"Need" a better camera??

dakid

dakid

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I was taking photos a couple of days ago at Slimbridge with my 40D, and using either 200 or 400 ISO with Av mode at f/4.0 on a 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM with the Canon 1.4x TC, and was starting to notice noise on the 400 ISO images, especially when I lightened them at all. I use Photoshop/Bridge CS3 for my processing, if it matters.

Generally I'm very happy with my camera, but I was wondering how much technology has moved on and whether I could get much more for my money these days. I'm not overly keen on switching to Nikon (for money reasons mainly - would have to sell all my equipment to afford just the body of a D3, for example!) because I have a few Canon L lenses, but am not entirely averse to it if it makes a real difference.

So, would upgrading make a difference? Is it all in my head (like the voices)?

Comments appreciated :)
 
When you say the pictures seem noisy, are you viewing them at 100%? What do your prints look like? It's easy to think things aren't up to scratch when 'pixel peeping', but it's not how pictures are viewed in the real world.
I quite happily use my 20D at ISO 400 with no real problems with noise, even when taking pictures up to A3. Since the 40D is a couple of generations younger, I would think noise is less of a problem with it.

FWIW, when DPreview looked at the 40D, their conclusion was its dynamic range and noise performance were better than the 50D.

One factor that can affect noise is exposure accuracy. If it's necessary to lighten images, this can introduce noise (it's equivalent to increasing the ISO or 'overdeveloping'). I think it's one of the reasons why it's always worth 'exposing to the right')

Also, are you shooting in raw?

Cheers


Mark
 
especially when I lightened them at all.

This is your problem. Expose correctly to begin with and you won't need to brighten later.

The Nikon D700 can show a lot of shadow noise if darker shadows are brightened later, and that is probably about the best there is for noise control at the moment.

In a nutshell, this is pilot error, not the camera. Underexposure + ACR electronic EV is going to produce noise.
 
Roger all that. Thanks, guys.

I do use Noise Ninja to remove noise, but would prefer not to need to, and it's more of a problem when shooting at 1600 for sports shots ... they're almost unusable, even with the filter.

Exposing to the right would seem sensible. Maybe I should use the exposure compensation in-camera if I'm consistently getting under-exposed shots ... would anyone think that likely with a 40D?
 
Exposing to the right will help noise - but this will also reduce shutter speed. Probably why you are shooting high ISO begin with.

Use DPP to process, not ACR. This will help!

Make sure you use even multiples, ie 400, 800, 1600. Do not use ISO1250, this is a "pushed" ISO800.
 
Ok, thanks puddleduck :)
 
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