Canon 50D and low ISO noise

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vectraturbo

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Allan
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Recently took a 50D in and have been using it the past few weeks, to say I am unimpressed is an understatement.

Even at ISO200 I find the images very noisy, anyone else have this issue? Comparing it to say my 60D and 40D (40D rocks!!) the 50D I feel is noisy at all ISO's
 
Nope,

ISO320
BarnOwl.jpg
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ISO500
Lamp1.jpg
[/IMG]



Mine is fine.
 
vectraturbo said:
Recently took a 50D in and have been using it the past few weeks, to say I am unimpressed is an understatement.

Even at ISO200 I find the images very noisy, anyone else have this issue? Comparing it to say my 60D and 40D (40D rocks!!) the 50D I feel is noisy at all ISO's
Click to expand...

I had a 50D and I too was unimpressed with the 'noise' at low ISO numbers. I say noise but I'm not sure that's what it was, I shot RAW at all times and often found the images to be muddy and in need of remedial work. I don't regret selling it.
 
thats the same issue I am having Glenn, I have just turned everything off and just took some rather basic test shots, will resize them to 100% and no pp and post up
 
Cheers Mick, I never shoot in jpeg, always in RAW and thats where the issues I am having are.
 
I was shooting RAW with my 50D when I had it and I was finding noise even at ISO 100 in underexposed/shadow areas of the pictures. I never really got on with the camera tbh and I processed everything with DPP too. Its not so bad if you expose to the right but I prefer my 550D.
 
Cheers Sam, can see it getting sold if this is incurable, I don't get on with the 60D either as I find the buttons 'clicky' plastic tat and the body is not the same as 40/50/7D so will be going for the 7D sooner than I thought.
 
vectraturbo said:
Recently took a 50D in and have been using it the past few weeks, to say I am unimpressed is an understatement.

Even at ISO200 I find the images very noisy, anyone else have this issue? Comparing it to say my 60D and 40D (40D rocks!!) the 50D I feel is noisy at all ISO's
Click to expand...

Its why i got rid of mine - I just didn't like the IQ
 
Ok I know these are not great examples but I find even the ISO200 is noisy, these are 100% crops, raw to JPEG and not touched in PP in anyway.

iso3200 not concerned about but thought I would look anyway
iso3200.jpg


iso200
iso200.jpg


iso100
iso100.jpg
 
Best bet with the 50d and the 7d is to expose to the right, neither camera's like underexposed images. (Maybe one day i'll even practice my own advice!)
 
Simply looking at sensors then the 50D's fifty percent pixel gain is all that it's really got going for it. Its dynamic range is over 2 stops less than the 40D and the Iso value at which uniity gain is achieved is about 30% worse off too......add the two factors together and your "muddy" images are the inevitable result.....you're just a bunch of pixels down which you just may need one day.
I suspect that the above was the main reason that 40D production continued long after the 50D was on the market...they are complimentary rather than competitive.

Bob
 
it's all a bit hmmmmph, sitting comparing the 40D/50D/60D in real time as I have all three and the 40D is walking all over the other two in IQ, so if I go up to 7D I may have the same issue...hello Nikon??? lol
 
in fact I still have a 20D as well (well the ex has it) might throw that into the tests as the 20D was one of my favourite cameras, the 30D I got on well with, the 40D I love to bits, after that, it's going downhill for me....Canon what are you doing!!
 
vectraturbo said:
it's all a bit hmmmmph, sitting comparing the 40D/50D/60D in real time as I have all three and the 40D is walking all over the other two in IQ, so if I go up to 7D I may have the same issue...hello Nikon??? lol
Click to expand...

I would think the 60D would be much better. I have no problems with my 550D and I get along with it much better than the 50D. Essentially the 550D, 600D, 60D and 7D all share the same sensor. This is something that has been commented about on the-digital-picture.com All four of those cameras share the same image quality, the 7D wont be any better sensor wise.
 
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It's very disappointing that reviewers come to different conclusions about DR. I'd have hoped that it was quite an easy thing to measure and that different testers should come up with broadly similar if not identical results. Poor show. I wonder who's right?
 
woof woof said:
That may well be true but it's not too obvious when looking at DxOMark. They seem to think that the 50D actually has a higher DR...

http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Ca...272|0/(onglet)/0/(brand)/Canon/(brand2)/Canon

Confusion... :thinking:
Click to expand...

I'll confess that I always use Clarkvision's analysis for this type of information and it's very different from DxO's (in this case) albeit in a more "techie" fashion.
http://www.clarkvision.com/imagedetail/digital.sensor.performance.summary/

Bob
 
vectraturbo said:
it's all a bit hmmmmph, sitting comparing the 40D/50D/60D in real time as I have all three and the 40D is walking all over the other two in IQ, so if I go up to 7D I may have the same issue...hello Nikon??? lol
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I feel the same. I'm a bit of a gear head but image quality matters too and I've seen nothing from Canon that's convinced me to ditch my 20D despite being itching to spend on shiny new toys.

Personally I feel that Canon has been going nowhere I want to go in recent years.
 
Are you comparing 100% crops?

I'm not sure about this but wouldn't you expect less dense sensors to produce cleaner images because what you're effectively doing is comparing a bigger print (5148 units across for a 60D) to a smaller print (3888 units across for a 40D) of the same image?
 
woof woof said:
Personally I feel that Canon has been going nowhere I want to go in recent years.
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I think the drawback is that the marketing gurus wanted pixels, pixels, pixels for the consumer bodies. When the 1srs bodies are assessed then it's been very different and they're not close to their consumer peers in pixel density and the results are there to see. The 1D3 has arguably the best sensor Canon have produced and the 1D4 isn't too far behind when the increased density is taken into account.

We'll all continue to be wooed by 6Mp phones although nobody's bothered to ask if the lens can provide enough resolution to make it just a silly numbers game.

Bob
 
The usual upgrade these days seems to be more mp's and ever bigger screens.

The 1D3 may well be a great camera and I am single and therefore allowed to spend lots on boys toys but I like my cameras to be smaller and more discrete rather than big gripped thingies and Canon's 1 series are just too big for me to feel comfortable using.
 
woof woof said:
..... but I like my cameras to be smaller and more discrete rather than big gripped thingies and Canon's 1 series are just too big for me to feel comfortable using.
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That makes you a marketing man's nightmare.
 
i'll do some more testing re 40/50/60D and see what I come up with, but for me still the 40D is my preferred tool. I shoot alot of weddings and yes I have gone FF in the past and just preferred the crop sensor bodies. took both the 40D and 50D on a shoot two weekends ago and the one I pulled out the bag was the 40D more frequently as I knew it would do what I wanted it to do. I did actually take some portraits with the same lens, same settings on the 40 and 50D, the 40D walked all over the 50D and then did a massive wee on it's sensor lol
 
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I would do a little reading regards 7D noise before you jump!
I've noticed much more noise in general over my old 400D.....
I think the key as someone else said is to nail exposure, or dont pixel peep. Ive come to live with the noise!
 
Hi James

400D to 7D is some jump, nailing the exposure is fine, but to be allowed a little either way would be better. Sometimes I underexpose or slightly overexpose images as I know what I am going to be doing with the image in PP and so it calls for it.

Will see if I can get a shot of a 7D anyway prior to purchase
 
Hi,

read my thread from way back HERE, it might help.

Also make sure you have changed these settings :

In av or tv mode ie: not one of the preset modes go to: MENU/then scroll along to copper coloured CAMERA setting that lists the custom functions select C.Fn II : IMAGE, scroll along to No. 3 and set HIGHLIGHT TONE PRIORITY to DISABLE, then go to No. 4 and then set AUTO LIGHTING OPTIMIZER to DISABLE.

Both of these will help.

Mike.
 
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vectraturbo said:
Ok I know these are not great examples but I find even the ISO200 is noisy, these are 100% crops, raw to JPEG and not touched in PP in anyway.

iso3200 not concerned about but thought I would look anyway
iso3200.jpg


iso200
iso200.jpg


iso100
iso100.jpg
Click to expand...

TBH, although I can see a difference between the ISO 100 noise and ISO 200 noise (in the diagonal line), this is a 100 per cent crop and will be indistinguishable to the eye on a print..... I think you're worrying about something that you needn't worry about....
 
mikeyb said:
Hi,

read my thread from way back HERE, it might help.

Also make sure you have changed these settings :

In av or tv mode ie: not one of the preset modes go to: MENU/then scroll along to copper coloured CAMERA setting that lists the custom functions select C.Fn II : IMAGE, scroll along to No. 3 and set HIGHLIGHT TONE PRIORITY to DISABLE, then go to No. 4 and then set AUTO LIGHTING OPTIMIZER to DISABLE.

Both of these will help.

Mike.
Click to expand...

This! It's been well documented on various forums that you need to change these settings from the noddy mode the camera comes in. I have no issues with my 50D and noise, prefer it greatly to my 40D and 400D.


There's a really useful thread here: http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=138851&highlight=50d+owners

Also, if you're seriously thinking about the 7D, then read the similar thread. There's a lot of settings to get the focussing/AF system working brilliantly.
 
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Hi Mike

I have ALO and HTP turned off anyway, but in standard mode instead of neutral, why I don;t know as the rest of my bodies are in neutral.

But your thread is an interesting read
 
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