Canon R7 Noise Issue

[naumce]

Hi,

I recently purchased the Canon R7 and i do own the Rp as well. I am using the rf 100-400mm usm and i have noticed that even on sunny days with sufficient light i do get substantial Noise on the images even processed trough DPP. The noise is pretty visible even on ISO 1250. I have tried both, mechanical and electronic and the mechanical shutter is way worst. Noise reduction for high Iso is set to standard. Im just wondering if i have some settings done wrongly or what is the case. I know APC sensors usually have higher noise but even with my old Rebel t7 i havent had so much noise in the images. Any advice will be appreciated 

[Tronhard]

One of your challenges is that compared to the T7, the R7 is cramming almost 90% more pixels into the same area, and that is going to make the whole thing noisier.  I am surprised that you are getting noise for a low an ISO as you mention. 

Aside from that, without seeing sample images (of good resolution - preferable links to RAW) it is hard for us to gauge what other elements might be involved.  It would also be helpful to know what lenses you are using.

[naumce]

Hi Tronhard,

Thank you for your reply. I am using the RF 100-400mm usm as i mentioned above. I cant currently provide a raw file as i work on a cruise line and the network is not as solid to upload the raw fille images. THat is why i thought i would ask the community. I  have noticed noise even on ISO 100 which worries me the most. Its not that bad it is removable with software but still i was expecting the R7 to be handling it much better at least on 100 ISO

[Tronhard]

Sorry, I missed the lens indication.  Is that the only lens you use?  Well, if you can upload a JPG file with the EXIF data, that would be helpful.  You should not be getting noise at ISO 100...

[naumce]

Thanks Trevor, ill do my best if i can upload. But i would give more testing as the high shutter speed might be the reason for the high noise as well. When i have a chance i will upload the jpg maby there is something im doing wrong. 

[Tronhard]

There are essentially two reasons why one has noise in an image.  The most likely and common is that the image is under-exposed. Much depends on how and what you are metering upon.

What metering do you currently use - the default evaluative or some other?  It definitely will help to have several images of the kinds of shots you are taking to get an idea of the tonal ranges you are working with.

What I would suggest is trying some test images shot in RAW.  Shoot with exposure set to 1/3, 2/3 and 1 EV + exposure compensation - you are trying to get the highlights as high a possible without blowing them out, so you want to pay close attention to your histograms to allow the brightest to get as close a possible to the right without actually touching the end of the graph.   When you bring them into your PP software, does the noise seem less obvious?

[naumce]

I am using the default evaluative meter. From Lightroom to DPP there is a big difference in the Noise. Dpp Shows way less noise

[Tronhard]

I would suggest changing from evaluative metering and setting up back button focus and metering.  If you set the metering to spot and learn to take your readings from the mid tones of your image, you would get much more precise exposure.

I have seen multiple reports of people finding the R7 to be noisy but also that Topaz DeNoise works wonders with the noise.  I don't have the R7 but I do have the software and it is impressive.  I think you can trial it, and if so it might be worth a try.

[naumce]

THanks a lot Trevor, really appreciate your help. I dont think there is a problem with the camera, but i did think i do something wrong. I have purchased the Topaz denoise already and you are absolutely correct that it does wonders to the noise and sharpness of the images :).

I will try your advise on the spot metering and ill do some more testing 🙂

[amfoto1]

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@naumce wrote:

...From Lightroom to DPP there is a big difference in the Noise. Dpp Shows way less noise

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This is not surprising.

Lightroom (and for that matter Photoshop and Elements) do not have all that great noise reduction. Plus you are working with a relatively new camera and LR/PS/PSE may need an update to do a decent job of NR with the files coming from it. Even then, other NR software may do a better job. (I use a Photoshop plug in for my higher ISO images, but they are not coming from an R7, so I'm not going to recommend it here.)

DPP, on the other hand, likely does a much better job of NR because it's straight from Canon and they likely have optimized it to work with the new camera even before the camera was released.

That said, I've been following several photographers on YouTube who have been experimenting with the R7 and various NR software. Many say the Nik DFine plug-in works well on JPEGs and DXO PureRaw does even better working from CR3 files. Both have been updated and optimized for R7 (and R10).

YouTuber "Wild Alaska" working with R7 and DXO PureRaw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8CUHjK2dA8

Note: If shooting RAW and working with DXO PureRaw, what it does is create a partially processed DNG file that you then take into  LR or Photoshop or whatever to complete the post-processing.

There are free trials of both NR software offered. You might give them a test drive.

You mentioned "sunny days" and "sufficient light", but did not indicate all your exposure settings. If you are using small aperture and/or fast shutter speeds even on a bright sunny day you may be pushing the camera's ISO quite high, causing more noise (and reducing dynamic range at the same time).

Another factor, if you use the same default magnification settings of LR with R7 that you were with RP or T7, you will be magnifying the image a lot more. T7 is a 24MP camera (6000x4000 pixels), while R7 is 32.5MP (6960x4640). Say you view images from both at 100% on your monitor. That means each image pixel is displayed by one pixel on your monitor. So using the same level of magnification, you will be viewing the R7 file 16% larger than the T7 file. Noise will be more apparent at higher magnification.