Pixel binning supported mirrorless camera‘s? Is it as good as bigger pixel camera?

[Zalkonian]

Hello. I wanted to know if pixel binning works in mirrorless camera‘s to boost sensitivity as do larger pixels or it has no significant impact on signal gain? Which models support pixel binning with BSI-CMOS full frame sensors? Maybe there are other techniques that help boost low light performance without resorting to longer exposure times?

[johnrmoyer]

If the subject is not moving then stacking several images can average out the randomness of photon arrival at the sensor and stacking can sum the brightness of the individual images. Image stacking results are similar to long exposure times.

Or, a black frame might be subtracted to eliminate some of the noise. Some cameras are able to do this in camera.

If the subject is moving and a fast shutter speed is needed, a median filter will trade resolution for noise reduction in a high ISO image much like a larger photo site would. In camera high ISO noise reduction will do something similar to the median filter. Then the image may be downsized to achieve the smaller number of pixels that one would have gotten with larger photo sites. So one may do the pixel binning after the image is captured. After the downsize, sharpening will be needed because the edges will have been blurred by the median filter.

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise.htm 

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-averaging-noise.htm 

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-noise-2.htm 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_filter

https://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/HIPR2/median.htm 

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82222933.pdf 8 page PDF

Also some like AI noise reduction which guesses what the value of each pixel should have been.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-66649-y 

Guan, S., Liu, B., Chen, S. et al. Adaptive median filter salt and pepper noise suppression approach for common path coherent dispersion spectrometer. Sci Rep 14, 17445 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-66649-y

[Zalkonian]

Can pixel binning work before taking picture, in viewfinder and video mode?

[Peter]

You can merge the pictures from Dual Pixel RAW. You may get some parallax error.

Ask again when you have bought a camera with DPR and I can show you.

[Zalkonian]

I photo mode sensitivity is not a big an issue since longer exposure times can be used. What I'm concerned with is in being able to see subject in low light and film it.

So what Canon mirrorless full frame camera models support pixel binning even in viewfinder and video modes?

[johnrmoyer]

For EOS R5, it is in the "Image Area" section of the manual. https://cam.start.canon/en/C003/manual/html/UG-03_Shooting-2_0040.html#Shooting-2_0040_3 

When cropping is set to "disable" for 4k video, then a larger area of the sensor is used and the image is downsampled for the video.

If video is important to you, then you might look at EOS R5C or a video camera.

If your primary emphasis is still photos but want to also do video, then search for "oversampled uncropped 4K movie" on this page: https://www.usa.canon.com/cameras/eos-r-system

Likely, any camera that can do 8k or 6k video can also do uncropped 4k video.

[Zalkonian]

So which of these models listed have pixel binning option for all shooting modes? I need hybrid camera for photo and video making in low light. I don't see in your EOS R5 link any info about pixel binning.

[johnrmoyer]

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@Zalkonian wrote:

So which of these models listed have pixel binning option for all shooting modes? I need hybrid camera for photo and video making in low light. I don't see in your EOS R5 link any info about pixel binning.

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Maybe I do not understand your questions. I had guessed that by "pixel binning" you meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_binning "Pixel binning, often called binning, is the process of combining adjacent pixels throughout an image, by summing or averaging their values, during or after readout."

But it seems to me that a median filter, or maybe a median filter with values scaled gives better results than summing or averaging at a cost of more computation.

For video, the Canon camera calls it "cropping set to disable" and does not call it pixel binning. Marketing calls it "oversampled uncropped 4K movie" and does not call it pixel binning.

For still photos, I explained that in post processing one may do:

1. median filter
2. followed by down scaling
3. followed by sharpening

These 3 steps will get you the equivalent of pixel binning, but median filter will give better results in the presence of noise than summing or averaging.

If you want the video oversampled uncropped 4k method, then you could record the video with "

ALL-I (For editing/I-only)

Compresses each frame, one at a time, for recording. Although file sizes are larger than with IPB (Standard), movies are more suitable for editing.

" and save individual video frames as still photos and then the camera will do it for you with no postprocessing.

If you want a camera that calls it "pixel binning", do not get a Canon. You might consider this explanation: https://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-pixel-binning-966179/

[kvbarkley]

Only a few powershots had pixel binning where you would end up with a smaller image using pixel averaging. It was never a feature of EOS. I think my powershot called it "candle light mode".