Low ISO Noise with 7D

[Felix Steinhardt]

Hi,
I´m Felix from Germany and this is my first posting in this forum.

Today I rented a EOS 7D to test DSLR filming.
But I´m a little disappointed! The 7D produces a reasonable amount ofnoise in lowlight, even at 160 ISO

I made a video, where I compare my Sony NX5 with the 7D in lowlight.
http://www.steinhardtverlag.de/Felix/7D.mp4

As you can see for example on the white wall, there is alot of noise going on at low ISO levels! Blacks are ok, bright objects too, but between that I find the noise unacceptable for a lowkey Filmscene. Looks like cheap Video.

Am I doing anything wrong with the settings or is this normal?

Greetings
Felix

[Perrone Ford]

What lens is on the 7D?

[Felix Steinhardt]

24-70 mm 2.8
But the lens doesn´t affect noise, does it?

[Jerry Porter]

What PP? Try the same shot on neutral with the contrast and sharpness turned down. That should make it alot better.

[Felix Steinhardt]

It was set to neutral. To all the settings that are recommended for filming. I googled a little

I just found a solution!

I made a new clip of a white wall in lowlight and it looked awful! Like 16-color scheme in Windows 3.11^^
I converted the clip with Neoscene Cineform an cineform made a "10-bit correction for 5D and 7D Luma range and color space".
Now the footage looks a lot (!) better (and brighter with more dynamic). Just grainy, without muddy noise like a VHS Camcorder.

Pretty strange tough...

Question is: Will this cineform filter work with the 60D, I might buy?....mmmmh

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Felix Steinhardt

24-70 mm 2.8
But the lens doesn´t affect noise, does it?

Of course it makes a difference! You are giving the Canon ~1/4 the light the other camera is getting. Of course it's going to look worse.

[Felix Steinhardt]

Thing is, I wanted (!) this low light situation. I wouldn´t have used 1.4 for the shot because I wanted to test a low-key setting at low iso.

But now the problem is fixed! Damn Quicktime!

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Felix Steinhardt

24-70 mm 2.8
But the lens doesn´t affect noise, does it?

Originally Posted by Felix Steinhardt

Thing is, I wanted (!) this low light situation. I wouldn´t have used 1.4 for the shot because I wanted to test a low-key setting at low iso.

But now the problem is fixed! Damn Quicktime!

ISO is immaterial if the sensor is starved for light. It's just like film. If you starve ISO 100 film for light, it's going to look bad, just like if you starve ISO 800 film. The only difference is the lighting level at which it happens. Was the NX5 stopped down to F2.8 to match? Or did you leave it wide open?

[Felix Steinhardt]

The NX5 was set to 2.8.

But since Vegas got it all wrong, the files of the 7D are in fact 20% brighter now, when played with quicktime or converted with cineform and look great.
So this comparison vid is complete nonesense.

I would estimate ISO 320 is the same as -6 db at the NX5. So NX5 does a better job in lowlight <-> Noise but the 7D is very close!

[Perrone Ford]

Awesome. So people should buy the NX5 instead of a 7D for working in low light. Wonder how the EX1(r) fares in that kind of comparison.