Here is a collection of images I have been working at with the Canon 5d Mk II where I have noticed some interesting noise and banding patterns even at the base ISO of 100/200. The culprit seems to be when shooting in raw, converting in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) and activating the highlight tone priority option while shooting. This yields a “pushed” images that ACR does not develop well. See what you think. These samples are with noise reduction turned off and with some careful processing in noise ninja as well as the noise removal in ACR these issues do become partially moot…

So I have been working with some of the massive raw files out of the 5d Mk II and I have noticed something in Adobe Lightroom. Check to the pic: Difference shows at 100% in shadow area at ISO 100 (Canon 50mm f/1.4 @ 4, 1/60s exposure handheld, nothing clinical) A clear difference in noise pattern in library vs. develop mode. I have not noticed this behavior in any of my other camera’s Raw files… Is there a different setting, to me the Raw file in “Library” mode looks blotchy and horrid…while the same file in develop look pristine…

Very interesting. Did I mention the 5d Mk II Raw files are huge? I don’t know how people work with the Phase One or Leica S2 MF Raw files…

Cropped in a bit. I turned the noise reduction off on this Raw image from Canon 5d Mk II. — This was shot at ISO 200. The chroma noise and vertical banding are quite high IMO. Not really sure what’s going on.

Properly-exposed 5d Mk II ISO 200 Image with noise and banding…

See the below screenshot to see what I am talking about…

5d Mk II – vertical color and banding noise at ISO 200. This image is opened in ACR and set to 0 exposure comp, 0 brightness, 0 contrast etc etc. as plain and vanilla as possible with no noise reduction or sharpening.

Canon 5d Mk ISO 1250, HTP/ALO on, opened in ACR, everything set to 0, no sharpening or noise reduction, 1 pass with noise ninja. Will definitely shoot with Highlight tone priority and auto-light optimizer off from now-on…

Here is the final version color matched and sharpening in Lightroom.

Canon 5d Mk II | 50mm f/1.4 lens, 1/40s @ f/2.2, ISO 1250

Here is another example of the 5d Mk II noise at low ISO while using Highlight tone priority and auto lighting optimizer while shooting in raw. The first crop (100%) is the CR2 file opened in preview, notice it is underexposed by quite a bit, despite looking properly exposed when metering in the camera. I then opened in in ACR in Photoshop and clicked ‘Auto’ for exposure, while turning off noise reduction, effectively giving me a ISO 400 image that is an ISO 200 image pushed 2.0 or more stops. The banding and chroma noise is very apparent, and although the image looks properly exposed in the histogram, adding all of that brightness and exposure comp killed my shadows and mid-tones.

Note to self, HTP and ALO off from now on. Lesson learned…

Although with proper noise-reduction techniques you can get some really high quality high-ISO shots too, you just have to exhibit bad technique or improper image processing to get the noise at base ISO…

This is a shot technique that I have seen time and again. The slightly-skewed-female-getting-ready-in-the-mirror shot. (Usually used for a bride getting ready for a wedding). Just got the new camera today to try out (Canon 5d Mk II) and 50mm f/1.4 lens. Surprisingly this was shot at ISO 2000, which to me is pretty amazing…

Now just for kicks let’s look at a file from the Canon 1d Classic (4.1 Mpix, 1.3 x crop sensor — but the pixels are *much* bigger than those on the 5d Mk II). Look at how clean this is at ISO 320, albeit with really limited resolution compared to the Mk II -

You do trade off noise for resolution it seems. BYW the Canon 1d Classic is an *amazing* camera if you can deal with the 4.1 mpixels… The Auto Focus is amazing and the images have a certain film-like quality to them. Hard to put words too. I sort of miss mine.

Also to keep us routed in reality here is an ISO 1600 crop of another small sensor camera – the Olympus E-P1 @ ISO 1600. Compare that to the ISO 2000 image of Annie in the mirror. We have a tendency to always complain about something without looking back at what we accepted at a given value in the past. Don’t get me wrong the noise performance of the 5d mk II is AMAZING considering its pixel density.

And now we can get really crazy for no reason…here is one with a Mamiya RB67 Medium Format film camera and fuji velvia 50 film.

Sample shot and scanned with my Mamiya RB67 Camera and Fuji Velvia RVP 50 Film

You can still buy 120 film and get it developed at walmart! The velvia is a bit more because it is slide film but negative film can be developed at Walmart for a few cents a frame!

Here is a forum that tells you the best process for getting your film developed at Walmart. Most camera stores send the film out to Fuji to get it processed anyways so you can pay $1.20 a roll to get it developed through Walmart or $10.00 to get the same service at a camera store…your choice. I find it takes 10-14 days quite a bit slower than the SD card reader developing, but it is worth it.

Talk about smooth at base ISO…