Noise - Dont understand why (canon T1i)

[dhensley]

Hi Everyone,

I am fairly new to the boards here. I have a issue regarding noise from my camera (I have a Canon T1i with a 28-135 IS USM lens. I actually have two problems noted below.

1. High noise at ISO other than 100 and 200
2. CRAZY noise sometimes on my ISO 100 shots

Starting with the first item please let me explain. I know that any digital camera is going to experience noise at higher ISO settings and I know not to underexpose these shots as the shadows will be noisier. However, I still feel that my camera is a bit on the noisy side. I have seen other high ISO shots from other T1i and they dont seem as bad to me. I am including a couple shots from my camera (all were taken within minutes of each other on a tripod and remote trigger) hoping that you may be able to give me feedback on whether the noise is normal or not (I suppose I would be able to accept it is just me being picky if that is the general consensus)

This image is 100% crop of ISO 100 shot:



This image is a 100% crop of the same shot at ISO 1600. I would expect some noise in shadows, but not on the white cup:



here are links to larger copies of both images:

ISO 100
Flickr Photo Download: noise 025

ISO 1600 (this is not the original size - noise is worse in larger pic)
Flickr Photo Download: noise 027


My second issue is the real weird one. I have been getting this a bit lately when shooting with a flash that does not recycle in time. When I am shooting at ISO 100 with my attached speedlight 430 II the flash will sometimes not fire. This is usually because the flash has not recharged yet. However on these shots my photo is VERY grainy and even has bands of noise throughout the photo. Now what I would expect is just a near black photo (as I have seen on other cameras). However, what I end up is something that looks like it was shot at ISO 99,000. Can anyone explain this to me and help me find out what is going on? I am guessing it is prob an error on my part, but I would really like to figure it out - this issue makes me stress more about the first item. Below is a pic showing what I mean. Again this item was shot at ISO 100



What the heck is going on here???

Thanks for any help.

-David

[OsmosisStudios]

In the first example, that's a pretty common 100iso noise pattern. Its low. Youre underexposed so it shows up even more. If you look at everything at 100%, you'll never like anything.

In the second example, though, I dont know. Are you artificially bumping exposure here?

[Nerwin]

I can tell you right now, that does not look good. I don't shoot canon but make sure you double check all of your settings, maybe you did something or maybe the camera is malfunction, my point and shoot gets less noise than that, I can shoot with my Nikon D60 at hand held at high ISO and don't get nearly as much noise as that.

Personally I think something isn't right, but then again I don't shoot canon, I would try reseting the camera to default settings if I were you.

I hope I helped a little...

[dhensley]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I just want to reiterate the the final image (the very bad one) only happens when I am shooting with a flash but the flash does not fire. I am certain the camera is at ISO 100 in these situations (also, it does not seem to happen all the time...maybe 50% of the misfires). If this was a normal shot and I got it all the time I would have sent the camera back lonnnnggggg ago.

Thanks again.

David

[Nerwin]

My old camera I got before I got a DSLR I had to send back twice for the flash not firing. it turned out to be the flash circuit (twice, go figure) and the cpu. Kind of odd.

[dhensley]

Originally Posted by Nerwin

My old camera I got before I got a DSLR I had to send back twice for the flash not firing. it turned out to be the flash circuit (twice, go figure) and the cpu. Kind of odd.

I would be OK if that were the problem (and I would send it in) but unfortunatelyI know that the speedlight is just not ready in my scenario. I have verified multiple times that it only does not fire when the ready light is not on. I have taken thousands of test shots and run through batteries quickly. Once the batteries are about 1/3 drained the speedlight does not recharge fast enough to keep up with my shooting and this happens.

Thanks,

David

[i speak in math]

Is that second shot with the fan SOOC? What do you use to view your images? What program do you use to process images? Its looks like an extremely underexposed image that has been pushed until you can see details; something Picasa might do to a black raw image automatically.

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Is that second shot with the fan SOOC? What do you use to view your images? What program do you use to process images? Its looks like an extremely underexposed image that has been pushed until you can see details; something Picasa might do to a black raw image automatically.

Agree. This looks like an underexposed photo that a post-processing program has pushed to look properly exposed. I had a lot of these photos in the begining, and was one reason I switched from Picasa to LR (Picasa does this crap automatically, while LR will show you what you really took).

[lputman]

The EXIF for the last photo is:

Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/11.3
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 288

I don't know that I would expect something different with the last photo with a shutter speed of 1/20. Why are you having so many mis-fires with the flash? Are you taking the pictures too fast without waiting for it to recycle?

I agree with OsmosisStudios regarding the first image and not to look at everything at 100%, especially when it is underexposed.

[dhensley]

I think that may actually be the issue.

I have been using Picasat, shooting in RAW only and I do not recall that I have seen this in Lightroom. My trial license of LightRoom has expired and I am waiting on my LightRoom3 box to arrive (was hoping it would be here today). I will check the photos in LightRoom when I get it reinstalled. I assume with two people pointing out the issue with Picasa and RAW that this has to be it...thank you for hopefully solving the mystery (I didnt think it was a hardware problem )

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Is that second shot with the fan SOOC? What do you use to view your images? What program do you use to process images? Its looks like an extremely underexposed image that has been pushed until you can see details; something Picasa might do to a black raw image automatically.