Noise on the Olympus OMD EM 1 II

MNE wrote:

Just a comment: your ISO seems pretty high for an outdoor shot in decent light and the subject not really moving.

Ah well that's helpful feedback. I think I was a bit cavalier with the ISO as I reckoned it should be OK at that level. Oh the joys of learning.

OK. Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

I really have learned a lot from that reply. Thanks. So much to take on board.

OK Thanks. The RAW file is here.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlQzVfZ549zepI4HASQaQf50p2ISpQ?e=whVioZ

Well here's confession time. I didn't intend to have the converter on, but left home without the lens caps so decided to persist with it rather than invite dust into the teleconverter. Next time...

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for this. It's all really helpful. And it's given me hope. Yes other images are just as bad.

tammons wrote:

Bruce DW wrote:

First post here, so thanks in anticipation. I've read plenty of other posts and have learned a lot. However, I haven't found a solution to my issue. Noise.

I have been playing with the Olympus 100-400 on the camera and was sure that it would produce tack sharp pictures. The photos are, as with other lenses that I have used eg the 75-300, plagued with noise. They look OK ish until you start to look for feather definition. It's not even the lack of sharpness that bothers me, as I can put this down to me learning to use the long lens, but noise? That's surely something in the settings or something else. I've gone through Robin Wong's advice about reducing noise in pictures, but nothing works. I need some advice.

I'm uploading a picture I took today with a crop of it. The pelican was fairly close to me. It shows the noise problem to perfection. So disappointing.

Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

I would guess the noise issue is how it was raw processed. Post the SOOC jpeg. Or post the raw file somewhere so we can take a look at it.

Thanks for the offer. The RAW file is here.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlQzVfZ549zepI4HASQaQf50p2ISpQ?e=whVioZ

shinndigg wrote:

... Why f9.0?

Why is 1250 in broad daylight?

Was this very underexposed? And was that purposefully?

I'm rather embarrased to say that I had the thing set to shutter priority, determined to rule any possibility of lens shake. Everything else played second fiddle. And I realise that is probably the root of my problem. Thanks for asking the hard questions.

Thanks. I will certainly get hold of a copy of that. As for the settings, I just wanted to ramp up the shutter speed to rule out any camera shake. Everything else was rather left to chance. Still learning - a lot.

Messier Object wrote:

You need to manage the shadows.

> shoot raw

> don’t photograph a backlight white bird, otherwise you can easily get a bright over exposed outline (or head in this particular case) with the bulk of the bird in its own shadow

> set your ISO as low as is practical for your shot and expose to the right as far as you can. Turn on the histogram display and learn to use it.

> be prepared to trade DoF to capture more light

> if in PP you find yourself needing to lift the shadowed areas of your subject to reveal detail then surely you will see a noisy ‘mush’ there

> ideally your exposure should be such that in post processing you’re pulling back the overall brightness and maybe dropping the highlights a little.

If you can’t better manage your shadows through exposure then you might need one of the new AI Noise reduction programs, but IMO resorting to those without getting the exposure right is prematurely reaching for a crutch

Peter

That is such helpful advice. I'd gone by the rule of thumb that it's easier to rescue from under-exposure than over exposure. I'd also assumed that ISO would be fine and not an issue until much higher. I'm learning still Thanks for the advice.

Thanks Mark. Noted. IT's good to know I'm not alone in this

That is incredibly helpful advice. All of it. Especially the advice about under-exposure. That will alter the way I take photos now.

The intended audience was me. I was just playing around with a new lens, wanting to have the kind of feather definition that I see in other photos. Not sure how much this is done in camera and how much in PP.

Thanks so much for a full and detailed reply.

Thanks Martin. I appreciate your honesty, but it's exactly what I didn't want to hear! I'm just going to have to make the most of it and try to get the beset out of it. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

That's a kind and generous response. I'm grateful for the advice which I will certainly take on board - especially but not exclusively about ISO. I'll keep you posted.

I didn't know that. I've learn something from that. Much appreciated.

Wow. What a difference. I'll give that a try. Thanks

From your raw file so kindly made available I got this DxO Photolab4 result using the default canned settings for your body and lens except for Clearview set at 36 and DeepPRIME added.

Does that make the feathers look a bit better?

Bruce DW wrote:

tammons wrote:

Bruce DW wrote:

First post here, so thanks in anticipation. I've read plenty of other posts and have learned a lot. However, I haven't found a solution to my issue. Noise.

I have been playing with the Olympus 100-400 on the camera and was sure that it would produce tack sharp pictures. The photos are, as with other lenses that I have used eg the 75-300, plagued with noise. They look OK ish until you start to look for feather definition. It's not even the lack of sharpness that bothers me, as I can put this down to me learning to use the long lens, but noise? That's surely something in the settings or something else. I've gone through Robin Wong's advice about reducing noise in pictures, but nothing works. I need some advice.

I'm uploading a picture I took today with a crop of it. The pelican was fairly close to me. It shows the noise problem to perfection. So disappointing.

Anyone else had this problem? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

I would guess the noise issue is how it was raw processed. Post the SOOC jpeg. Or post the raw file somewhere so we can take a look at it.

Thanks for the offer. The RAW file is here.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AlQzVfZ549zepI4HASQaQf50p2ISpQ?e=whVioZ

Part of the problem with this image is it is slightly back focused. Look at the grass just beyond the legs. Occasionally I do get a slightly noisy photo from the E-M1 II when I don't expect it.

Anyway here is my attempt using DXO.

gary0319 wrote:

I could be wrong, but I see that pattern of noise in my Olympus raw files if I import them directly into Adobe Lightroom. I convert my raw files to tiff in Olympus Workspace and then import them into Lightroom.
I recently posted this example in another thread. I think the noise pattern is pretty close to that in the OP pelican image.

Adobe Lightroom

Olympus Workspace

Wow I did not realize this, that is quite a difference. I am going to start doing that thanks!