how bad is the omd 10 16mp sensor noise ?

[yinyangbt]

Hello !
I like low light handheld shooting . I know :you'lla say go Fuji or Sony or FF
dxomark evaluation says the 16mp oly sensors are on par with the 14mp sony (nex3) ones ISO wise ( 846 vs 830 ) .And my nex3 does just fine at 1600 ,and even a bit more if necessary.
I frequently shoot in poorly illuminate spaces , ,usually static subjects , and need a smallish camera , no big lenses. I usually shoot with a X20 fuji compact , with good results for such a camera , but ...
My budget doesn't allow FF or the last stabilised a6500 ,and the 16mp X fujis don't have stabilisation on primes or body. And the zooms are a bit too big for me.

I need something small ,with fast lenses and stabilised. I am not a tripod guy.
So I found a omd em10mk 2 brand new, and several fast primes 15/1,7 ;25/1,8 ;45/1,8

But I still am not sure about how such a combo would perform in blue hour or night street photo situations.
I saw some very disappointing night shots on flickr , but I still hope those very noisy ones were because wrong settings.

I am curious about your experiences about this matter.

 

[majid]

M43 is terrible in low light. You'd be much better off with a Ricoh GRII or a Fuji X70, or even a used Sony RX1.

 

[sevres_babylone]

I use or have used the following quite a lot:
M9, OM-D EM-5 (first version), X100T, Ricoh GR (and II), Sony A7SII

Obviously the Sony is the best for lowlight, and the M9 the worst.

In my experience, the Ricoh GR is a at least a stop better than the Olympus, the X100T a bit less than a stop better.

Other factors: The Ricoh GR isn't an interchangeable lens camera (nor is this Fuji).
The EM-5 is weatherproof, the others aren't.

I don't know how the EM-5 compares to the Olympus model you are looking at.

Here are some examples of night shots with my Olympus (for some reason flickr's om-d search included one shot with the OM-2): https://bit.ly/2N5BlY5

 

[Archlich]

M43 is terrible in low light. You'd be much better off with a Ricoh GRII or a Fuji X70, or even a used Sony RX1.

Slower lens and absence of in-body stabilization will neutralize much of the advantages (if any) gained in high ISO performance.

 

[Huss]

I took this at ISO 1600 with an OMD-10 mkii and Oly 25 1.8 lens @ 1.8

 

[JP Owens]

I shoot M4/3 extensively with Panasonic cameras (G85 and GX8) and noise up through 1600 really isn't an issue. The bigger issue is autofocus. Low light is their achilles heal. I always switch to the Canon D80 if I need fast, accurate autofocus in low light.

I used a friends Olympus EM-10 Mk II and found it has about the same noise and autofocus limitations as my Pany bodies.

Moving from M4/3 to APS-C will significantly improve high iso noise. But, along with that comes bigger lenses to cover that format.

 

[Axel]

...

But I still am not sure about how such a combo would perform in blue hour or night street photo situations.
I saw some very disappointing night shots on flickr , but I still hope those very noisy ones were because wrong settings...

That is simply physics. Smaller sensors have smaller pixels and a higher density of pixels. So in direct comparison the bigger sensor wins always.
So if you see low-light pictures from small sensors taken with higher ISOs you will have more noise or the results of noise-cancelling algorithms.

I have made such compasions for my photography myself and I finally bought no fourthirds.
Really small cams are not soo much worse and really good APS-Cs are not much bigger.
Just my conclusion.

 

[yinyangbt]

Very interesting discussion , thanks for your feedback !

 

[yinyangbt]

I shoot M4/3 extensively with Panasonic cameras (G85 and GX8) and noise up through 1600 really isn't an issue. The bigger issue is autofocus. Low light is their achilles heal. I always switch to the Canon D80 if I need fast, accurate autofocus in low light.

I used a friends Olympus EM-10 Mk II and found it has about the same noise and autofocus limitations as my Pany bodies.

Moving from M4/3 to APS-C will significantly improve high iso noise. But, along with that comes bigger lenses to cover that format.

Interesting , many say the contrast af works better in low light . Are you referring at static subjects or dynamic ones (C-AF not interessed in these)
My EPL1was good enough fur my needs AF wise even if not great , and I suppose they made progresses in this time.


Exactly those big lenses are the ones I want to avoid !

 

[yinyangbt]

I took this at ISO 1600 with an OMD-10 mkii and Oly 25 1.8 lens @ 1.8

Looks great for me , thanks , do you have some more ? Eventually some 50% and 100% crops ?

 

[yinyangbt]

That is simply physics. Smaller sensors have smaller pixels and a higher density of pixels. So in direct comparison the bigger sensor wins always.
So if you see low-light pictures from small sensors taken with higher ISOs you will have more noise or the results of noise-cancelling algorithms.

I have made such compasions for my photography myself and I finally bought no fourthirds.
Really small cams are not soo much worse and really good APS-Cs are not much bigger.
Just my conclusion.

The apsc cameras are really small these days (some of them) indeed. No difference here . It comes to the lenses dimensions ...Physics indeed.

I studied a bit the numbers in dxomark reviews , and there are some interesting things I saw there. There are only 2/3 stop better performance in High ISO between a6000 and omd 10mk2 (1347 vs 842)

Anyway , It is interesting to take into account the lens/camera combination which can lead to keeping a reasonably low iso if using good fast lenses and adding stabilisation (if using for static subjects as I do )
I learned this from the fast lens compacts with smaller sensors than mft that output surprisingly good looking files in low light.

In fact I'd love a X Fuji but their unstabilised primes and bodies kept me away until now. And I love my X20 compact

 

[Huss]

Looks great for me , thanks , do you have some more ? Eventually some 50% and 100% crops ?

Let me make a 100% crop for you. I don't have that many as I have, umm, lots of cameras and so hardly use this one.
(I bought it off Steve Huff super cheap! An offer I could not refuse). I will say it is really nice and a lot of fun to use, and I have had no problems with AF in poor light. And the Olympus prime lenses - 25 1.8 and 45 1.8 - that I have are astounding.
I'm not a fan-boi - this is not my primary camera - I mostly shoot film. But its size and responsiveness makes it really really nice to use.

100% crop 1:1

 

[Huss]

This one is at ISO 2500, OMD -10 mk 11 with 45mm 1.8 @ 1.8

 

[Huss]

This I think is actually more than 100% crop

 

[Huss]

ISO 6400



FYI I always shoot in RAW and dev in LightRoom. I do not apply noise reduction.

 

[Huss]

100% crop @ ISO 6400 with 45mm 1.8 lens

FYI the point of focus is actually on the little beastie's snout, so this crop is behind perfect focus. But the idea is to look at the noise, not the sharpness.



So now I think you have enough to decide, with actual samples.

 

[Prest_400]

It's something I wonder about too, got an EPL2 and eventually would be looking to upgrade but perhaps to an EM5II with the HiRes mode... so it can double as film scanner.

I have a good experience with the simple IBIS and it is said that the 5 axis is impressive... which would offset some sensor size disadvantage.

I got a Lumix 35-100 f2.8 and it is very nice to have such a small and capable telephoto in a rather compact package. The system (arguably a large sensor compact may be better) compliments my Medium Format film well.
Under good light (1/500) I managed to even have good shots of landscape at 200mm equivalent, taken from a moving car.

A lens I wonder about a lot is the Panasonic 20mm 1.7 which seems to have woes with slow AF.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yinyangbt]

100% crop @ ISO 6400 with 45mm 1.8 lens

FYI the point of focus is actually on the little beastie's snout, so this crop is behind perfect focus. But the idea is to look at the noise, not the sharpness.



So now I think you have enough to decide, with actual samples.

These are great , I think ...
Not bad for 6400 that noise looks more like grain , wich I actually like !

 

[yinyangbt]

The fact that these primes are so small and that there is IBIS for all , is a biiiiig factor to like .For me.
The Fujinons might be better maybe , but I don't look at photos at 100% (right ,I crop frequently) but they are also bigger , heavier and that means they're going to stay home instead coming with me everywhere ....

 

[Huss]

Here is 1:1 at iso 6400 from the in focus part!



The prime lenses are tiny, super sharp and the IBIS gains you speed.