[opiedog]

what are the best in-camera settings to get the least jpg noise at high iso (3200) from the k7?

i know getting the right exposure perhaps is the #1 requirement, but what about other settings like sharpness, fine sharpness(2), contrast?

do you set sharpness to 0, contrast to 0 ?

when shooting raw, do you ETTR and pull back during post processing?

i'd appreciate insights from the pentax faithful.

TIA

jordan

[GoremanX]

For me, I've found that setting "High ISO Noise Reduction" to 2 gives me the best balance of detail retention and noise reduction. It seems to remove mostly chroma noise, whereas the higher settings also remove luminance noise and tend to blur the image.

Since I shoot RAW+ and rarely ever end up using the JPG, I'm not sure about the rest. But typically, increasing the Sharpness setting tends to emphasize noise a lot, which is detrimental in high-ISO situations. I also usually try and shoot "bright" (very close to clipping highlights, but not quite) and then adjusting the exposure when I develop the RAW file. Doing it the other way (under-exposing and then adjusting the other way in PP) typically brings out more noise in the shadows.

[opiedog]

frank,


thanks for your input. i'm just beginning to shoot raw and like starting in school, it's a learning experience.

what raw converter do you use?


regards,

jordan

[GoremanX]

thanks for your input. i'm just beginning to shoot raw and like starting in school, it's a learning experience.

what raw converter do you use?

I use UFraw. Talk about a learning experience, UFraw took me a while to learn efficiently.

[Christopher M.W.T]

Does the NR setting affect JPG's or RAWS as well?

[GoremanX]

Does the NR setting affect JPG's or RAWS as well?

That's debatable. Most people (including myself) maintain that noise reduction is applied to RAW files as well, though in a different and more subtle way. But it always applies to JPG files.

[Marc Sabatella]

The camera's NR settings only affect JPEG, but it is true that there is NR that is applied to high ISO RAW files *regardless* of the camera's NR setting.

[opiedog]

according to GordonBGood (dpreview forum), NR in raw kicks in at ISO3200.

btw, when you set item #20 High-Iso NR Start Level, say to 1=ISO800,
does this mean NR starts at ISO800 or > ISO800?

the description states :
"Noise Reduction is activated when ISO sensitivity is set to higher than 800"

however, i hear some folks say that setting 1 means it starts at ISO800.
which is which?

[Marc Sabatella]

I don't know, but if I wanted to find out, it seems it would be quite simple to test that for oneself - take pictures at ISO 800 with the threshold set to 400, 800, and 1600, then pixel peep and decide if the one taken with the threshold at 800 looks more like one with the threshold of 400 or 1600.

[RBellavance]

I don't know, but if I wanted to find out, it seems it would be quite simple to test that for oneself - take pictures at ISO 800 with the threshold set to 400, 800, and 1600, then pixel peep and decide if the one taken with the threshold at 800 looks more like one with the threshold of 400 or 1600.

No need to pixel-peep and guess, the EXIF contains the answer. I just took a series of pictures from ISO640 to 1600 in 1/3EV steps, with "NR Start Level" set to "1. ISO800".

ISO : 640
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 0 56)

ISO : 800
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 0 56)

ISO : 1000
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

ISO : 1250
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

ISO : 1600
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

Note the middle number going from 0 to 1 at ISO1000, not 800. From that, I conclude that the text accompanying the "High ISO NR Start Level" option is correct, i.e. NR kicks in at an ISO *greater than* the one in the chosen option.

[GoremanX]

From that, I conclude that the text accompanying the "High ISO NR Start Level" option is correct, i.e. NR kicks in at an ISO *greater than* the one in the chosen option.

My own tests confirm this, both from the EXIF point of view and from pixel peeping. I was wondering the same thing a few weeks ago.

[yeatzee]

I use UFraw. Talk about a learning experience, UFraw took me a while to learn efficiently.

Oh gosh, UFraw was terrible Now I want all the control in the same layout for regular use with gimp

[GoremanX]

Oh gosh, UFraw was terrible Now I want all the control in the same layout for regular use with gimp

It was tough to learn, but I now get better results with UFraw than any other RAW converter. It also allows me to do pseudo-non-destructive-editing with versioning, with the proper workflow. The upcoming version adds lens correction features (with a lens database), and there was talk of adding sharpening features to the version after that.

[RBellavance]

It also allows me to do pseudo-non-destructive-editing with versioning, with the proper workflow.

Hmmm, care to elaborate on that, please ? What do you use for versioning ?

[opiedog]

No need to pixel-peep and guess, the EXIF contains the answer. I just took a series of pictures from ISO640 to 1600 in 1/3EV steps, with "NR Start Level" set to "1. ISO800".

ISO : 640
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 0 56)

ISO : 800
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 0 56)

ISO : 1000
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

ISO : 1250
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

ISO : 1600
High ISO Noise Reduction : Unknown (2 1 56)

Note the middle number going from 0 to 1 at ISO1000, not 800. From that, I conclude that the text accompanying the "High ISO NR Start Level" option is correct, i.e. NR kicks in at an ISO *greater than* the one in the chosen option.

thanks!

wow.

a lot of folks in this and other forum "thinks" that #1 starts at 800, but in reality it's starting at > 800, at least that's what they say in the discussions.

so we can never turn on NR at ISO200, not that we need to .

jordan