Understanding Noise

[cjcampbellphoto]

Hi Canon Community,

I'm an amateur photographer looking to improve my skills and I'm struggling in low light situations.  I recently took some photos of my friends using a Canon 7D (the oldest model) and an EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM with the settings of:
ISO250 at 100mm f/4.5 and 1/125 sec.  The picture shows up with a TON of grain and I'm confused. The ISO isn't that high at all.  I bumped up the exposure by +2 in Lightroom just to show how much grain is in the photo:

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Best,

CJ

[cjcampbellphoto]

I'm an amateur photographer looking to improve my skills and I'm struggling in low light situations.  I recently took some photos of my friends using a Canon 7D (the oldest model) and an EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM with the settings of:
ISO250 at 100mm f/4.5 and 1/125 sec.  The picture shows up with a TON of grain and I'm confused. The ISO isn't that high at all.  I bumped up the exposure by +2 in Lightroom just to show how much grain is in the photo:

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Best,

CJ

[jrhoffman75]

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@cjcampbellphoto wrote:

Forgive me, as being a new photographer, a lot of this is a bit over my head!

I was shooting in manual mode. What is program shift?

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Since you were in manual mode, how did you decide on the three settings? Did you pick two and adjust the third till the exposure meter in the viewfinder was at zero?

In P Program mode the camera will select a combination of ISO, shutter speed and aperture based on programmed criteria built into the camera. Sometimes a photographer might want to shift one of the parameters in a certain direction for effect - maybe shift aperture smaller for more depth of field and accept a slower shutter speed. Program shift will let you do that.

[Waddizzle]

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@cjcampbellphoto wrote:

Forgive me, as being a new photographer, a lot of this is a bit over my head!

I was shooting in manual mode. What is program shift?

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You can continue shooting in Manual mode.  Setting ISO to Auto will almost always give you a correct exposure under most shooting conditions.

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Camera-Discussion/Canon-YouTube-Video-Series/m-p/269237#M... 

Take a look at the videos linked in this thread.  You will definitely want to look at the first link, the EOS 101 Videos.

[jrhoffman75]

“ You can continue shooting in Manual mode. Setting ISO to Auto will almost always give you a correct exposure under most shooting conditions.”

While this is true, folks generally shoot in manual mode because they have a specific goal in mind; either a certain shutter speed or a certain aperture setting. For someone who is new to photography, and thus just learning, my recommendation would be to start out in Program AE. Much higher success rate and thus much lower frustration.

[Waddizzle]

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@jrhoffman75 wrote:
“ You can continue shooting in Manual mode. Setting ISO to Auto will almost always give you a correct exposure under most shooting conditions.”

While this is true, folks generally shoot in manual mode because they have a specific goal in mind; either a certain shutter speed or a certain aperture setting. For someone who is new to photography, and thus just learning, my recommendation would be to start out in Program AE. Much higher success rate and thus much lower frustration.

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Yes, Program AE is the best way to learn about photography and the camera body.  But if someone is already using Manual, or trying to use Manual, then I assumed they are not an absolute beginner.  But, I posted the links to videos, just in case.

[ebiggs1]

"...folks generally shoot in manual mode because they have a specific goal in mind;..."

That is correct, it is the reason for  M mode. Otherwise one of the auto or semi auto modes is best.  Your shot no matter what others may say it is a simple P mode photo.

Since you are complaining about noise, auto ISO is also a bad idea. It will set the ISO for a correct exposure without taking noise as a factor. Sure you can limit the range of auto ISO but then you also limit how useful it is at setting exposure.

The shot isn't that bad easily helped with a little post editing and especially considering you used the wrong lens for it and suspect settings.