A1 Noise issues

[Michelelabelle]

I've had great success with the Sony a9, and was excited to get the A1 - but finding that images have so much more noise. I understand this is because of higher megapixel level - but I see so many great sharp shots, even deep crops, with the A1 - I have this problem at virtually all iso levels. Deep crops suffer most. I'd welcome thoughts on how to deal with this.

 

[bleirer]

I've had great success with the Sony a9, and was excited to get the A1 - but finding that images have so much more noise. I understand this is because of higher megapixel level - but I see so many great sharp shots, even deep crops, with the A1 - I have this problem at virtually all iso levels. Deep crops suffer most. I'd welcome thoughts on how to deal with this.

Would you have some examples to show? Noise is usually associated with underexposure in terms of actual light striking the sensor as determined not by ISO but by shutter speed and aperture.. any chance you might be inadvertently underexposing?

 

[Michelelabelle]

Would you have some examples to show? Noise is usually associated with underexposure in terms of actual light striking the sensor as determined not by ISO but by shutter speed and aperture.. any chance you might be inadvertently underexposing?

Thanks! This could be - was shooting birds at high shutter speed. I have not had these problems with the a9, so was surprised. Also sometimes

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deep crops on the birds. Here's an example.

 

[DRwyoming]

I've had great success with the Sony a9, and was excited to get the A1 - but finding that images have so much more noise. I understand this is because of higher megapixel level - but I see so many great sharp shots, even deep crops, with the A1 - I have this problem at virtually all iso levels. Deep crops suffer most. I'd welcome thoughts on how to deal with this.

In addition to the exposure thoughts above, how are you evaluating this noise?

If you're zooming in to a 1:1 pixel view(100% view in a tool like LR or PS) then the noise will look a lot higher in a 50 mega pixel camera compared to a 24 mega pixel camera. I know I was taken aback when I first got my D850 as I'd zoom in to 100% in Lightroom and the images looked super noisy but that's an incredibly tight zoom on a 47 mega pixel camera and a tiny percentage of the full frame. Zooming the the same level on my ~21 mega pixel D5 isn't nearly as deep a zoom and the D5 images looked a lot cleaner at 1:1 pixel view. But when I size both images to the same output size the D850 images look fine.

Maybe you've got an exposure related noise issue but if you're seeing a lot more noise when zooming in to 100% zoom level in an editing tool then that is pretty normal for a high resolution camera and things should look a lot better when evaluating them at realistic output image sizing.

 

[DRwyoming]

Here's an example.

Can you post the full image before cropping? IOW, how deep a crop is this?

 

[bleirer]

I think deep crops will definitely amplify noise. Steve had a recent video on that. Also if you are using Lightroom, the default noise reduction setting is zero, and it ignores the camera setting, so you should dial some noise reduction in.

That image you posted didn't look particularly noisy to me.

 

[Michelelabelle]

Thanks! This could be - was shooting birds at high shutter speed. I have not had these problems with the a9, so was surprised. Also sometimes View attachment 21500deep crops on the birds. Here's an example.

I think deep crops will definitely amplify noise. Steve had a recent video on that. Also if you are using Lightroom, the default noise reduction setting is zero, and it ignores the camera setting, so you should dial some noise reduction in.

That image you posted didn't look particularly noisy to me.

I need to watch that video! I’m also getting feedback that my setup - 200-600 plus 1.4 tc may be an issue.

 

[Michelelabelle]

In addition to the exposure thoughts above, how are you evaluating this noise?

If you're zooming in to a 1:1 pixel view(100% view in a tool like LR or PS) then the noise will look a lot higher in a 50 mega pixel camera compared to a 24 mega pixel camera. I know I was taken aback when I first got my D850 as I'd zoom in to 100% in Lightroom and the images looked super noisy but that's an incredibly tight zoom on a 47 mega pixel camera and a tiny percentage of the full frame. Zooming the the same level on my ~21 mega pixel D5 isn't nearly as deep a zoom and the D5 images looked a lot cleaner at 1:1 pixel view. But when I size both images to the same output size the D850 images look fine.

Maybe you've got an exposure related noise issue but if you're seeing a lot more noise when zooming in to 100% zoom level in an editing tool then that is pretty normal for a high resolution camera and things should look a lot better when evaluating them at realistic output image sizing.

Thanks, this is helpful ! Yes, I was viewing at 100% which was a shocker. I’m also hearing that tc on 200-600 May be an issue. I will try shooting without it.

 

[bleirer]

Thanks, this is helpful ! Yes, I was viewing at 100% which was a shocker. I’m also hearing that tc on 200-600 May be an issue. I will try shooting without it.

I don't think a tc is going to make noise. Yes it eats some light in the sense of the f stops at your disposal, but you can let more light in with shutter speed or if needed amplify with ISO.