Noisy K20D

*woof* · 08-14-2009, 07:03 AM

I tried some long exposures last night at sunset.

I shot at ISO 200. I got an awful lot of noise in the shadows. Too much to make the shots usable really. The noise is kind of gray or white in color an quite dense.

I take it this is a somewhat common thing. Is there some way I can reduce this noise?

I'll post some examples shortly.

Thanks in advance.

Seaain

*Ash* · 08-14-2009, 08:43 AM

Seaain, I've heard a few similar complaints but haven't experienced the same thing (as long as exposure was nailed in camera and there was no need to push exposure in PP).

To me, this is the *only* way to effectively reduce noise - get the right exposure in camera. All else is an inadequate mask or a detriment to image detail.
Look forward to seeing your photos of this 'problem'.

**Marc Sabatella** · 08-14-2009, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by woof

I shot at ISO 200. I got an awful lot of noise in the shadows. Too much to make the shots usable really. The noise is kind of gray or white in color an quite dense.

I take it this is a somewhat common thing. Is there some way I can reduce this noise?

- don't underexpose
- shoot RAW, do NR in PP

Long exposures are tough, though - sensors overheat.

Examples will help, of course.

Rondec · 08-14-2009, 07:21 PM

I have to say that that is the biggest advantage that the K10 has over the K20. I love the K20 in general, but for long exposures, the K10 at iso 100 has very little noise. I agree with Marc, better to expose a little to the right and bring it back, than to have to bring up your exposure.

*GLXLR* · 08-14-2009, 07:55 PM

Turn on your NR to the weakest setting. That dramatically improves the speckles IMO and the detail is still there since it's only the weakest setting (although any higher some detail will be smeared...)

Bodger · 08-21-2009, 07:16 AM

I have found that my K20D is very noisey, It has been a great dissapointment in this respect, I have a friend with a *ist DS, and when his photos are blown up around 15 to 20 times it is almost impossible to see any noise, they are absolutly sharp and clear, right into the shadows, however I suppose the problem is no worse than most Canon DSLR cameras, and probably caused by the same thing, namely the use of a Cmos sensor, (The*isd DS uses a CCD sensor), Cmos sensors are somewhat prone to this type of problem, which may be why you get such noisey pictures from security cameras
My next consern is to pick up a decent *istDS body, to take the photos I want to print, and keep the K20D for remote wildlife photos, as the "Live View" is quite handy for this