Internal NR setting for 7D

[Brendan Dozier]

I have been using my 7D with the internal NR setting turned off, and usually have good results doing NR in post processing. Curious about the internal NR and wanted to get some opinions on effectiveness and ideas for when or if you should use it.

[Robert Amoruso]

Brendan,

interesting discussions below. As I recall, you need to use DPP to take best advantage of 7D NR. I have not researched this fully - on my long to do list. So perhaps someone else has some input.

http://blog.photoframd.com/2010/04/2...tion-settings/

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...DHI_ISO_NR.HTM

[William Malacarne]

Brendan

This may not be of much help but I shoot RAW and it has no effect on RAW files. I have not tried it myself but if shooting jpg it can, as I understand it slow down the burst speed of the camera.

Bill

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Brendan, there are guys around here that know alot more about this stuff, but here is my 2 cents;
Are you shooting RAW? In my camera(not a Canon), no NR is done to RAW files, and even if it did it sounds like a terrible idea. This is because NR is 1) best done on backgrounds and not the subject (if you can help it), and something that needs to be done in an image editor and based on selection. Since digital noise effects darker areas of an image to the greatest extent, these areas may need NR more than the rest of the image. The camera applies NR to the entire image equally. 2) NR works by smoothing pixels out, and there is always loss of detail. Sometimes this is acceptable, sometimes not. A considerable amount of judgement is required to determine how much detail loss is acceptable for a specific amount of NR. In any case, letting the camera make these judgement calls sounds like a bad idea as well. 3)camera applied NR to RAW files may not be reversible. Certainly isn't with JPEGs, as far as I know. It is possible that some cameras automatically apply NR to very high ISO RAW images, and you might need to turn this off. 4)digital noise can be luminance or color noise, and there is a big advantage in working on each separately. For example; reduction of color noise has much less of an impact on image detail, and reducing color noise may be all you need. In any case a camera likely works on both at the same time.
5)Applying NR to an image that has already had NR in camera is advised against in the NR programs I use. regards~Bill

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks very much, Robert, Bill, and Bill very helpful.

Holy cow Bill M! Do you have this detailed info pre-written?!! Very helpful.

For some reason I was thinking that internal NR might rob less detail than post NR, but it sounds like NR is NR, and you definitely have way more control over it in post.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Brendan, no, I didn't have it pre-written, it was basically off the top of my head, and consequently there may be errors.... regards~Bill

[Roger Clark]

Bill,

Well said. I agree. I don't see any errors.

Roger

[Ed Cordes]

Another vote for shooting in RAW and not worrying about in camera NR. I do use Noiseware Pro in post processing however.

[Colin Knight]

DPP's NR is good, as some others have mentioned. To most eyes, you won't see a loss of detail with application of DPP's chroma NR. Luminance NR is a different story and always results in a visible loss of detail to my eyes. I try to stay away from Luminance NR. After re-reading Bill's post, I see this coincides with his 4th point.

Another vote here for shooting RAW and not relying on the camera's NR abilities. Expose slightly to the right to help reduce visible noise in those darker areas. Also, as Ed said, if you're serious about NR, Noiseware Pro is the best thing out there that I know of, if you learn to use it to its fullest potential.

I understand this has nothing to do with your original post, but hope it helps.

[Danny J Brown]

If you shoot RAW with any level of noise reduction turned on in your Canon camera, it will affect the way the image looks when you open the RAW file in DPP. You can always just slide the noise reduction sliders back to zero if you don't like what you see and the RAW file will appear as shot w/o any noise reduction. You can use the same sliders to increase noise reduction in the RAW files if you turn all in-camera noise reduction off. Finally, you can use "Tools" in DPP to turn overide any in-camera noise reduction settings that find their way to the RAW file you pull up on DPP.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks guys very much for your feedback.

DPP's NR is good, as some others have mentioned. To most eyes, you won't see a loss of detail with application of DPP's chroma NR.

Just curious, and I should probably experiment myself, but how does ACR's NR compare with DPP's NR?