topic Re: High ISO noise in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

High ISO noise

WJM — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 23:51:53 GMT

I'm using a 6D mark ll. Others who use this , at what ISO do you consider noise becoming excessive?

I shot a basketball game and it started to show a lot of noise starting at 800 or 1600 on up.

I shot with a Canon 24-105 L ,Tamron 15-30 2.8 and a Tamron 70-200 2.8 G2.

Thanks for the feed back

Re: High ISO noise

Waddizzle — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 00:10:27 GMT

Please post a sample of high ISO noise. The following shot was taken with a 6D2 at ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/800.

Does this photo have a high ISO noise problem?

Re: High ISO noise

Waddizzle — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 00:17:12 GMT

This photo was shot at ISO 8000

Re: High ISO noise

wq9nsc — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 01:43:20 GMT

WJM,

Are you having to crop heavily to get the scene you want? If so that makes the increased noise/loss of sharpness much more of a problem. The closer you can come to filling the sensor with the desired image, the less that noise will be an issue. Please do post some examples.

I consider noise excessive when it becomes clearly noticeable and starts to detract from the image. HOWEVER as photographers we tend to be far more critical than others and particularly for sports sometimes some noise is inevitable given shooting conditions. I am fortunate to do a lot of shooting in a well lit gym which allows ISO sensitivity from 2000-4000 which works very well with the cameras I am using. But two years ago I was shooting football at a field with inadequate lighting at best and over half of the lighting standards were out that night. One of the images I captured was shot across the field in one of the worst lit areas forcing the camera to ISO 40,000 but the player who made that leaping catch was overjoyed to have a record of it. The noise drives me crazy but I was glad to make that young man happy with a record of his catch.

The football photo is at ISO 40,000 while the basketball photo is at a much happier ISO 2000.

Your 6D2 doesn't have quite the high ISO performance of the 1DX and 1DX 2 I am using but I saw some images a parent shot of her daughter at a volleyball game with her 6D2 and with a little post process work I cleaned up her ISO 6400 images to what I thought were some very nice images. Post processing is key when working with higher ISO to retain as much color and detail while smoothing out and removing the noise.

Rodger

Re: High ISO noise

WJM — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 21:46:09 GMT

This image is with the 24-105L 47mm , f4 1/640 at ISO800.

If I zoom in to 1:1 a lot of noise shows up in the bleachers

Re: High ISO noise

kvbarkley — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 21:54:54 GMT

More noise than these?:

https://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/6d-mk-ii.htm

Re: High ISO noise

WJM — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 21:59:13 GMT

Am I being to critical on myself and the equipment?

Re: High ISO noise

Waddizzle — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 22:07:28 GMT

The resolution of your sample is 640 x 427. What resolution are you shooting at? JPEG or RAW?

Suggestion: Your shooting angle is too high above the floor. You need to get down to the players' eye level, [if] not lower.

Re: High ISO noise

kvbarkley — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 22:23:29 GMT

I think so, but you are the artist.

Re: High ISO noise

WJM — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 23:39:19 GMT

It was a Raw exported as a Jpeg from LR. The resolution I'm not sure of off the top of my head.

As far as getting lower ,my knees give me a little trouble . But I will take that into consideration.

Thanks for the help.

Re: High ISO noise

ebiggs1 — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 07:32:14 GMT

Where you shoot from is key. It is the most important part of sports photography. However, it will not affect how much or how little noise the camera makes. Are you being too critical, probably. All photographers see the worst in their work.

In you sample shot the DOF is too short and that likely makes you think noise is bad. If you are OOF too, it makes noise look worse. The first sample shot of the man is OOF. The third shoot, football player, is also OOF but the girls BB shot is great.

A real nice shot of the action.

"As far as getting lower ,my knees give me a little trouble"

You won't do your knees or the amount of noise any good by getting lower. But you will get a better perspective as it looks like you shot from the bleachers!

Re: High ISO noise

Waddizzle — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 10:00:57 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:

The first sample shot of the man is OOF.

Haters just love to hate. I can see myself in his sunglasses. This photo is tack sharp, folks.

Re: High ISO noise

WJM — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 11:08:29 GMT

Thanks to all for your help!

Re: High ISO noise

MichaelGClark — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 03:32:34 GMT

Low angle is great if you have access to the baseline. If not, it's tough to get a shot of the front of a player taking a free throw without being at a higher angle. The players on the side of the lane would get in the way of the player attempting the free throw.

Re: High ISO noise

ebiggs1 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 16:01:44 GMT

"This photo is tack sharp, folks."

You need to sharpen your"tacks"!