topic Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Betsywtaylor — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 16:33:21 GMT

I bought this camera second hand from a friend who had barely used it. The images never seem to be in focus. When I crop them a little it seems to bring them into better focus... Is this normal? I have a 70D as well and it's images are so much sharper

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Peter — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 18:53:00 GMT

Full size samples?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

TCampbell — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 20:18:53 GMT

Did your friend fiddle with the AF micro-adjustment settings on the 5D II? You may want to reset those.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 20:57:05 GMT

Grainy images? Images that are grainy is usually a result of high ISO exposure settings. Do you get grainy images when the camera is set to "A" or "P" mode, too?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Betsywtaylor — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 23:22:10 GMT

I upload them into the photo app on my computer - honestly don't know if they are full size upon upload, I will check

Thanks

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Betsywtaylor — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 23:23:15 GMT

I don't know! That reset may be above my paygrade! I could take it int local camera shop

Thanks

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Betsywtaylor — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 23:24:53 GMT

It's not the ISO - it just doesn't seem to focus as sharply as my 70D. I assumed because it was full frame, the images would be crisper...

Thanks all for your suggestions!

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Waddizzle — Sun, 14 Aug 2016 23:37:14 GMT

@Betsywtaylor wrote:
It's not the ISO - it just doesn't seem to focus as sharply as my 70D. I assumed because it was full frame, the images would be crisper...
Thanks all for your suggestions!

Can you post a sample image with EXIF data?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 00:25:42 GMT

@Betsywtaylor wrote:
It's not the ISO - it just doesn't seem to focus as sharply as my 70D. I assumed because it was full frame, the images would be crisper...
Thanks all for your suggestions!

I think what's got us confused is that graniness and lack of focus aren't closely related. The former results from cranking the ISO number up beyond the camera's sensible limit (probably around 2500 for a 5D Mk II), the latter from failure to focus accurately. The two conditions may occur simultaneously or they may not. That's why it would be very helpful to see a sample picture.

If the problem is specifically lack of focus, does it happen in "live view" mode or just when you focus through the viewfinder?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 00:33:52 GMT

@Betsywtaylor wrote:
I don't know! That reset may be above my paygrade! I could take it int local camera shop
Thanks

Not the right answer. You're now dealing with a fairly sophisticated camera. If you're going to use it successfully, you can't let yourself be stymied by a concept as simple as a reset. If you don't have a copy of the instruction manual, download it from Canon's Web site.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Waddizzle — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 13:45:16 GMT

@Betsywtaylor wrote:
I don't know! That reset may be above my paygrade! I could take it int local camera shop
Thanks

Do that. Let a pair of professional eyeballs look it over.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Avid1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 02:35:31 GMT

This post is old, but I am having the exact same issue on a used 5D Mk II that I bought a month ago, with about 30,000 shutter counts. I am getting images that look out of focus blurry and have a strange noise pattern in midtones and shadows. The noise pattern kinda resembles that of halftone in photos that are scanned from glossy magazines. I have used both Canon and non Canon glass with adapter (which shouldn't matter anyway) with the same result.

I was surprised to see someone was having the same exact issue with a 5d Mk II, but I can't tell if they managed to fix it and how. The previous owner of the camera says he hasn't seen this problem with the camera. I haven't done any customization to the shooting modes. Here is a 100% crop of an image shot with this camera body and you can see the noise pattern I am talking about, as well as the soft focus, The image has a curve adjustment to bring out contrast and a little bit of sharpness in ACR RAW processor. The sand stone in the lower part of the image was roughly 10 to 15 feet away and I was stopped down to f/8 to deepen my depth of field:

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

RobertTheFat — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 23:11:34 GMT

@Avid1 wrote:
This post is old, but I am having the exact same issue on a used 5D Mk II that I bought a month ago, with about 30,000 shutter counts. I am getting images that looks like out of focus blurry and have a strange noise pattern in midtones and shadows. The noise pattern kinda resembles that of halftone in photos that are scanned from glossy magazines. I have used both Canon and non Canon glass with adapter (which shouldn't matter anyway) with the same result.

I was surprised to see someone was having the same exact issue with a 5d Mk II, but I can't tell if they managed to fix it and how. The previous owner of the camera says he hasn't seen this problem with the camera. I haven't done any customization to the shooting modes. Here is a 100% crop of an image shot on this bosy and you can see the noise pattern I am talking about, as well as the soft focus, The image has a curve adjustment to bring out contrast and nothing else. The sand stone in the lower part of the image was roughly 10 to 15 feet away and I was stopped down to f/8:

What lens? What shutter speed? RAW or JPEG? If RAW, what photo editor was used to convert it to JPEG?

Are you sure the lens was set to AF? AF problems are usually more selective; i.e., not all of the picture is so consistently OOF. I'd suspect either a lens problem or motion blur.

It's hard to blame the artifacts on the sensor, as their orientation bears no obvious relationship to either axis of the sensor.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Avid1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:28:35 GMT

Hi Bob, thanks for responding and trying to help.

This particular image was shot with a 28mm SMC Takumar (in M42 mount, no corrective glass in bewteen) at ISO 400, shutter speed 1/250 at f/8. Shot in manual focus mode, of course. At hyperfocal distance, stopped down optimally for deep focus and with a high enough shutter speed, I would expect a sharp output. This RAW image was processed with Phtoshop CC's ACR engine. Has a curve adjustment and sharpening of 42 inside of the ACR processor. This is what I do with images shot with other Canon bodies and get a certain result. The non Canon lens shouldn't be the cause of it. The halftone-like noise pattern is more disturbing than the soft focus at this point (it is still a concern, though). I don't know much about these sensors, but could it be somehow heating up or something and causing such anomaly?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:56:42 GMT

Can you have the previous owner send you a copy of a file taken just before the canera was sold to you?

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Waddizzle — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 08:01:34 GMT

@Avid1 wrote:
Hi Bob, thanks for responding and trying to help.

This particular image was shot with a 28mm SMC Takumar (in M42 mount, no corrective glass in bewteen) at ISO 400, shutter speed 1/250 at f/8. Shot in manual focus mode, of course. At hyperfocal distance, stopped down optimally for deep focus and with a high enough shutter speed, I would expect a sharp output. This RAW image was processed with Phtoshop CC's ACR engine. Has a curve adjustment and sharpening of 42 inside of the ACR processor. This is what I do with images shot with other Canon bodies and get a certain result. The non Canon lens shouldn't be the cause of it. The halftone-like noise pattern is more disturbing than the soft focus at this point (it is still a concern, though). I don't know much about these sensors, but could it be somehow heating up or something and causing such anomaly?

That photo does not look good, and your above post does point to the camera body. If you can get a refund, do it. That photo looks like something taken [by] a NASA rover on Mars, or somewhere..

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Avid1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 02:08:26 GMT

John, I did actually send the previous owner a message to send me one of the RAW images taken with this camera before the sale, so I know what the benchmark is, as he says this is an unknown problem to him. He hasn't responded yet, but I am sure he will.

I asked another photographer with the same camera to send me a sample image in RAW format so I can do furter deducing.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

BurnUnit — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 19:33:07 GMT

@Avid1 wrote:
Hi Bob, thanks for responding and trying to help.

This particular image was shot with a 28mm SMC Takumar (in M42 mount, no corrective glass in bewteen) at ISO 400, shutter speed 1/250 at f/8. Shot in manual focus mode, of course. At hyperfocal distance, stopped down optimally for deep focus and with a high enough shutter speed, I would expect a sharp output. This RAW image was processed with Phtoshop CC's ACR engine...

According to the attached EXIF info this shot was taken at 1/100 sec at ISO 400 and shot at a 50mm focal length. Are you sure you're looking at the right EXIF data? Does the body serial number match the camera in question?

EXIF IFD0

Camera Make {0x010F} = Canon
Camera Model {0x0110} = Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Picture Orientation {0x0112} = normal (1)
X-Resolution {0x011A} = 3000000/10000 ===> 300
Y-Resolution {0x011B} = 3000000/10000 ===> 300
X/Y-Resolution Unit {0x0128} = inch (2)
Software / Firmware Version {0x0131} = Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)
Last Modified Date/Time {0x0132} = 2019:02:10 04:04:01

EXIF Sub IFD

Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) {0x829A} = 1/100 second ===> 0.01 second
Exposure Program {0x8822} = manual control (1)
ISO Speed Ratings {0x8827} = 800
EXIF Version {0x9000} = 0221
Original Date/Time {0x9003} = 2019:02:09 17:33:48
Digitization Date/Time {0x9004} = 2019:02:09 17:33:48
Shutter Speed Value (APEX) {0x9201} = 6643856/1000000
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/100 second
Exposure Bias (EV) {0x9204} = 0/1 ===> 0
Metering Mode {0x9207} = pattern / multi-segment (5)
Flash {0x9209} = n/a (16)
Focal Length {0x920A} = 50/1 mm ===> 50 mm
Last Modified Subsecond Time {0x9290} = 53
Original Subsecond Time {0x9291} = 53
Digitized Subsecond Time {0x9292} = 53
Colour Space {0xA001} = sRGB (1)
Image Width {0xA002} = 585 pixels
Image Height {0xA003} = 726 pixels
Focal Plane X-Resolution {0xA20E} = 5616000/1459 ===> 3849.21
Focal Plane Y-Resolution {0xA20F} = 3744000/958 ===> 3908.14
Focal Plane X/Y-Resolution Unit {0xA210} = inch (2)
Custom Rendered {0xA401} = normal process (0)
Exposure Mode {0xA402} = manual exposure (1)
White Balance {0xA403} = manual (1)
Scene Capture Type {0xA406} = standard (0)
Body Serial Number {0xA431} = xxxxx8049

EXIF IFD1

Compression {0x0103} = JPEG compression (6)
X-Resolution {0x011A} = 72/1 ===> 72
Y-Resolution {0x011B} = 72/1 ===> 72
X/Y-Resolution Unit {0x0128} = inch (2)
Embedded thumbnail image:

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Avid1 — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:25:07 GMT

Yes, the last 4 digits of the ser# is correct. Camera firmware 2.1.2

I shot 2 or 3 at the same time at different exposure values, to test for this exact problem, and I probably remembered the wrong shutter and ISO setting for this particular exposure, but it wouldn't matter if it is on a tripod as far as the softness is concerned. With a non Canon lens, it just deems it to be a 50mm as de facto. The problem happens at all ISO settings, not just at 800 ISO. And I heard shooting at 800 ISO on the 5d Mk2 is not a problem.

The soft focus is less of a concern than the patterened noise. Perhaps, I should reset the camera and see if it helps.

Re: EOS 5D Mark II seems to have grainy images?

Peter — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 20:51:49 GMT

Any raw sample you can upload?