice from Roy C and others (thanks Roy & Keith) when I threw caution to the wind one day and shot a Robin photo through a double glazed door at ISO 4000 just to see what it looked like. I used to make the mistake of upping the ISO to 500 or 640 if it was too dark for 400 and getting noisy shots, the reason being it was still too dark and ISO 1250 or 1600 were needed.
The first Robin shot is cropped and sharpened with no NR, the second has been cropped and sharpened and cleaned with Neat Image while the Turnstone is ISO 1600 cropped and sharpened with no NR and all taken in less than favourable light. These are all jpegs, I shoot in RAW with small jpeg for ease of viewing and delete the RAW files I don't want to keep.
What do you think?
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i to only shoot in jpeg as i dont know how to use software although i have lightroom3 on my pc just havent got round to seeing how things work.but yesterday i did try raw+jpeg and took a pic of a great tit on auto iso and it went to 1600 and was very surprised at the result
but cannot see how to post pics on here so this is a big thanks to what royc has been writing and gave me the confidence to have a go
but cannot see how to post pics on here so this is a big thanks to what royc has been writing and gave me the confidence to have a go
AndyMc
Well-known member
Simply scroll down the 'reply page' & click on ''manage attachments''. You should find your way to upload.
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kennethwfd
Well-known member
after "go advanced" rather than "post quick reply"
Roy C
Occasional bird snapper
Looking good Dave, especially the Turnstone with no NR, you must have nailed the metering :t: :t: What you need to learn now is how to apply noise reduction selectively. As it is I guess you have applied the noise reduction globally on the Robin shot which means you have lost some detail in the bird due to smoothing. What I would have done on the Robin shot would have been to apply a fairly heavy dose of noise reduction on the background and maybe just a light dusting over the bird.
