Canon M50 Poor Low Light

Messages
90
Edit My Images
Yes
Out an about, this camera has taken some fantastic photos in the daylight. However family events inside, the ISO on the camera needs to be set quite high to make anything usable.
The issue I have is that snapping a photo on my Google Pixel phone, yields much much better quality photos (even in RAW) for printing and use at 6x4.

Coming from a 70D, with a fixed f4 lens there has to be a compromise, but I can't help but think there is too much noise on the indoor photos it produces.

I'm only using the kit lens at the moment which isn't going to help, and I do have a flash gun, but its twice the size of the camera and throws it off balance making it a nightmare to use.

As an example, this is the type of noise I get inside at about 30% of the actual size. This was taken at 3pm, light coming direct from the window behind
y3ixPRj.png



Has anyone got some suggestions on what my first step to getting better indoor photos with this camera could be? Faster lens? A more compact flash gun?

I love its form factor, but not the low light quality.
 
Last edited:
Just out of a matter of interest, what is the ISO of this photo?
 
I imagine the phone is doing some high level noise reduction for a start, which kind of smudges images - if you're happy with that then it's fine like you say for small prints. But the camera, even with noisier images, should be sharper with better details. You can perform some noise reduction in post processing to match what your phone is doing to the images but the result will be similar, soft, smudgey and not very sharp.

For indoors in dimmer lighting you're best bet is a fast prime, for the M system there's the 22mm F2, or use an EF to M adapter and get the cheap and cheerful Canon 50mm 1.8 STM. Using this you can drop the ISOjust over 2 stops, the difference between ISO 3200 and 800, pretty significant.
 
Just out of a matter of interest, what is the ISO of this photo?

2500 ISO at f/6.0 and 15mm, which brings me onto the below.

I imagine the phone is doing some high level noise reduction for a start, which kind of smudges images - if you're happy with that then it's fine like you say for small prints. But the camera, even with noisier images, should be sharper with better details. You can perform some noise reduction in post processing to match what your phone is doing to the images but the result will be similar, soft, smudgey and not very sharp.

For indoors in dimmer lighting you're best bet is a fast prime, for the M system there's the 22mm F2, or use an EF to M adapter and get the cheap and cheerful Canon 50mm 1.8 STM. Using this you can drop the ISOjust over 2 stops, the difference between ISO 3200 and 800, pretty significant.

I've got a 50mm 1.8 STM, however the issue I find with this is that 50mm is just too much for indoor use. The above photo was taken at 15mm, and granted you can't see the full picture, 50mm would have been too much.

Ideally I could do with a fast, wider lens. The EFM 22mm doesn't seem too badly priced. Perhaps i'll give this a go as my first stop.
 
But what was your S/S? Is it a case you could have lowered it, meaning lower ISO? I don't have it anymore, but the 22mm for the money was fantastic.
 
Could have lowered ISO by using F4.0 and slower shutter speed. Or even using a tripod or flash if preferred.
 
Open the aperture up more, and drop the shutter speed - in your average sitting room with window light I often get away with ISO 400, 800 when needed - 2500 seems a bit high for daylight even indoors
 
But what was your S/S? Is it a case you could have lowered it, meaning lower ISO? I don't have it anymore, but the 22mm for the money was fantastic.
Open the aperture up more, and drop the shutter speed - in your average sitting room with window light I often get away with ISO 400, 800 when needed - 2500 seems a bit high for daylight even indoors

Shutter speed was 1/60. I tend to run it in AV mode, although this photo had a couple of dogs in it which makes life a little trickier.

I have found that even with people, there is always some blur when reducing the shutter speed, but that might be from hand shake come to think of it
 
I'm only using the kit lens at the moment which isn't going to help, and I do have a flash gun, but its twice the size of the camera and throws it off balance making it a nightmare to use.

So the problem isn't the camera - it's the lens, the M kit lenses have woeful apertures, buy the 22mm.

For the flash, either get a Godox TT350 or a remote trigger which will both balance better and give you more lighting options (controlling the light rather than adding more crap light)

All that said, it took ages for me to get the M5 setup half decent for low light, and I still find it frustrating compared to the DSLR's edit to add, not the noise, but the focussing and speed of use.
 
Last edited:
So the problem isn't the camera - it's the lens, the M kit lenses have woeful apertures, buy the 22mm.

For the flash, either get a Godox TT350 or a remote trigger which will both balance better and give you more lighting options (controlling the light rather than adding more crap light)

All that said, it took ages for me to get the M5 setup half decent for low light, and I still find it frustrating compared to the DSLR's

Just ordered the EFM 22mm. I've got a gorillapod which is useful for certain situations, but could do with a tripod that has a head to fit the Peak Design MICROplate ideally. Any suggestions for those?

Will take a look at the flash. I've got a Yongnuo YN-560 at the moment, hence it being a tad big :D
 
Just ordered the EFM 22mm. I've got a gorillapod which is useful for certain situations, but could do with a tripod that has a head to fit the Peak Design MICROplate ideally. Any suggestions for those?

Will take a look at the flash. I've got a Yongnuo YN-560 at the moment, hence it being a tad big :D
If you want to keep the YN 560 you can get a small transmitter to fit on the camera, it'll revolutionise your indoor photography.
 
I'm still using a YN-560, used it for Nikon, Panasonic and now Fuji - I bought a cheap trigger/receiver set on amazon for about a tenner years ago and still use those too. I did have the TT350 Godox for the Panasonic but found it a bit weak for macro [where I'm shooting at F11-16 a lot] when I added my diffusers, also battery life was very poor - sold it on and continued using the ol' reliable Yongnuo. You can get higher power Godox flash units pretty cheap too though, but you'd want to get the Godox transmitter, X1T I believe it's called? But yup, off cam flash will add another dimension to you photography
 
Last edited:
If you want to keep the YN 560 you can get a small transmitter to fit on the camera, it'll revolutionise your indoor photography.

Ah that not a bad idea. Are they not about £80 for the transmitter though?
 
It's the Yongnuo YN-568EX II Master Flash TTL HSS.

So not the 560 at all then ;)

The YN568II will require a YN622 transmitter and receiver which will cost approx. £62 for the pair
 
So not the 560 at all then ;)

The YN568II will require a YN622 transmitter and receiver which will cost approx. £62 for the pair

I totally didnt even notice that. I've just checked my Amazon order. The item ordered says YN568II but clicking on it says YN560III. It's definitely the 568II i have.
Wondering if im better off getting the ST-E2 as i'v read it works with the 568II without a receiver
 
Last edited:
I totally didnt even notice that. I've just checked my Amazon order. The item ordered says YN568II but clicking on it says YN560III. It's definitely the 568II i have.
Wondering if im better off getting the ST-E2 as i'v read it works with the 568II without a receiver
No!
It’s an optical device that needs line of sight, it’ll work fine in your living room at night but useless outside that.
 
Back
Top