s100fs pushed to the limit in low light

eengelmann

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Picture shot practically in candle light! This time I pushed my camera really to the limit!
Certainly nothing fabulous, but still acceptable!
Shot in raw and with mild noise reduction treatment.
Fullsize image on my website.



--
Enrico Engelmann
http://www.milanofotografo.it
 
Very beautiful woman and composition. If you get rid of the blue channel noise, it would be even better.
 
I must say that in general I apply the same identical noise reduction treatment to all the pictures. My idea is somehow that in that way I can easier learn which setup at moment of shooting the picture gives the best result.

But maybe I should try, at least this time, to find out a more personalized noise reduction setup!
In case I will post also the refined version!
--
Enrico Engelmann
http://www.milanofotografo.it
 
I also shoot with the S100FS and know it can be effectively used to ISO3200 if exposed as best as possible. This particular shot seems to be a bit underexposed but it is obvious that this was about all the light you were going to get!

I hope you don't mind but I did a quick edit to your original shot. I used Paint Shop Pro X2 and Topaz's DeNoise plugin. In the end I did a quick and dirty sharpen. The result is fair and it eliminated much of the obvious blue channel noise.

As I said, I often find myself in low light situations with my S100FS too. As a result, I have learned that adding some post-processing to well-exposed images can produce some amazing results. If exposure is off by just a little bit, you will lose quite a bit of detail. I think we ended up with a 'good' or 'fair' result on this image when some more aggressive noise reduction is applied as I have shown here. I hope you don't mind my edit... If it is a problem, I will remove it immediately.

Patrick : )



 
I must say that in general I apply the same identical noise reduction treatment to all the pictures. My idea is somehow that in that way I can easier learn which setup at moment of shooting the picture gives the best result.

But maybe I should try, at least this time, to find out a more personalized noise reduction setup!
In case I will post also the refined version!
Processing every image the exact same way almost guarantees that you will not get the best out of each image. What you want to achieve, what camera set up is best, can be learned before you process. But without question, each image deserves its own attention to bring out its maximum level of quality.
--

http://fujifilmimages.aminus3.com/
 
Expressivecanvas did a really good job at PP. I went a step further to get rid of all the blue noise. I hope both of you don't mind. In the end, its the photographer's eye that determines whats best for the image.



 
Both the two new versions posted are better than the original!
Thank you for the time you spent on it!

The programs you used can control the noise reduction for each color chanel separately? I am using Noiseware, and with it it is not possible!

The problem with using a specific noisereduction setup every time is that it doesn' t remain in the Exif data. So if I change my photographing setup, I can't compare the result with older ones.
--
Enrico Engelmann
http://www.milanofotografo.it
 
Great capture! You've done very well and the composition makes for candid perfect. Only a Fuji can do non-DLSR shots like this at such high ISO four years ago. Even today with better technology some still struggle just to be on par.

...
 
Picture shot practically in candle light! This time I pushed my camera really to the limit!
Certainly nothing fabulous, but still acceptable!
Shot in raw and with mild noise reduction treatment.
Fullsize image on my website.

I applied some techniques I've recently learned to clean this one up a bit and bring the skin colors back into some level of accuracy ...



I've been revisiting the blue channel noise from the Canon G10 with pretty decent results ...

http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com/2011/02/neil-young-reprised.html

--
I am but one opinion in a sea of opinions ... right?
http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com
http://letkeman.net/Photos
 
Excellent result Kim!!

eengelmann, for pure full comparison, would it be possible for you to put up a JPEG of the original file (after converting from RAW), but with no noise PP or resizing, just so we can get a feel of just how noisey, or relatively un-noisely the S100FS is at 3200?
 
I have some problems in uploading the original, untreated jpg. It weights not less the 18Mb! (The more noise, the more weight!)
Could a part of the picture be still OK?

Thank you Kim for having dedicated attentions to my picture.

I personally consider your result a little bit overalaborated, so that the atmosphere of the picture is not anymore the same of the original scene. There was in fact the contrast between the skin in candle light and the blue lamp in the background. These elements get lost in your version.

The version I consider more near to reality is in my opinion the one of expressivecanvas.

I have now downloaded also Neatimage, since Noiseware doesn' t give the possibility to regulate the different color channels separately. But I must find the time to study the application.

--
Enrico Engelmann
http://www.milanofotografo.it
 
Hi, yes an unresized crop would be perfect..
Just curious what the untouched virgin image from the camera at 3200 is like?

:-)
 
... Great composition and mood.

The noise is still distracting and I ended up downloading the original from your web site.

Surprise ! It could actually be cleaned up nicely just using ACR and NikDFine NR, and also a little localised NR in masked off areas.

Looks good without the noise. Might have to try some ISO 3200 on my S100 fs.

What Mike showed is very similar to what I ended up with, except I cropped it square.

Thanks for showing this. It made me think about possibilities I had ignored before.

Cheers.
--
Rgds, Dave.
Have fun - take lotsa pix.

http://eyemindsoul.blogspot.com/
http://www.panoramio.com/user/4243198
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixplanet/sets/72157625885285093/
 
... Whatever.

However, being fully colour literate I can see that the mood and texture of Enrico's image was completely compromised.
Yawn .... having eyes I can see that 8 or 9 out of every ten images you post are compromised in one way or another ... you should avoid believing your press clippings or the ravings of sycophants.
What Mike showed kept it true to the intent of the artist.
In order for you to continue insulting me, you apparently need to:
  • ensure that my color deficiency is brought into the foreground, despite the ease with which the skin color can be checked in Photoshop
  • elevate what is obviously a snap shot to the level of art
  • elevate the bright orange skin that was obviously caused by strong low temperature light to the level of "artistic intent"
  • ignore the extreme blue cast and fringing in the background that was caused by the outdoor light being mangled by the AWB's choice
Your BS continues to flow effortlessly ... the one area where you display obvious talent.

--
I am but one opinion in a sea of opinions ... right?
http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com
http://letkeman.net/Photos
 

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