why are my pics grainy
#1
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why are my pics grainy
I have a sony dsc-v1 that I've been using for years. I have been on many photo shoots with it and its always performed well.
Today I went out to take pics and everything went well, until I uploaded the photos. Everything looks grainy, and I can't figure out what setting I messed up.
Heres 2 pics from today, shot at f8, 1/20th sec
Heres a pic from 2 weeks ago, forgot the settings
Any help will be appreciated!
(edit) Wow, the pics dont look too bad when image shack resizes them, but at full rez they look terrible.
Today I went out to take pics and everything went well, until I uploaded the photos. Everything looks grainy, and I can't figure out what setting I messed up.
Heres 2 pics from today, shot at f8, 1/20th sec
Heres a pic from 2 weeks ago, forgot the settings
Any help will be appreciated!
(edit) Wow, the pics dont look too bad when image shack resizes them, but at full rez they look terrible.
Last edited by activeaero; 11-19-2006 at 07:56 PM.
#3
Safety Car
Why F8? While you did use a slow shutter, I suspect the camera automatically boosted the ISO since the scene probably wasn't too bright.
Nice. I caught it before I couldn't edit.
I looked at your EXIF data from one of the pics. The ISO was at 400.
On an SLR, 400 is fairly usable. But small cameras have tiny chips which already have high baseline noise. If you had used 100, you wouldn't have been able to use F8 in such low light. Not with a handholdable shutter.
Nice. I caught it before I couldn't edit.
I looked at your EXIF data from one of the pics. The ISO was at 400.
On an SLR, 400 is fairly usable. But small cameras have tiny chips which already have high baseline noise. If you had used 100, you wouldn't have been able to use F8 in such low light. Not with a handholdable shutter.
Last edited by wackjum; 11-19-2006 at 08:51 PM. Reason: Looked at EXIF
#4
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Originally Posted by wackjum
Why F8? While you did use a slow shutter, I suspect the camera automatically boosted the ISO since the scene probably wasn't too bright.
Nice. I caught it before I couldn't edit.
I looked at your EXIF data from one of the pics. The ISO was at 400.
On an SLR, 400 is fairly usable. But small cameras have tiny chips which already have high baseline noise. If you had used 100, you wouldn't have been able to use F8 in such low light. Not with a handholdable shutter.
Nice. I caught it before I couldn't edit.
I looked at your EXIF data from one of the pics. The ISO was at 400.
On an SLR, 400 is fairly usable. But small cameras have tiny chips which already have high baseline noise. If you had used 100, you wouldn't have been able to use F8 in such low light. Not with a handholdable shutter.
#5
Earth-bound misfit
You can filter out some of that noise with Neat Image or Noise Ninja. I've used NI's freeware, but I think NN has a free version, as well. I've been pretty happy with the results in most cases.
#6
Safety Car
According to internet specs, the DSC-V1 has a 2.8-4 lens
So at the wide range, it can open up to 2.8 and at the tight end of the zoom, it will have a max aperture of 4
The smaller the F number, the bigger the hole that lets in light. F8 is pretty small. Each full f stop number gets in HALF the amount of light of the previous stop. They usually go something like this:
1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 16, 32
So you can see, a lens at f8 would let in 1/8th of the light the same lens at f2.8 would let in. That's a huge difference.
F-stop has to do with your depth of field. But that's pretty much a non issue with small cameras and more then I can get into right now.
I can't tell you what settings you should use for what situation because it depends on so many things.
ISO 400 is not useless. Its good when things are so dark you would rather have grain then not be able to take a pic at all. Or, you want to use a really quick shutter to freeze motion (sports photography). Even in brightly lit stadiums and such, sports photographers shoot 1600+ ISO in order to use high shutter speeds. And they're already using the fastest telephoto lenses around.
So at the wide range, it can open up to 2.8 and at the tight end of the zoom, it will have a max aperture of 4
The smaller the F number, the bigger the hole that lets in light. F8 is pretty small. Each full f stop number gets in HALF the amount of light of the previous stop. They usually go something like this:
1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 16, 32
So you can see, a lens at f8 would let in 1/8th of the light the same lens at f2.8 would let in. That's a huge difference.
F-stop has to do with your depth of field. But that's pretty much a non issue with small cameras and more then I can get into right now.
I can't tell you what settings you should use for what situation because it depends on so many things.
ISO 400 is not useless. Its good when things are so dark you would rather have grain then not be able to take a pic at all. Or, you want to use a really quick shutter to freeze motion (sports photography). Even in brightly lit stadiums and such, sports photographers shoot 1600+ ISO in order to use high shutter speeds. And they're already using the fastest telephoto lenses around.
#7
Senior Moderator
grain is a result of high ISO, which is there for low light situations. Without it, any movement in low light, and low ISO, would result in motion blur. You camera is just doing what it thinks is best in the given conditions.
As long as your camera, and subjects are very still, you can shoot in low light at a lower ISO.
As long as your camera, and subjects are very still, you can shoot in low light at a lower ISO.
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#10
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Originally Posted by wndrlst
You can filter out some of that noise with Neat Image or Noise Ninja. I've used NI's freeware, but I think NN has a free version, as well. I've been pretty happy with the results in most cases.
#11
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Looks a little better, I dled noise ninja and using that and shrinking the pic, it makes them look passable. But, this situation inspired me to get a new camera. I just picked up a canon 400d on black friday with a couple of lenses. Too bad its too cold to wash the car and go for another shoot.
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