5D Mark 2 Noise Question

[I AM THE MAN]

Hey everybody I just recently picked up a refurbished Canon 5D Mark 2 for a great deal.

So today, I got time to check the camera out and finally take some pictures with it using my nifty fifty and my 70-200mm f/4. I took about 110 photos indoors and outdoors! However, when I transferred the pictures onto my computer I noticed a quite amount of noise in my photos (both shot outside and inside). The 10 shots I shot in JPEG were really pixilated (to the point where if I opened them I wouldn't be able to tell what the photo is) and the rest of the 100 shots (shot in RAW) were all noisy even though I shot them with relatively moderate ISO (ranging from 100-2500).

Do I have a faulty camera/CF Card? What are the solutions?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your answers in advance!

[Cuechick]

You are shooting in jpeg? What size? Have you tried shooting in raw? What was the ISO set at?

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by Cuechick

You are shooting in jpeg? What size? Have you tried shooting in raw? What was the ISO set at?

Sorry I forgot to mention that the rest were shot in RAW. Im looking through the ISO and all the photos were shot between an ISO of 100-2000. Also the RAW and JPEG files were of the highest quality (21mp).

[Redneck1089]

I can shoot up to 12 800 ISO and have useable photographs. Something is wrong.

If you are shooting in JPEG check your noise reduction settings in the camera. From the factory it should be set to "Standard."

In camera noise reduction settings do nothing if you're shooting in Raw.

What mode are you shooting in - M, AV, TV?

Make sure that you are getting proper exposure. In all Manual it is sometimes easy to forget to change aperture, ISO and shutter speeds. Having under exposed images can create a lot more noise when you later adjust the exposure during post processing.

[NZed]

Sample images???

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by Redneck1089

I can shoot up to 12 800 ISO and have useable photographs. Something is wrong.

If you are shooting in JPEG check your noise reduction settings in the camera. From the factory it should be set to "Standard."

In camera noise reduction settings do nothing if you're shooting in Raw.

What mode are you shooting in - M, AV, TV?

Make sure that you are getting proper exposure. In all Manual it is sometimes easy to forget to change aperture, ISO and shutter speeds. Having under exposed images can create a lot more noise when you later adjust the exposure during post processing.

I only shoot RAW, even with my previous camera but I just shot a few JPEGS and they were all pixelated on my iMac.

For the rest of the 100 photos they were all shot in RAW. I shot all my photos in the AV format (and all photos were between 100-2000 ISO).

I have only edited one photo from the batch and it looks better but again if you open either the edited photo or the RAW file in full window you can easily notice the noise.

Originally Posted by NZed

Sample images???

I will post sample pictures really soon!


Additionally, do you guys think the "Picture style" could have something to do with it? I noticed I shot most of these photos with the standard profile and after I compared neutral and standard, the neutral picture looked a little more "whiter" than the standard profile. I took 2 shots of my iMac with the different profiles for the test. Tomorrow morning I will upload a bunch of images for you all to look at.

[OreoCookie]

Unless you post samples, we won't be able to help you. The perception what is and isn't »a lot of«*noise depends very much on the person (and of course, what you compare your camera to).

However, at base ISO (100-400 at the very least, on more modern cameras 100-800), you should not be able to see a lot of noise on any modern dslr.

[Redneck1089]

Originally Posted by I AM THE MAN

I only shoot RAW, even with my previous camera but I just shot a few JPEGS and they were all pixelated on my iMac.

For the rest of the 100 photos they were all shot in RAW. I shot all my photos in the AV format (and all photos were between 100-2000 ISO).

I have only edited one photo from the batch and it looks better but again if you open either the edited photo or the RAW file in full window you can easily notice the noise.





I will post sample pictures really soon!


Additionally, do you guys think the "Picture style" could have something to do with it? I noticed I shot most of these photos with the standard profile and after I compared neutral and standard, the neutral picture looked a little more "whiter" than the standard profile. I took 2 shots of my iMac with the different profiles for the test. Tomorrow morning I will upload a bunch of images for you all to look at.

Picture style settings should do next to nothing again in RAW. You might see a difference in the generated image on the camera, but you won't see a difference once you've loaded the picture to your computer. It's a bit like shooting monochrome in RAW; you will see black and white pictures on your camera but once you've loaded the pictures on your computer they will be back in color. RAW essentially only records data. What you are seeing on your camera is a generated jpeg.

Here's two photos I just took. One at 25, 600 ISO and one at 3200 ISO. Do your photos look noisy like these?

These were shot in RAW, imported to Aperture using Aperture's pre-sets for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, then exported into a jpeg image at 50% the size of the originals.

[TheDrift-]

At low Iso's if your not zoomed way in and your seeing noise that's not right.

[someoldguy]

I shoot at iso's up to 2500 or so pretty often with my 5D2 and don't have any noise issues . Assuming your computer and software are known good , maybe a
controlled experiment would be helpful . Beg , borrow , buy , or otherwise obtain another CF card and usb cable . Format both cards in the 5D2 . Set the camera to shoot RAW + Large Jpeg , Picture Style Standard , color space sRGB ,Automatic White Balance , High iso noise reduction Standard , iso speed setting increments at 1 stop . Set Camera mode to AV , f-stop at f11 .Find a stationary subject, your neighbor's garage or something , and run off a set of images , from iso 100 up to iso 6400 , one shot at each value . Use a tripod if you've got one . This will give you 7 RAW and 7 jpegs , one of each at each iso.
Do the same with the other CF card . Setup 4 folders on your computer , and download your images into each , using a different card / cable combination in each folder . Process the RAW files without making any adjustments , then check out the results . If you get the same results across the board post some images for those of us out in the ozone to check out .

[I AM THE MAN]

Here are some photos!

URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/img00911a.jpg/][/URL]


f/1.8 1/20 s 2000 ISO 50mm




This one was in my room with: f/1.8 1/3200 s 2000 ISO 50mm




This one again in my room with: f/1.8 1/100 s 250 ISO 50mm

[Redneck1089]

Each one of the pictures you have posted looks well under exposed to me. Noise shows up a lot more in under exposed photographs.

Try raising the exposure level and see if that makes a difference to your pictures.

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by Redneck1089

Each one of the pictures you have posted looks well under exposed to me. Noise shows up a lot more in under exposed photographs.

Try raising the exposure level and see if that makes a difference to your pictures.

Doesn't do it. I just took pictures of the same subject (iMac and the trophies) bumping the exposure up to 1/3 and 2/3 and the only thing different is that the image is too bright. One thing I did notice however is that when I take shots in the CA mode and Full Auto Mode, the images are ALOT better looking as opposed to the AV and M modes even with the same settings.

This is the image shot with the full auto mode.



f/2.8 1/50s 100 ISO 50mm


This image was shot in manual mode:



f/3.2 1/50s 100 ISO 50mm


Is there a setting or something that might be causing a problem?


EDIT: I shot JPEGs only and again when I shoot with the Full auto mode picture is just like it is above but when I switch out to manual I get the same yellow picture with the same settings.

Any clue to if there is something wrong/what I'm doing? Thank you very much for all your answers!

[someoldguy]

When you shoot in full auto , the white balance setting defaults to AWB (automatic white balance) . Check the white balance setting in your manual modes . Maybe you're using daylight or cloudy white balance. Change white balance to AWB in the manual modes and see what happens.

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by someoldguy

When you shoot in full auto , the white balance setting defaults to AWB (automatic white balance) . Check the white balance setting in your manual modes . Maybe you're using daylight or cloudy white balance. Change white balance to AWB in the manual modes and see what happens.

Yes thank you very much! I completely missed the White Balance setting and it was on cloudy the whole time! Now the photos look a lot more normal and clearer! I really do appreciate the help!

Also, thank you very much to those who replied and tried to help solve my problem! Hopefully now I will go out and shoot some more photos and compare the results and post them up!

[someoldguy]

No problem , when I got my 5D2 a couple of years back , I did something similar . Now I just leave WB on AWB , usually it's pretty close and , if not, WB corrects easily in post.

[Prodo123]

I honestly don't see any noise.
At least irrecoverable noise. Whatever graininess is in those photos can be repaired through RAW processors.

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by someoldguy

No problem , when I got my 5D2 a couple of years back , I did something similar . Now I just leave WB on AWB , usually it's pretty close and , if not, WB corrects easily in post.

Do you have any other personal tips to keep the noise on the low, besides the usual?

Originally Posted by Prodo123

I honestly don't see any noise.
At least irrecoverable noise. Whatever graininess is in those photos can be repaired through RAW processors.

RAW processors? As in Photoshop/Lightroom?

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by I AM THE MAN

Do you have any other personal tips to keep the noise on the low, besides the usual?

RAW processors? As in Photoshop/Lightroom?

As in Photoshop/Lightroom, DPP, Aperture and the like, yes.

Try to keep the shutter speed low because with higher speeds comes a certain graininess caused by the sensor scanning too fast.

[I AM THE MAN]

Originally Posted by Prodo123

As in Photoshop/Lightroom, DPP, Aperture and the like, yes.

Try to keep the shutter speed low because with higher speeds comes a certain graininess caused by the sensor scanning too fast.

When you say low, how low? Haha sorry for all these questions but thank you, I will keep all of this in mind!

[ocabj]

I don't really have any real work shot beyond ISO 200 (pretty much all my portraits are shot at ISO 100).

I do have event coverage of SHOT Show 2012 where all the photos were shot at ISO 1600 with the 5D Mark II.

http://www.ocabj.net/2012-shot-show-...report-part-3/
http://www.ocabj.net/2012-shot-show-...report-part-2/
http://www.ocabj.net/2012-shot-show-...report-part-1/
http://www.ocabj.net/random-photos-f...012-shot-show/

The only post I did in those photos beyond white balance adjustments and lens correction is to bump the noise luminance slider in Lightroom to minimize the graininess.

[TheReef]

I'd definitely be using a tripod and keeping the ISO at 50, those noise levels at ISO 2000 look normal to me.

As already stated, noise tends to show up a lot more in shadows, especially when you try to brighten them.

[Prodo123]

Originally Posted by I AM THE MAN

When you say low, how low? Haha sorry for all these questions but thank you, I will keep all of this in mind!

Under 1/2000th would be fine.
(I still don't see any noise from any of your shots)

[OreoCookie]

These picture don't look noisy to me, your camera is working just fine. As other people have pointed out, the sample images are a hair underexposed and noise shows more strongly. But even as they are now, I don't see anything wrong here (you're shooting at ISO 2000).

[blanka]

I see mostly banding problems. These can be the result of wrong RAW conversion. The noise is not too bad in most pics.
This one however:
http://forums.macrumors.com/attachme...1&d=1354255607
Looks like a mess. Is this ISO 2000? I don't have a canon, but if someone says it is as good in the dark as a d3/D700: if I see this, it is not even near. It has horrible chroma-shifts in the noisy areas.