I'm seeing something a bit disturbing and I don't know if I've got some settings messed up on my 7D. My grand-daughter has a T2i and we shot together at a horse show in a very dim arena last night. We weren't really trying for awesome award winning shots so we cranked the ISO up to 6400. We were both shooting in AV, wide open with noise reduction on strong. Her T2I had very little noise while my 7D had tons. I was expecting a lot of noise from both cameras but thought my 7D would handle the noise better.
So, my question.....is this just typical or is something amiss?
Not positive but I believe these two cameras have the same sensor and processor so I wouldn't expect them to be that different. Even though they were both at the same "strong" setting maybe the noise reduction on the T2i is better/stronger. You might take a look at some RAW files from each and see if you still see the difference.
wesdot wrote:
...My grand-daughter has a T2i and we shot together at a horse show in a very dim arena last night. ...We were both shooting in AV, wide open with noise reduction on strong. Her T2I had very little noise while my 7D had tons.
There are still many variables missing. What lenses were you each using? Were you both shooting from the same position at the same subjects? Were you both saving in the same format? Etc.
As mentioned above, sample images would also help move the discussion along.
Just took a peak at the post before starting work so have no examples to post. We were sitting side by side and were shooting before the event to compare settings. I also looked at my friend's Nikon D700 (I think that is the model) who was also shooting in RAW as I do and she had nearly no noise with similar settings. Forgot to mention the T2i was shooting in JPEG. I'll see if I can post examples from home tonight.
wesdot wrote:
Just took a peak at the post before starting work so have no examples to post. We were sitting side by side and were shooting before the event to compare settings. I also looked at my friend's Nikon D700 (I think that is the model) who was also shooting in RAW as I do and she had nearly no noise with similar settings. Forgot to mention the T2i was shooting in JPEG. I'll see if I can post examples from home tonight.
Wait, were you shooting RAW with the 7D? If so, there's your answer. JPEG noise reduction is rather high and will smear detail but have lower noise. Your RAW files would have no noise reduction applied at all, regardless of the noise reduction setting in camera...you have to apply that in either RAW conversion (with something like Lightroom) or after conversion with a noise reduction program.
wesdot wrote:
Just took a peak at the post before starting work so have no examples to post. We were sitting side by side and were shooting before the event to compare settings. I also looked at my friend's Nikon D700 (I think that is the model) who was also shooting in RAW as I do and she had nearly no noise with similar settings. Forgot to mention the T2i was shooting in JPEG. I'll see if I can post examples from home tonight.
In which case you've just compared an Apple with an Orange AND a Banana .
the T2i Jpegs will have alot more NR on them than the 7D RAW file (and probably the 7D Jpeg)
and the D700 is a 12mp FF sensor that excells at High ISO .
I bet when you run your RAW files thru a good prog with good NR they will be better than the T2i files.
BrianO wrote:
...Were you both saving in the same format?
wesdot wrote:
...I also looked at my friend's Nikon D700 (I think that is the model) who was also shooting in RAW as I do and she had nearly no noise with similar settings. Forgot to mention the T2i was shooting in JPEG.
As others have said, that's the answer to your question; saving the files in different modes makes all the differance.
Saving in raw format is a good idea, in my opinion, if you don't need to immediately send your shots off to the news desk or something like that, because it allows you to process the images exactly the way you want to with all the original data untouched by the camera's processor (more-or-less).
When saving the files as JPEGs, a lot of work is done on the files before writing it to the card: noise reduction, color "correction," data compression, etc., and you have little control over the process. The images may look better straight out of the camera, but well processed raw images will almost always look better in the long run.
As for the D700, that full-frame / large-sensel camera is renowned for its light-gathering ability. I know a wedding photographer who paid extra for two sets of lenses just so he could run a 5D Mark II for formals, and a D700 during the ceremony and the reception. (He started with Canon, and added the D700 after a while. If he were just starting out, I'd have suggested a D700/D800 combo, but that's fodder for another thread.)
BINGO....all it takes is a few comments here for the light bulb to come on!! Raw on the 7D versus Jpeg on the T2i. So danged obvious at least after the light comes on.
Perhaps the Rebel has stronger noise reduction for jpegs.
