In The Field: The Pros And Cons Of Long Exposure Noise Reduction
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
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Long Exposure Noise Reduction (NR) is an option in most modern digital cameras. It has its benefits and drawbacks - like most things in photography. I recently went out to Scripps Pier for some long exposure photos. I quickly realized I had Long Exposure NR in my Sony A7R turned on. How did I know? Watch the video and you’ll see it is painfully obvious when taking a 6 minute exposure! I’ll also run down the benefits and drawbacks of Long Exposure NR.
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Excellent video. Answered every question I had about this feature in a simple, quick, and informative way. I look forward to more of your videos!
Glad it was helpful!
Hello Scott. Thanks for this informative video. It clarified a few concepts regarding the issue.
Another reason I'm commenting is that I wanted to ask you about the reason you are taking such long exposures in broad daylight ( complete novice here) ?
On that day ... it was the clouds. Wanted them to be smoother, more etherial.
What do you think about the black frame added inPhotoshop after many mulriple shots without long exposurw noise reduction?
Thank you for the video. It's great information. I've been meaning to try noise reduction but never gotten around to it. On my 6d it's only when I did a 7 min exposure that I first noticed hot-spot. My 5 min has been clean.
It would have driven me crazy to have to wait lol. But I will try it out.
Don't know if I asked you about IR photos? And retouching, if you ever have tried and your thoughts on the subject.
The long exposure NR has its place. I could see using it for astro photography, or other situations when you're not pressed for time like golden hour.
IR is on my radar. I don't have an IR converted camera yet, but have plans to work one into my photography.
I don't know where I picked this up, but most modern sensors should be able to handle upwards of 4-minute exposures in normal conditions without having to run in-camera noise-reduction - surely warmer/hotter days the sensor would be more susceptible to gaining heat and you probably should reduce the 4-minute level. I would also bet that if you did something like take a 10-minute video and then immediately proceed to try and take a 1+ minute long exposure you'd have some issues. I do know that when doing 4-minute-ish exposures up here in the winter I don't worry about it: it's too damned cold outside to double up the shot times... ;-) I think this hint is sort of like the one I saw on whether or not to use image stabilization (vibration reduction, ...): have it always OFF unless you KNOW you need it on.
I don't know about how long of an exposure is "safe" before needing the feature. 4 minutes matches the experience of David (see his comment on this video). You hit the bigger point, though, Alan. It's all about sensor heat. As you're taking more and more photos, the sensor is staying warm (maybe getting warmer) and that type of noise can creep in.
Some people confuse "High ISO Noise Reduction" with "Long Exposure Noise Reduction". On my Canon camera, the former is just some sort of "software filter" to reduce noise in JPEG photos. The latter, on the other hand, is way more useful - it's basically the dark frame subtraction method, except it's done automatically by the camera, and not by you. The camera takes one photo as usual, then closes the shutter and takes another "in the dark", and finally combines them to a single file (be it JPEG or RAW).
On your Canon, does the LENR require Canon's software to include the dark frame subtraction? Sounds like no, which is a very nice feature.
I guess not, since it's done on the file level, not metadata level. But these days, I consider turning this feature off, if it doesn't make THAT much of a difference. I have to test it. I missed some potentially good lightning shots because I had to wait.
Sony is similar then... the "blending" work is done in-camera. But, I agree... when I'm doing long exposures on the order of minutes, I turn LENR off so I don't miss shots :)
Hi Scott,
You mean that even we turn on “The long exposure noise reduction” in Sony a7RIII, The RAW file that comes out from the camera still have Hot pixels on the image?
If you turn on LENR, hot pixels are generally reduced (no promise of complete elimination). Check details about your specific camera. Try some tests of your own, too. If your photography style is low ISO most of the time, the tradeoff of the extra time required for the camera to process a photo may not be worth it.
Scott Davenport Thanks a lot
I have not used LENR so far. Early on one of my mentors suggested I leave off most "in-camera" functions as they take time and battery. And being as I don't presently do much LE landscape photography, I have not needed to understand this. But, now I do; thanks! BTW Still love those OTs! :0)
That's pretty true about many in-camera functions. It does depend on shooting style. And I know the video outtakes have been fewer. It's not because I don't mess up - I do that plenty. Most of the time the mess-ups aren't that interesting.
I took a photo and wanted to reduce grain/noise. Used tripod as it was sunset and low is light. Looking for the self timer I found this option ... long exposure noise reduction. Turned it on. Took a bunch of photos .... got home and wow ... what a mess. Exposures were 6 seconds on lowest iso and f 8. When I did a shorter exposure and update the iso to 400 it looked like a stipple painting 😞. So turned to utube to find out why and this video is one of the few that actually explains it. Most videos just prove the art of photography is quickly being lost and the artist is only an artist if they have access to fricking light room. Take that away and they are destroyed. And as you can only buy light room 6 stand alone from one place Amaz_ _ for £200.00 or a monthly subscription it's kind of like photographers crack cocain. They started off using it a bit but now they are addicted and can only keep using it and nothing else matters. So thanks for this explanation.
I've been hearing more recently that long exposure noise reduction is pointless unless you use the vendor specific software. Good to know that it may not always the case. I will have to check on my side. Definitely a pick your poison type of deal but I think it's worth experimenting with for sure. Very helpful as usual. Thanks!
Yeah... I was surprised that my Sony applied the NR to the actual RAW. That was a nice touch. I still won't leave the feature on by default, though :-)
Hi what brand is your nd filter? Great video!
I use filters from Formatt-Hitech. www.scottdavenportphoto.com/gear-filters
very good video
Just out of curo, when/if you get hot pixels through not having this turned on are they always in the same place (same pixel) or vary?
+Russell Webb From my experience, the hot spots vary.
Sooo, I shot a 30 min exposure in the middle of the night. (pitch black) at iso 100 and those sports were horrible, beyond beeing able to fix. So should I wait another 30 min with the noise reduction turned on?
If you can invest the time, in theory, the in-camera noise reduction will cancel out the sensor hot spots. Be sure to check if your camera puts the corrections directly into your RAW file, or if you need to use the vendor's software to process the photo.
@@ScottDavenport ok, thanks very much for the response! :)
Suggestion: You might be good a photography, but you need to work on your video sound. Too much bass, etc..
Thanks, and duly noted. The audio has come a long way since some of my earlier videos. Filming near the ocean continues to present challenges, and I keep on working to improve.