topic Re: What can i do about the noise? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

What can i do about the noise?

raoul26 — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:09:14 GMT

There is a lot of noise when taking photos in the dark, i tried playing around with the shutter speed, aperture and ISO but the noise doesnt go away fully. Sometimes the noise looks weird and is made out of pink, green, yellow pixels. Im looking for a way to take better photos with low light.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

Danny — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:14:55 GMT

Thanks for joining the conversation, raoul26!

So that the Community can help you better, we need to know exactly which Canon camera model you're using and what your exposure settings are, particularly the ISO. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, click HERE search our knowledge base or find additional support options HERE.

Thanks and have a great day!

Re: What can i do about the noise?

rs-eos — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 14:19:00 GMT

With what camera and with what lens?

Can you post examples?

Note that depending upon how dark the scene is and whether or not you raise levels in post, you can indeed end up with lots of noise.

It could very well be that you're at the limits of your camera.

Here are still frames from video equipment showing various results of attempting to film an extremely dark scene. Same would apply for photography.

The scene was my basement with single 60 W equivalent LED bulb lighting the scene. No other ambient light. The bulb was around 8 feet away from the subject.

First is a Vixia HF G50 that was at its absolute limits (max gain/ISO set):

Next was the with an EOS C70 using an RF 24-70mm f/2.8L lens at f/2.8

Finally, the same EOS C70, but now with the 0.71x adapter with EF 50mm f/1.2L lens. This setup had the light capturing ability as an f/0.9 lens.

Details of the three frames are below:

Re: What can i do about the noise?

Tintype_18 — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 19:49:10 GMT

No flash? That was my first thought.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

kvbarkley — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 20:05:35 GMT

The obvious answer is don't take pictures in the dark. Every camera has some noise limit.

It is no surprise that the noise contains colors, after all it is random fluctuations.

If you have some specific need for this, describe it completely and we might be able to make some recommendations. If you go to Ken Rockwell's site, he posts sample images across the whole range of ISO and varying light conditions.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

rs-eos — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 21:09:41 GMT

Adding light to a scene is not always possible.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

normadel — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 04:39:22 GMT

Even a fancy technical marvel like a modern digital camera has its limits. You reach a point where there is too little light to record an image. The camera just cannot do it, and you get noise in a failed effort to produce an exposure.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

kvbarkley — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 05:09:27 GMT

That said, I have taken some amazing moonscapes with long exposures.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

johnrmoyer — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:17:56 GMT

I hope one of these might work for you

If nothing in the scene is moving, then put the camera on a tripod and make 3 photos. Use compositing software to average the 3 photos. Most of the noise is averaged out. Canon DPP software may be able to do this. Hugin free software can do this.

Enable long exposure noise reduction in the camera.

Configure the camera to save the photo as a raw file. In the Canon DPP software increase the noise reduction. This will make the image soft. Use gimp to reduce the size of the image followed by unsharp mask. The radius for the unsharp mask should match the amount of blur.

I found this helpful. https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise.htm

Re: What can i do about the noise?

kvbarkley — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 13:57:14 GMT

Shoot, depending on the Camera, the camera can do this!

It is called "Handheld Night Scene" Here is the manpage for my T6S:

Not the best example:

Re: What can i do about the noise?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:13:37 GMT

"Even a fancy technical marvel like a modern digital camera has its limits."

Often overlooked but very true. At some point a great properly focused and exposed photo withy great IQ is simply not going to happen. There are adjustment in Lightroom and Photoshop that deal with noise. There are other softwares available that do the same. Noise is a function of ISO. The higher the number the more noise that's it..

Re: What can i do about the noise?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:16:53 GMT

"No flash? That was my first thought."

Adding flash is almost never the answer. It generally causes more issues than it helps.

Re: What can i do about the noise?

ebiggs1 — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:18:07 GMT

I have said right along post editing is where great photos are made. Not in the camera. Get the best shot you possibly can in camera and than let Photoshop do the rest.