[alowis]

Hey all,

I received a K-x dual lens kit kit for Christmas, and find the camera very easy to use, the main problem i have is that most of my images come out noisy whether they be in low lighting conditions or relatively good lighting conditions, what could be the reason for this?



There is an example of an image taken yesterday at the Christmas Rally Stages at Croft

I am new to SLR photography, this is my first SLR. Any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

[Adam]

I'm not seeing too much noise there- could you post a 100% crop along with the exif info?

[alowis]

here you go:

Shutter speed: 1/125
ISO: 800
Aperture: f/11

what other information would you like?

[enoeske]

Check your ISO setting; the lower, the better. You also want to make sure you get a good exposure initially and not have to brighten it on the computer later. Some programs, like picasa, do this automatically.

[alowis]

ok cheers, will keep an eye on it next time

[eddie1960]

Check your ISO setting; the lower, the better. You also want to make sure you get a good exposure initially and not have to brighten it on the computer later. Some programs, like picasa, do this automatically.

Plus 1 on this

As SLRs are far less automatic than p/s cameras it's easy to have a wrong setting.
as the pics aren't linked to a spot where we could view the exif info it's tough to be more specific. The K-X is a very good low light performer (better at comparable ISO settings than anything else in it's price category) this may well be the best possible for as it was set. Correct exposure is also critical, and some programs like picassa do some pulling of exposure automatically. Some also do a better job at it with more varied ways of adjusting. If these were shot as jpegs rather than raw than the post also causes more noise as you are re-compressing when you save changes causing more artifacts.
If you can provide the exposure info (iso/shutter speed/what mode you used/ and software used) we can likely provide more specific help
Good luck with the new camera once you progress a little I'm sure you'll get some excellent shots

[alowis]

Plus 1 on this

As SLRs are far less automatic than p/s cameras it's easy to have a wrong setting.
as the pics aren't linked to a spot where we could view the exif info it's tough to be more specific. The K-X is a very good low light performer (better at comparable ISO settings than anything else in it's price category) this may well be the best possible for as it was set. Correct exposure is also critical, and some programs like picassa do some pulling of exposure automatically. Some also do a better job at it with more varied ways of adjusting. If these were shot as jpegs rather than raw than the post also causes more noise as you are re-compressing when you save changes causing more artifacts.
If you can provide the exposure info (iso/shutter speed/what mode you used/ and software used) we can likely provide more specific help
Good luck with the new camera once you progress a little I'm sure you'll get some excellent shots

The picture of the evo is now attached in a 100% crop and you can view the exif information. the picture was taken on the Auto mode, as i had just got the camera and was not sure about what to use the other modes on. it was taken in raw and converted to JPEG using photoshop. the picture attached is exactly as photoshop left it. have a look at this Thread
Cheers for the quick reply

[eddie1960]

ok then, iso 800 even on the k5 will have noise, any camera will. the same shot could have been obtained at iso 400 at f8.0 and same shutter speed and had less noise. Grey dreary days are tough though. you cold also eliminate almost all the noise with a little judicious noise removal in post processing (something a p/s camera would have done automatically as a rule) and sacrificed a small amount of sharpness
if it makes you feel any better this is far less noise than my k10d produces at 800, and on a par if not a little better than my k7 (though I've had it less time so I can't be sure)
you could likely get away with f5.6 (likely as fast as the kit would allow) for this type of shot. losing the foreground and background details to the depth of field loss would be more than offset by the better exposure (tougher to capture the proper focus though)
therre are various auto modes on the k-x that will take some of the guesswork out of the equation (for instance in this caasse sports mode would have been a good choice. but you'll learn more about taking good pictures by using the more manually controlled modes (Av or aprture, TV or Shutter Speed, SV or Iso Priority, and Full manual where you set them all. you'll have a number of shots you scrap as part of the learning process however they don't cost anything with digital except your time. Toughest part about learning on films wasn't only the cost it was also getting back the film days later and trying to remember what you actually did (if you didn't write down your settings)
Best advise to really see the effects of various settings i can give is to set up a tripod on a stably lit scene and shoot a number of pictures altering only one main element and adjusting the others to obtain exposure. ie put the camera in aperture priority set your iso at 100 and then shoot all the aprtures on the lens (5.6,8.0,11.0,16,22...) this will let you learn how light affects shutter speed at a constant iso and how aperutre can affect DOF. try the same in reverse using the TV mode (shutter speed keep the iso the same) then SV adjusting isos and keeping say a constant f8 aperture)
this will really give you the knowledge of how your camera works at various settings in a controlled setting so you know what to expect in an uncontrolled setting.
there is a thread here that also has a ton of helpful links for someone learning that for some reason i can't find right now, it was called helpful links for noobs or some such thing
Hope this was of some help
Always you will find high speed and poor light a balancing act.
I shoot a lot of very low light and you'll find a large number of my images are b/w because the colour noise is gone, and i can add a film grain wash to te image to balance the digital noise which is kind of blobby compared to film (b/w somehow looks better with grain anyways IMHO)

[alowis]

Thanks for the quick reply Eddie, i will bare the is mind when i come to use it in the future

Thanks alot!

[eddie1960]

Thanks for the quick reply Eddie, i will bare the is mind when i come to use it in the future

Thanks alot!

any time that's how we all learn

[eddie1960]

i did remember one really useful site (if you can ignore the fact that he talks mostly in canikon terms, though the principles still apply

diglloyd Articles

tons of info for all levels here

[hcc]

When I had first my K-7, I made the mistake to try changing the ISO and I forgot to reset the ISO to automatic. As a result I lost a complete series of shots because the ISO was too high.

I was using the P mode and I forgot to push ISO button + Green button to reset the ISO to automatic.

eddie1960 is correct to check in your viewfinder the ISO before you shoot.

Do not forget to reset the camera to automatic ISO (ISO button + Green button ).


Check also the High-ISO correction settings in your menu. It may not be related to your present problem but you want to know about.

Hope that the comment all help.

[DaveHolmes]

Was it as Misty in Croft as it was in Bradford?

I don't think its that noisy for ISO 800 to be honest... Look at other rally shots taken in similar weather conditions... Then consider the amount of PP that's gone into them...
I think for the first week of ownership... You've done rather well...

[DaveHolmes]

Weird... De Ja Vu...

[Just1MoreDave]

Do not forget to reset the camera.

This is potentially lifesaving advice. Do not forget to reset the camera. After a few years of picking up the camera and taking daylight snapshots at settings meant for moon shots on a tripod, I try to reset the camera to something normal. A good time is when you reinsert the memory card.

Reinsert the memory card. Also good advice.