A710 - too much noise?

OK, I've bought the A710 recently and although it's a great toy with plenty of manual settings (I really love it), I have to say I'm not happy about the noise in the photos at all.

Could you have a look at the following two images and let me know what you think? Both were taken during a sunny day, ISO set to 100. The first one was taken with full 6x zoom, the other one is from the same place, just without the zoom. Warning: images are in full resolution (1.5 - 2 MB each). EXIF is still there.





What have I done wrong? Or am I paranoid and this noise is normal?

I have an A710 and am pretty happy with it. Re: your images...I am surprised that what you call "full resolution" are on 1-2 mb. My 7mp images are usually close to 3-4mb. Anyway I don't think these images look bad. If you put them down to 5"x7" or even 8"x10" reasonable print sizes, I think they look about normal for a camera of this quality. These are great cameras but the images they make are not as good and crisp as dslr's and they never will be. as always there are tradeoffs.

These images are indeed quite noisy. If you are using low ISO, superfine, no shaking hands while taking these images, then I will say it is quite unaccpetable.

I got an impression that the new batch of cameras from Canon in this Fall are having major image quality issues. Maybe the pixel race really has an adverse effect on the image quality. Well I hope not, but the proofs are every where now.

I noticed that your images were taken in 'Fine', you might want to set the camera to 'SuperFine' for the best that it can give you.

I too was a litte disappointed that the A710 doesn't give silky smooth skies at ISO 100, but it's not really that bad. Better than some compact cameras I have owned, worse than others, but not surprising.

-Brian

Yes, actually I set the quality to "superfine" later but didn't see any improvement. Shaking hands shouldn't be an issue - the image stabilisation works really well.

The pixel race is really a shame - 5mpix on a 1/1.8" sensor would be perfect and would undoubtedly eliminate most of the noise... I believe the Fuji cameras have this but a 3x zoom is not sufficient for me... and the expensive xD cards... damn, it's always a compromise

Yea, a 5MP sensor probably would have been my preference. But realistically, the noise at ISO 100 isn't an issue -- it does not show in prints, or in images resized to fit on the screen.

-Brian

For prints it's indeed not a big deal but I have to say that my father's 3-year old Olympus camera produces better photos than this Canon which is a surprise for me. Especially when A710 is supposed to be a TOP of Canon compact cameras.

My boss has a Panasonic TZ1 ultrazoom camera and it has the same problems with noise.

Well, the A710 image clean up pretty nicely with Neat Image anyhow.

MrScully said:

My boss has a Panasonic TZ1 ultrazoom camera and it has the same
problems with noise.

Click to expand...

All Panasoncs seem to have problems with noise. To bad, I like the controls and build quality of their cameras, and they usually have a nice and sharp lens, too.

No one cares to sell my "ideal" camera :-( Someting with the noise profile of the Fuji F30, the build and controls of a Panasonic, a sharp fast lens, a good and usable viewfinder, .... Oh well. We'll have to wait until there is nothing novel left for them to sell.

-Brian

Compare to my A80 there is more noise but I'm not sure if there's too much. I opened your pics in IrfanView and they look fine, in 100% I can see noise but you never view pics such way. I think we need more examples.

You can compare with japanese review: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2F&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools
I'm going to buy thi camera .
Regards, swnw.

I don't know about everyone else's computer screen size but mine is only a 17" screen & the pic is too big. When I reduced the size to fit the screen, the picture looks just fine. I don't understand (as I am new to digital pics) the focus on "noise". The pictures when sized to my screen look just fine! Guee I don't pixel peep like others, sorry.

Beth

oooops.......meant to say Guess...........don't know how to edit on this forum, sorry.

Beth

This isn't much noise.
Even ISO 400 is surprisingly OK for a Compact.

If you wanna see noise on a compact, compare with the Panasonic Lx/FX ... or a Ricoh.
Or check the old G6, noise even at ISO50.
The 710 is just fine, great.
Noise-free IS0 400 isn't in their interest, otherwise you wouldn't buy a DSLR.
--

• Mr Ralf -

and dont ever let me catch you pixel peeping....windows are more fun!..

"Yes, actually I set the quality to "superfine" later but didn't see any improvement."

Careful now. There's a few folks lurking around who are sure that is THE answer to the problems with the A710.......

I looked carefully at the shot that has a bunch of wires in it. They dissappear regularly. That is the problem I had with the A710. Foreground details getting overwhelmed by background highlights. Very noticable with things like power lines/phone lines.

And I fully agree with you. The differenence beween Fine and Superfine does not make that much difference in regards to the picture quality for the A710.

Jim

Friends

There is obvious there is "some" noise on the A710 even at ISO 80, does anyone know if the noise can be reduced by lowering the sharpness?

Hi there,

I know what you mean. I just bought the A710IS and feel there is something that is not right. I have been using a Sony DSC-P73 and I think under some conditions it takes sharper pictures, even my wife told me the same and she never takes a pic, just looks at them.

Still, I like all the features this camera offers and can live with the slow flash recharge cycle, and is has full control over manual settings, so I will keep it.

I will be doing some more tests on sharp, contrast and saturation settings and share some pics with you.

More than noise it looks like out of focus even when taking all precaution to do the shot right.
Maybe is just me
Thanks

Lucianot

Lucianot said:

Hi there,

I know what you mean. I just bought the A710IS and feel there is
something that is not right. I have been using a Sony DSC-P73 and I
think under some conditions it takes sharper pictures, even my wife
told me the same and she never takes a pic, just looks at them.
Still, I like all the features this camera offers and can live with
the slow flash recharge cycle, and is has full control over manual
settings, so I will keep it.
I will be doing some more tests on sharp, contrast and saturation
settings and share some pics with you.
More than noise it looks like out of focus even when taking all
precaution to do the shot right.
Maybe is just me
Thanks

Lucianot

Click to expand...

I agree with Lucianot. To my eyes the pics these pics do" look" out of focus. But over the whole range!Could it be that it is a production problem?

Hello,

One more thing, in what mode have you taken the pictures? Was in in Auto, manual, Av, Tv, etc? Can you try the same picture (will be different light one month later) but setting a lower shutter speed. This speed is different on both pics.
Thanks

Luciano

OK, after 1 month and 2000 taken photos here are a couple of notes.

Daylight - most photos are quite good. Leaves, grass & other green stuff look strange to me, I had to increase the "warmth" of the colours in Picasa.

Low light - I took some photos (without flash) at a punk concert in a local club. I was about 15m from the stage and the results are actually very good. Settings: ISO 200, time 1/15s (that's the maximum, faster shutter speed would require higher ISO). ISO 400 is unusable, too grainy. If I took some good photos at such a local punk concert, I have no doubt I would be able to take excellent photos on a Queen or U2 gig

For most photos I have to increase the sharpness in Picasa. As for settings in the camera, I set sharpness to maximum (= preserves detail), saturation to default and contrast to -1 (= probably less noise). I don't know if it's the best setting. I'm not patient enough to try all the combinations

Overall I'm not impressed by the picture quality at all BUT if you play with the photos a bit (sharpness, colours, contrast) and resize the photos to 3 mpix, then the result is very good. Definitely good enough for standard prints.

Besides that, I somehow doubt that any other camera in this price range can offer the same features and better picture for the same price. It looks like A630-A640 photos are slightly better but the zoom and stabilization of A710 is necessary for me.

I don't want to post here any more 3 MB photos. I could post some resized ones if anybody is interested.

Hi there,

I am doing all those tests and taking lots of pictures and I agree with you. I am not 100% satisfied with the IQ but all the rest in this camera tell me that I should keep it. The best thing is to use P mode and play around with the settings in My Colours as you did.

I don't like the Kodak C875 or the Fuji F30 because of the zoom , the lack of optical viewfinder, all things the A710 offers in a small and compact size.

It seems that is the way it works, you think you will see amazing pictures but you only see good ones and if you do not tune it right grainy images. Nothing wrong with having good pictures but the limit between good and bad is very narrow here. Again, not complaining much as this is still a wonderful machine.
Cheers,

Lucianot