@ryang1 wrote:
So first off I should state that although I have had this camera for just under a year I am very new to the DSLR video world (this is my first "real" camera) so please forgive my ignorance or stupidity haha. Anyhow, up until recently I have been able to get really clear video even at higher ISO but for some reason lately, even at lower ISO settings, my video just seems way too grainy and I cant seem to figure out why, I havent changed settings or anything.
If anyone has any tips to try or knows of something that might be malfunctioning or wrong with the camera, tips would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Hi and welcome!
I'd like to mention some aspects that may affect the image quality you get from your camera (in stills and video), maybe you can check them and find your problem:
- Sensor heating: Every camera has a sensor, obviously. If you shoot in Live View mode (on which the sensor is always exposed and working), or do "long exposures" stills for long time, your camera' sensor will heat up (faster if you shoot under hot weather conditions).
This must always be kept in mind. For this reason is highly recommended to let the camera cool down after those kind of shots or long use (turning it off, for instance).
- ISO settings: It's widely known that there are specific ISO settings that deliver noiser images than others.
The real native ISOs of the camera are 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc. Although some people have called "native" to the ISO settings mentioned below due to their lower noise levels.
To be clear, if you want to get the less noisy images, you should select ISO multiple of 160. This means: 160, 320, 640, 1250, 2500. The technical reason is because the camera do a digital pull down of the next upper ISO level, with the side effect of reducing noise. This has a down side effect though: you loose a bit of information/dynamic range on the highlights (that may end up clipped easier than in other ISOs), so you have to be careful in this regard. Test and check it by yourself.
As the opposite reason, avoid using ISO settings multiple of 125 (125, 250, 500, etc.) because the camera do a digital push of the ISO below it, resulting in an increase of noise.
The noise is always lot easier to see on dark areas. Light areas won't be affected much.
- Special Camera settings: There are some features/functions that will indeed affect the noise in your image.
These are: Auto Lighting Optimizer and Highlight Tone Priority.
They're great functions, but you should knowing their utility and limitations, and use with caution. Please refer to the manual for an explanation of each one.
- Picture Styles: ALL pictures and videos taken with the Canon cameras are processed through what is called Picture Styles.
Usually the included built-in camera picture styles won't affect much the noise quantity on your shot (although they will certainly change the look of your stills & video, and may deliver different "banding" in strong gradient areas like deep blue sky, etc.).
BUT there are some 3rd party picture styles available for download (some of them mainly aimed for post-production, called "flat" picture styles, etc) that can really affect the noise on the final captured image/video. So be aware and check them before and important job.
Hope this helps!
Regards.
