Grains in 7D RAW files

[Harshad Barve]

Dear all
I am getting some noisy files on my 7D camera at ISO 800:(:( but I see some people like Kiran Khanzode , Doug getting much cleaner images even at ISO 3200.

Can some one help me in settings of 7D. As I am travelling to my favourite Tigerland Bandhavgarh , early help is much appreciated

Harshad

[Doug Brown]

Congrats on the new camera! What software are you using to process your files Harshad? And how do you perform noise reduction on your images?

[arash_hazeghi]

Harshad,
Use Canon DPP sw that came with the camera, set sharpening to 1 or 2, chroma noise reduction to 8-10 and luminance noise reduction to zero. This will give you the best results, if you were concerned about noise I am not sue why you traded your FF for 7D, it is not going to be as good as D700 in noise performance in any way if that is what you are used to and expect, but it will have good results at 800 and even 1600, if you don't underexpose, use the right settings and RAW converter as well as apply some NR as needed. I would not use 7D at 3200 ISO for bird photography.

Here is a 100% crop from ISO 1600 with the settings above and no additional NR

[Alfred Forns]

For bird photography or any other would crank the ISO to the level needed for sufficient shutter speed ...niose can be dealt with but not shake !!

I would find it inconvenient to process using Canon DPP I use Noiseware Professional with excellent results, it is important to nail the exposure since any under exposure will lead to noise.

The D700 should perform better than the 7D but one is a full frame the other a crop factor !! Excellent thread and answers !!!

[Doug Brown]

I use Noise Ninja (usually limited to the BG) and it works quite well. Exposing to the right and some NR in PP should give you great results at ISO 800.

[Steve Kaluski]

I would find it inconvenient to process using Canon DPP

Interesting that Al, I swear by it (DPP) after using C1 4 & 4.5 pro for too long. :D Love to see how your software tackles one of my images as I am always eager to learn and improve.

HB if you still have issues after this let me know and I will speak to one of the Tech bods at Canon, who 's a good friend too.;)

Steve

[Paul Granone]

ACR v5.6 produces artifacts. I suspect lightroom does as well.

Use DPP v3.7.2 to process 7D files
DPP 3.72 produces clean files

I set noise reduction to 0 in DPP (no noise reduction)
I output from RAW file to 48bit TIF
Open TIF in Photoshop CS4 64bit
Then use noiseware v6.1 64bit to reduce noise
The output is very clean.

[Jamie Douglas]

I have experienced the same issue. I now use the Noise tool in DPP to do an initial noise reduction to remove the white specs I was seeing when using high ISO 800+ using my Canon 7D. For some reason if I converted my image to JPEG using DPP and then did further work in PS using noiseware professional I would still get visible white specs that could not be removed.

Not sure if this helps but it seems to have cured the issue for me.

[Steve Kaluski]

I would echo Paul's comments, in that DPP does give you cleaner files:)

Jamie why don't you export as a Tiff, giving more info all round, work on that, then convert to JPEG in PS. The results are far better in more ways than one.;)

Steve

[arash_hazeghi]

Harshad,
So this is what you were asking in the email? Sorry I didn't figure you were asking about noise reduction and image settings, sorry I failed to respond adequately, here is what I recommend, there are many ways of processing RAW files but IMO this is the fastest easiest way to get clean-looking files without too much fiddling with different programs and plug-ins, once you master this basic method you can mix and match with other software/plugins and see what you like best, it is a personal choice. This will get you going for now :)

First make sure you shoot in RAW mode (Cr2) and make sure you do not underexpose the photo, your photo should not have very deep shadows or you will be in trouble. Always expose to the right, you can even blow up by slightly less than 1/3 stop and then recover the highlights in post. Note that 7D meter is very different from Nikon that you are used to, if the bird is against plain sky you need to dial in +2EV compensation sometimes even as much as +3EV if the bird has dark feathers, otherwise the camera will expose for the sky and bird will be severely underexposed--> noise and useless image. This is true for all ISOs.

After downloading your files open them in DPP software as shown below:

First adjust EC (brightness adjustment), if the photo has been exposed properly you shouldn't need to apply any positive EC, of course you can dial negative EC to recover any blown highlights.

set picture style to standard.

set the contrast to -1.

set sharpening to 2 or 3 (if noise is very apparent choose 2 if not 3).

[arash_hazeghi]

then go to NR/Lens/ALO tab

Make sure Auto Lightning Optimizer is OFF

Choose 0 for Luminance noise reduction (if enabled, this setting will make the photos look mushy and unpleasant)
Choose 10 for Chrominance noise reduction (this setting will get rid of color blotches in the photo without affecting detail)

Turn Chromatic Aberration Correction ON to get rid of any CA.

Then click tools-->transfer to photoshop or press ALT+P (PC). A 16Bit RGB TIFF file will be automatically transferred to photoshop which is more than enough for 7D files.

[arash_hazeghi]

In PhotoShop crop and re-size your photo to desired dimensions. Then apply standard NR from Filter menu with the following settings.

Choose strength 6 or 7
preserve detail 40%-60% depending on noise/detail levels.
color noise less than 10% since DPP has already taken care of this.
do not use sharpen detail or remove artifacts.

[arash_hazeghi]

Finally apply smart sharpen to sharpen up the photograph, this is much better than USM because it does not sharpen the shadows as much as mid tones and highlights.

Click Advanced, then in shadows tab choose-> Fade amount: 10-15, Tonal width 50% and Radius:1 pixel
in the main tab choose amount 60%-80%, radius 0.5 and remove Gaussian blur. check "more accurate"

Your photo should look good now :)

Here is what the Final image will look like



7D ISO 1600.

[Harshad Barve]

Thanks everyone & my appologies for delayed resposne as I am travelling
Please keep on adding inputs as many folks facing the problem,

[Hal Everett]

This technique works amazingly well. I am now much happier with my 7D than I was a week ago. Thank you for posting it.

Hal