High ISO noise workflow

[padraigm]

Hi All,

First off this is not a discussion on how bad the noise is, we all know it is, but how some people seem to manage it better than others.

I have been playing around taking shots at high ISO (1250,2500) of various objects around the house with bad lighting and seeing if exposure compensation up and down will help yield better results. I am finding that with exposure compensation of about +2/3 and then taking it down some in LR that I can reduce the noise.... a little. I know this has been discussed many many times, but I wanted to get in all in one place. . Of course converting to B&W helps also. So again what do you do if faced with bumping the ISO above 640...

Thanks

 

[erikhaugsby]

Shoot at the lowest feasible ISO, push the file through Noise Ninja, hope for the best.

 

[jaapv]

Expose very precisely, develop in C1 or C4, switch off all noise reduction except Chroma noise and switch off all sharpening in Raw conversion, and you will see pretty clean files.

 

[padraigm]

hey jaapv, do you have a specific example to share?

thanks

 

[gdi]

Dan States explains his technique here -


http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52543&page=3

It does work to make them very usable.

 

[tmfabian]

I shoot it at the ISO i set it to and expose properly and add a little bit of noise reduction, i don't know if it helps with noise reduction but i also drop the saturation by 14 as well.

ISO 1250

http://lh5.ggpht.com/tmfabian/SF8nGhKfk3I/AAAAAAAAA5s/FTqE_atlhGo/L1003609.jpg?imgmax=720

and a crop of it

http://lh4.ggpht.com/tmfabian/SF8oYRLPnWI/AAAAAAAAA50/eIrmDRdp4zM/L1003609-2.jpg?imgmax=720

 

[jaapv]

hey jaapv, do you have a specific example to share?

thanks

Sure. ISO 1250.
Don't mind the banding, this was one of the first cameras before the recall.

It points out another advantage of the M8 as well. This is 1/22nd of a second, handheld with the Summilux 75....

And the crop:

 

[padraigm]

Thanks guys. From playing round I do see that you can improve the appearance of noise somewhat... But it really is just down to getting the exposure just right(paying attention to the histogram) and getting lucky with light that does not exasperate it. I tend to think a little +EV helps though... It's frustrating...

 

[hlockwood]

Hi All,

First off this is not a discussion on how bad the noise is, we all know it is, but how some people seem to manage it better than others.

I have been playing around taking shots at high ISO (1250,2500) of various objects around the house with bad lighting and seeing if exposure compensation up and down will help yield better results. I am finding that with exposure compensation of about +2/3 and then taking it down some in LR that I can reduce the noise.... a little. I know this has been discussed many many times, but I wanted to get in all in one place. . Of course converting to B&W helps also. So again what do you do if faced with bumping the ISO above 640...

Thanks

What would be the workflow if one were interested in B&W output only?

Harry

 

[padraigm]

Well Harry, from my experience converting to B&W is much more forgiving at the higher ISO's and can save a picture. As I have been doing test shots using high ISO I am finding as what others have said you need to watch the histogram and get it away from the shadows as much as possible. Then in LR or whatever you can bring down the exposure. I have seen it does make a difference in cleaning it up. Converting to B&W just makes it that much more pleasing and the grain/noise adds to it. The M8 is certainly challenging me to make better exposures and getting me off aperture priority especially at higher ISO's.

Hope that helps.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Expose very precisely, develop in C1 or C4, switch off all noise reduction except Chroma noise and switch off all sharpening in Raw conversion, and you will see pretty clean files.

Yep, that's pretty much it (although I use Photoshop CS2 w/ACR, or Lightroom 1.4). If you're shooting DNGs; if you're shooting JPEGs, set all your Contrast, Saturation and Sharpening to "Low" (e.g. lowest or "off") setting. Never underexpose, otherwise you're shot. Just like slide film.

Here's a few at ISO 2500, no noise reduction after developing the DNG file:

 

[mackigator]

My current digital is a K10D along with several film cameras. I think of noise and "bad" grain as the same. The K10D is not great with the noise issue. This is what I do when the light is really low and I know my files are going to look ugly. I'm not a pro, and if anyone has ideas to better this workflow, I'm all ears.

Shoot the lowest workable ISO, all in camera junk turned off. On my K10D, that is ISO400 or 800 in extreme situations. Shoot with a small DOF so part of the picture will, very intentionally, be out of focus. When possible, also shoot so part of the frame goes to all black/all white - blow something out.

Consider converting to B&W if the noise, banding, fringing or colors distract. At ISO 800 I almost always go B&W. Use the channel mixer to minimize noise if its mostly in one channel over the others.

Process the file carefully from RAW to get some detail on the subject, then export to jpg. Run the jpg through Neatimage or Noise Ninja and use custom settings to kill the noise/grain in the out of focus or non-subject areas. Save the file as new name.

In PSP/Photoshop/Image editor of choice, bring both images in as separate layers. Mask or erase sections of the noise reduced file so that the detail shot bleeds through in select spots. Use some careful dodge or burn on the detail layer.

Save up for whatever camera gets the D3 sensor next.

Here's a recent example of me having to get heavy handed with a noisy file. Awkward pre-wedding wait for a groom:



And another:

 

[hlockwood]

Well Harry, from my experience converting to B&W is much more forgiving at the higher ISO's and can save a picture. As I have been doing test shots using high ISO I am finding as what others have said you need to watch the histogram and get it away from the shadows as much as possible. Then in LR or whatever you can bring down the exposure. I have seen it does make a difference in cleaning it up. Converting to B&W just makes it that much more pleasing and the grain/noise adds to it. The M8 is certainly challenging me to make better exposures and getting me off aperture priority especially at higher ISO's.

Hope that helps.

It does, and the comments of gabriel and mackingator add to it. Thanks.

Harry