FULL RAW FILE FROM CANON T4i*
F1.4
1/90th of a sec
Noise Reduction Off
RAW Mode
Hand Held
SMALL WEB VERSION OF SAME FILE (8.6 MB) You should save link as…
WEB SIZED VERSION
My worflow. Imported from Canon T4i into Lightroom 4.1 with a preset that sets everything to ZERO. Zero contrast, Zero Exposure, zero sharpening etc. No Noise Reduction (NR) within camera since this stuff only works on JPGS not on RAW and this was shot at full-size RAW.
Then very minor NOISE REDUCTION in NIK DFINE. Default settings.
Colors boosted a bit and green cast removed with NIK Pro-Contrast Preset in Color Efex.
The full file was then exported in Lightroom with no sharpening at 90%. And that’s what was uploaded. It should give you some idea of what you will be working with at 12,800.
* * *
UPDATE
If you set the control dial to NIGHT HAND-HELD, and your ISO is at 12,800, YOU WILL GET A NOISELESS IMAGE. The camera takes four shots in sequence, and then uses a program to reduce the noise to just about zero.
There are caveats to using this mode: you’ve got to hold the camera fairly steady, though it can be done without a tripod, and more importantly the thing(s) you are photographing can’t be moving. Those movements are not going to be cleaned up. But if you are shooting a handheld night shot, or dark shot and whatever it is isn’t moving (say you’re in a church or dark building) and you can hold the camera fairly steady, you can get some excellent noiseless images.
Ok that moved me closer to my purchase date.
Robert – what are you using now? What is your camera background? i.e. what are you used to using. For me this was quite a jump even though I had been using the Canon T1i since it came out and had been using various Canons (Original Rebel, 20D, 40D) and a few others… I think the biggest issues that I’m still trying to work out is that there are three or so different ways of focusing while in Live View mode (using the LCD) and the usual number of ways to focus while looking through the viewfinder.
Through the viewfinder, everything is the same except that there’s much less lag between shots, and you can get usable images going at least two stops higher with the ISO – maybe even more than that.
It’s the Live View that I need to get used to. It’s like having an entirely separate camera, both in terms of focus, and battery consumption, and even what modes work and what you see. But there are also great benefits, especially for street shooting, and for what you see, i.e. practically 100%. But it’s only a few days and I’m already getting used to the Live View which is way better than what I was doing with the T1i.
If nothing else, you can side the LCD around so that it’s facing inwards and is protected.
I try not to recommend equipment because everyone’s needs are different – but it’s working out well for me.
How high can the ISO be set without using the night mode? How is the noise with those settings?
Craig, it can go to 12,800 without using any special settings. That’s the high resolution file that you can download from the post.
You can use the Night Handheld Feature with – I’m not sure – but I think any setting. But the only time it would make sense would be if you were shooting with a high ISO. I shot one at 12,800 with the hand held Night Setting and it is practically noiseless.