Digital Noise.Lots of Qs!

[Blitzkrieg]

Hello to everyone reading!

I recently got myself a Sony α550 DSLR camera replacing my trusty old α100.
The amazing thing with the new α is the ability to shoot at extremely higher ISO
without making the photos unusable garbage in the end (well,except 12800)!

Still,I have lots and lots of questions about noise which is really evident in most
photos taken with cameras using a APS-C sensor and at around this price range.

First of all,apart from using as low an ISO setting as I can on every ocassion
and of course assuming that the lens we use is of decent quality,
what else do we amateur photographers need to be careful about?

How do we need to use the EV settings or other controls with the intention
of minimizing noise in the end result? I know that underexposed photos
suffer from noise for example.

Also what about f stop and noise? Sharpness for my lenses need at least
f7.1/f8 or higher.I know its not much at all but it ok for sunlight days and
outdoors photography.That means that noise is better controlled with the
same f stop as well?

I m somehow confused I know but in the end I d like to learn how to avoid
digital noise as much as I can with the in camera settings for starters and
then improve my post processing skills too.

Last question is about post processing images using Photoshop for example.
Most of the times I adjust some basic things in Photoshop RAW,
open the image in PS,use the Noiseware plugin to remove noise,then apply
some Smart Sharpen filter and in the end just crop according to what I look for.
Is this a flawed basic PostProcessing routine? What do you think?

Thanks a lot for every reply and looking forward to talk with everyone here!
The site and tutorials and photographs are amazing!

N.

[OsmosisStudios]

On most lenses, you can use them wide-open without sacrificing that much image quality. That's an easy 2 stops right there in most cases (f/8-f/5.6-f/4).

The general rule is to overexpose a bit (1/3 to 2/3 of a stop): Noise only shows up badly in darker shadow areas of an image, so by overexposing a bit (but NOT blowing out) you'll get less visible noise.

You can also try using other lighting sources: flash for instance.

Finally, there are software packages (Noise Ninja springs, unbidden, to mind) that can help with reducing noise that is there.

[Blitzkrieg]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

The general rule is to overexpose a bit (1/3 to 2/3 of a stop): Noise only shows up badly in darker shadow areas of an image, so by overexposing a bit (but NOT blowing out) you'll get less visible noise.

Ok,thanks.So I should use +1EV for example to overexpose a little,right?
Depends on the circumstances though,I know.
Also I m using Noiseware plugin for PS which is really impressive sometimes.

Another clarification: Denoise is best done before or after sharpening?
N.

[OsmosisStudios]

Always do sharpening LAST. So removing noise comes first.

I wouldnt necessarily go +1. +0.3 to +0.7 is usually more than enough.