EOS R7 having blue noise speckles esp on black areas of the picture , also all pictures are noisy

[kaustavmitramus]

Hi, I recently upgrades from a 80D to a R7 and am still learning the mirrorless world. I found that all my pictures are coming noisy even on low ISO (compared to my 80D). The black areas of the pictures have a very disturbing blue speckles of noise. Any help with the settings will be appreciated. Using Canon EF - R adaptor and 50mm EF lens for the following pictures.  

[March411 · Accepted solution]

I can't tell what software you are using but the blue noise speckles are really about noise, I believe it is a shadow clipping warning active in your software. Shadow clipping warnings are a standard feature in most software packages. I have the warning active in Camera Raw and LRC. The warnings alert you when a portion of your image becomes pure black or white, in your case it would be in the blacks.

In post production you can fix the blown-out shadows by adjusting your shadow slider or make adjustment to the highlights to make the photo look balanced. Also, you can also use the curve to adjust the highlights and shadows which will resolve/improve/eliminate the level of the shadow warning viewed on your images.

[stevet1]

kaustavmitramus,

I don't know if the blue splotches are the result of noise, or some kind of aberration. I did notice in a couple of your photos, that you used a pretty high aperture (f/22 and f/20).

You really don't need shutter speeds of 1/3200th's of a second for stationary subjects.

Try a couple of shots in the mid-range, like f/8 and see if you notice any difference.

Steve Thomas

[kaustavmitramus]

Thank you Steve for the . Uploading another noisy picture - taken in full sunlight. 

[Peter]

Light is by nature noisy. Photon noise. It will be more visible in a part of the picture without details.

Another thing and because you use Lightroom, make sure you don't sharpen non-details in post.

[March411 · Accepted solution]

I can't tell what software you are using but the blue noise speckles are really about noise, I believe it is a shadow clipping warning active in your software. Shadow clipping warnings are a standard feature in most software packages. I have the warning active in Camera Raw and LRC. The warnings alert you when a portion of your image becomes pure black or white, in your case it would be in the blacks.

In post production you can fix the blown-out shadows by adjusting your shadow slider or make adjustment to the highlights to make the photo look balanced. Also, you can also use the curve to adjust the highlights and shadows which will resolve/improve/eliminate the level of the shadow warning viewed on your images.

[kaustavmitramus]

Thank you Marc, You are absolutely correct about the blue speckles. I am new to Lightroom too. Thanks for the explanation. I would also look for your review on the general noise at 400 ISO. Example the white pillar in picture 2. Is that because of the high shutter speed as Steve pointed out ?

[March411]

I would have to agree with Steve that you can minimize noise by using a slower shutter speed and aperture, the result would be to push the ISO down which is almost always a positive. Lightroom, if you are using the latest release has some decent noise reduction tools.

And in closing, I also have that snowman in my front yard, the thing is huge.

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

This looks like you are using Adobe Lightroom to view / edit your photos, and you have the clipping indicator active as Marc suggested.

Simply press the J key on your keyboard to turn toggle clipping warning on and off, or go to View > Edit Tools > Show Clipping

Blue overlay shows for the areas where the image is completely black, and a red overlay would indicate the areas that are fully white or blown out. You can obviously lift the shadows with the sliders in the edit window.

I would also check what noise reduction and sharpening settings you have chosen for your photos, they will likely need to be different to the settings used for EOS 80D images. Also remember that the extra pixels on the EOS R7 make them a little less sensitive to light than larger pixels. Your images with the "blue overlay" indicate that you don't have much highlight detail so I suggest raising the exposure a little to lift the image out of the shadows at the taking stage to reduce the noise.

[kaustavmitramus]

Thanks Brian. Relieved to understand that the product is not defective. I will continue to experiment.