Help! Why are my EOS R5 photos so noisy?

[Kkb83]

Hi there - I just upgraded to the Canon EOS R5 and so far my photos seem quite noisy. I was having the same issue with my EOS R which is why I upgraded, but now I'm thinking it's something I must be doing wrong in the editing process (or maybe my expectation are unrealistic) 

This photo was shot on the RF 15-35mm 2.8 lens with the following setting

F16

1/320 sec

ISO 500

Here are my editing settings

It looks ok when you're zoomed out, but once you zoom in you see how noisy the photo is. I've added a screenshot of another photo too. Are my expectations are just too high? Or is there something I can do to reduce this without losing detail in the photo.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ebiggs1]

"The laws of physics do not care what brand of camera gear, actually LENS, that you are using.  The camera does not cause the distortion caused by setting a lens for a very narrow apertures. The camera only records it."

This is a statement that most people gloss over and it is mostly true.  The camera is just a storage device for what the lens sees for sure but different cameras do capture and modify how they store what the lens sees. I doubt the "noise" you think you see is caused by diffraction. Diffraction causes a softness or less sharp photo. Although I would refrain from using the very smallest apertures of any lens if conditions exists. All lenses have a sweet spot. And, aperture that is their best.  Usually this is in the middle of it aperture range.

The only way for you to know what, or even if there is a noise issue is to do some tests. Find a similar subject and shoot it at varying apertures and ISO settings. All of them!  All in Raw format. not jpg.  Never jpg!  Preferably from a tripod. I see you have Lightroom so comparison is easy. BTW, I doubt a shadow slider set to 49 is the cause either. But any exposure manipulation has to add something. Less can be more.

"Sony?"

You mentioned you came from Sony. I can tell you and I don't think you can get much argument, Canon has the best lenses made in the world. Not that Sony lenses are bad they are just not in league with Canon's line up. That's why there are adapters to mount Canon lenses on other brand cameras. But, I never saw an adapter to mount a Sony lens on a Canon or Nikon.  The new R series are the best yet.

[roger999webb]

Appreciate I'm responding to an old post, so bear with me as I didn't see a resolution to this issue posed by Kkb83. Exactly the same scenario for me. I 'upgrade' to mirrorless (R6 initially) from my 5D mk IV. I tend to do a lot of cropping so I quickly realized that I needed the extra sensor size of the R5. I was excited by the hype, and to a certain extent I'm very happy. The autofocus, for a bird photographer in particular, is astounding. However, for the most part, my pictures are un-usable because of the ridiculous amount of noise. At iso 6400, which I've heard others say is no problem, I had to delete every picture. The R6 was bad, the R5 even worse. I've reset the camera and tried again as I suspected I had made an error with one of the settings somewhere. But no improvement. I'm so frustrated and I really want to love this camera, but I just can't. I wish I still had my mk IV. I'm shooting with L series lenses too, 15-35, 24-17, 70-1200. 

[Waddizzle]

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@roger999webb wrote:

Appreciate I'm responding to an old post, so bear with me as I didn't see a resolution to this issue posed by Kkb83. Exactly the same scenario for me. I 'upgrade' to mirrorless (R6 initially) from my 5D mk IV. I tend to do a lot of cropping so I quickly realized that I needed the extra sensor size of the R5. I was excited by the hype, and to a certain extent I'm very happy. The autofocus, for a bird photographer in particular, is astounding. However, for the most part, my pictures are un-usable because of the ridiculous amount of noise. At iso 6400, which I've heard others say is no problem, I had to delete every picture. The R6 was bad, the R5 even worse. I've reset the camera and tried again as I suspected I had made an error with one of the settings somewhere. But no improvement. I'm so frustrated and I really want to love this camera, but I just can't. I wish I still had my mk IV. I'm shooting with L series lenses too, 15-35, 24-17, 70-1200. 

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Please start a new thread for your issue, so that your description of your issue will appear at the top of the pages in the thread.  Thanks, ahead of time.