E-M5 Long Exposure Noise

ChrisP

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Hi Everyone,
Just wondering how the EM-5 does with long exposures? My E-3 starts to get noisey after about 10 seconds. I wouldn't use it for any exposure longer than 20 seconds. I like to be able to get closer to a minute if need be. Has anyone tested it around this length?

Thanks in advance,
Chris
 
Sorry, I can't answer, but I wanted to say that this is a great question ... I'm interested in the answer to this too.
 
Since I have similar problems with my E-510, I am also curious... Anyone got an example of a long exposure shot on the OM-D?
 
I'd guess something with deep shadows would be best. Usually mids and highlights don't get noisey. Other than that I'm indifferent although most of my long exposures are shot outside.

I'll do one for you. What do you want a picture of? Wall? Books? Details or solids?
 
I'm sorry, I couldn't get one outside; I live in a big city and there are too many lights to make it worthwhile.

I took these of my desk/computer/monitor. The monitor has a pretty good smooth gradient of dark grey to light reflections of the computer tower. The Bible has a deep black textured cover, and the front edges of the keyboard keys have a uniform matte texture.

I took these at 30, 50, ~75, and ~90 seconds. The last two were using the live bulb feature which is fabulous and IMHO under-hyped. Basically when you're in bulb mode it shows you a "preview" or "progress" image of what the image would look like if stopped right then. You simply "cook it till it looks good". Nice.

Also, the 30 sec and 50 sec ones were taken with and without the EM-5's two main anti-noise features for your comparison.

One feature is basically a noise filter (but might also smooth detail inadvertantly). The settings are off-low-normal-high. I used off and normal.

The other feature takes two images and subtracts the noise. Many cameras offer this feature. Comparing the two exposures, it seems to have worked reasonably well. The settings are off-auto-on. I used off and on (since I wanted to make sure it was operating).

These are the two 50 second files (one with anti-noise and one without). The others, including ORF's, are at the link below.

I hope this is helpful for you all.

Alan

No anti-noise:

50 sec no noise red or filter by headala, on Flickr

With anti-noise:

50 sec noise auto-normal by headala, on Flickr

Dropbox folder for all the files:
Folder

*note - it may take a little while for the pictures to propagate in Dropbox. There should be 12 files total.
 
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