Canon R6 High Noise at low ISO?

[Hatch76]

I'm not sure if this is normal or not but I recently got the R6 refurbished and have been a little disappointed with some of the image quality. I went out today to test out my new RF 24-105 along with the Sigma 150-600 and after coming back and reviewing the images, I notice there's a lot of noise at ISO 640. What do you guys think? Some are ISO 1250 but even then I don't expect to see much noise with the R6 and other peoples results straight out of camera. These are all straight out of the camera with no post work done. I can share the RAW files from dropbox for whoever would like to take a look and let me know what you think. Also, the noise may not look very noticeable on mobile phones. I know the shutter speed could be better, but these aren't shots to keep, more so just testing everything. Even though I have always been taught to shoot as high shutter speed as possible for birds in flight. But the fact that I’m getting so much noise as low as 640 and no higher than 1250 is concerning and unexpected for the R6 from all the reviews I’ve read and watched before making the purchase. To see the images in full size, you need to right click and "open image in new tab". You can notice the noise on the water and definitely in the sky.

Settings for the photos are:

1. ISO 640, Shutter 1/3200, Sigma 150-600
2. ISO 640, Shutter 1/3200, Sigma 150-600
3. ISO 1000, Shutter 1/5000, RF 24-105
4. ISO 640, Shutter 1/5000, RF 24-105
5. ISO 640, Shutter 1/5000, RF 24-105

[FloridaDrafter]

Hello, Hatch76!

I have the R6 and my images are very clean at your ISO's and way higher. I would be happy to look at your Raw files and I'm sure others would as well.

Newton

[Hatch76]

Thank You! Here are the RAW files for download. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/jgvysel8ybi1b8mhq46qb/h?dl=0&rlkey=hzbtmowaphusp6db2fkbb1vua

I'm thinking of renting another R6 and go test side by side with mine but that's $80 just for testing so would much rather find another way to determine if my R6 is or is not working as it should...

[Peter]

Seems good. I also have R6 and I see nothing wrong with your raw files. Noise is more visible when there are no details. For example a blue sky.

Sharpening a picture will also make the noise more visible in a blue sky if you choose to sharpen the whole picture and not just the details.

Sharpening masked area only.

[rs-eos]

Curious if there was there a reason that you didn't use a slower shutter so as to have a lower ISO?  1/1000 sec should be ample to free action with birds in flight.

Also not seeing a huge amount of noise particularly for ISO 640 or 1250.

Very doubtful, but perhaps the camera would perform better when not using in-between ISO values.  i.e. ISO 160 could be worse that using ISO 200.

None of my DSLRs though did this (T4i, 6D, 5D IV).  The in-between ISO values did what you'd expect.  i.e. as ISO climbed by 1/3 stop increments, noise strictly increased.

[Hatch76]

I was trying a few settings just running the new (to me) R6 through its paces. I’m also not impressed with the lack of sharpness with the high shutter speed. Still looks like there’s blur. 
The noise seems to be much higher than others R6 at higher ISO settings which is what bothers me (along with the sharpness issue)

[FloridaDrafter]

---

@Hatch76 wrote:

"<SNIP>. I’m also not impressed with the lack of sharpness with the high shutter speed. Still looks like there’s blur. 
The noise seems to be much higher than others R6 at higher ISO settings which is what bothers me (along with the sharpness issue)

---

Sorry for the late reply, and I agree with Peter. I opened them in DPP 4 and they look fine to me. Although I don't have the lenses you used, I do have some similar scenarios like gulls and ducks in water and flying but using an RF 100-400 and ours are close in IQ to your supplied Raw files. Maybe LR is doing something to your jpg's during conversion?

Here are your shots converted to jpg from DPP 4. The first (in each set) is in and out and the second is lightly edited then converted to jpg. Both are 100% zooms so you can see the lack of noise and that they are pretty sharp. Note the water dripping from the Crested Ducks bill... Nice and sharp.

100% zoom, unedited by me.100% zoom, lightly edited by me.

I did notice some peripheral illumination noise or artifacts, whatever you want to call it, in the sky but used the lens adjustment in DPP to knock it down a bit. This allowed me to slightly adjust the blue and add unsharp mask without increasing the noise.100% zoom, unedited by me.100% zoom, lightly edited by me.

I sure hope this helps.

Newton

[FloridaDrafter]

I'm not sure what Khoros has done to the forum, but you used to be able to flip through images "full screen" like a slide show. The way it's set up now kind of defeated my presentation. Oh well...

Newton

[Hatch76]

Thank you for taking the time to do all of that! And it's good to know that our IQ are similar. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong. I just keep expecting to be blown away with the IQ of the R6 over my 7D but it's just not as big of a leap forward as I had thought... Except for the autofocus. THAT is a nice advancement! 

Here are some examples straight out of my 7D with no post work to compare to. (Right click and open in new tab for full quality size). Along with comparable sharpness, you can see the ISO 800 noise from the 7D on the eagle looks similar to the 640 noise on the seagull from my R6. I just don't see a huge leap forward between the two...

Eagle 600mm, ISO 800, f8, 1/200, Canon 7D, Sigma 150-600C

[wq9nsc]

The biggest gains in sensor technology in very recent years are at much higher ISO settings and that, along with better AF, make it possible to get good captures under conditions where that was previously somewhere between very difficult and impossible.  Those areas are where your newer camera will show a major advantage.

I shot this first photo of a bee using my then new 1D Mark II (2003 introduction date) a couple of months after I bought mine in 2005.  It has a 8 MP sensor and maximum ISO of 3200 with anything 800 and above being nearly unusable.  But under good lighting, it did a nice job and the bee was captured at ISO 400.

But with my 1DX III bodies, I don't hesitate to shoot sports under conditions that push the ISO to 20,000 or higher and that is where more recent sensors show the advantage over older models.  The first football image was at ISO 12,800 and the second at ISO 16,000. 

Action photos of wildlife and sports are sometimes going to force a higher ISO and there will be noise.  Most people won't be looking at a photo with a magnifying glass looking for noise, if the capture features good composition of an interesting subject then that is what people will see.  It is another version of the forest and trees saying.

Rodger

1DM2 EF 100 f7.1, 1/640, ISO 4001DX MIII EF 400, f2.8, 1/1000, ISO12,8001DX MIII EF 400, 1/800, ISO 16,000