Long Exposure Noise: Ask David Bergman

Today's question from Joseph F: “I’m shooting images at a low ISO, but with long exposures like 51 seconds. I’m on a tripod and am still seeing noise in my photos. Is the problem with my camera or settings and how do I get rid of the noise?"
Gear used in this episode:
Canon EOS R Mirrorless Full Frame Digital Camera Body
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Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Zoom Lens
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Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Black Aluminum Tripod with MVH502AH Pro Video Head
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Production equipment used to produce this video:
Canon EOS R Mirrorless Full Frame Digital Camera Body
www.adorama.co...
Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Zoom Lens
www.adorama.co...
Rode Microphones RODELink Digital Wireless System
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CLAR S30 Focusing LED Light 3-Light Kit
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Manfrotto MT055XPRO3 Black Aluminum Tripod with MVH502AH Pro Video Head
www.adorama.co...
Lastolite 6x7' Chromakey Collapsible Disc Background, Green
www.adorama.co...
Go to www.AskDavidBer... to submit your own photo question, see David's gear list, and view the episode archive.
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#longexposurenoise #hotpixels #askdavidbergman

[@kevinmclin8263]

That was a very good discussion of dark counts and how to get rid of them. One other way that astronomers remove dark counts is to cool their cameras, either with electronic coolers or liquid nitrogen. Once the sensor temperature drops below about -10 or -15 C, the dark counts become pretty much negligible, at least with modern sensors. Not a practical solution for a non-specialized camera, of course.
There is one source of noise you get with long exposures that you simply cannot get rid of any way but manually (including writing a program to find and delete the artifacts). That is cosmic rays. If you have your sensor on for any amount of time longer than 30 or 60 seconds you will probably have cosmic ray hits. These are from muons produced by collisions of high energy particles in the upper atmosphere. Some of the "hot pixels" you see in your images are these cosmic rays, and no dark correction will remove them. I wanted to add this bit so that people do not get frustrated if they see artifacts that the cannot remove with the method you described. Sensors also have innately hot (and cool) pixels, too. These are pixels that are intrinsically more or less light sensitive than the pixels around them, and they give bright and dark spots that cannot be removed by a dark correction and that are not temperature dependent. But that is a whole other topic, and for all I know, consumer cameras have processing built into them to minimize the effects of these pixels.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Great info, thanks. "Cosmic, man!"

[@mvrz6]

This is the most useful and simple explanation on UA-cam, thanks!

[@DyablommeHaywood]

Glad someone else asked the question I would have asked. Thanks to David and Adorama!

[@melissam731]

Very good to know. I don't shoot many long exposures and didn't realize how to correct the pixels. Thank you!

[@RonsLens]

Great information, Dave! Always great to see you share what you know.

[@briant4078]

I knew all this but you have done, again, a great job of explaining things. Love these 'ask' vids. Short and easy to watch. Keep 'em coming. Like the Adorama vids.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Thanks!

[@devendranagpal8972]

Thanks David, learnt something new about Noise. Glad i watched it finally after ignoring the notification a few times.

[@Lensandwheels_]

It’s something new! Thanks David

[@barclayjb]

I had no idea. This was very helpful. Thanks David.

[@steveh2268]

Good solid and informative answer. Thanks David

[@phynx2006]

Learned something new today, Thank You 📷

[@noemyohara148]

Just what I needed ...thank you!!

[@jeffnewman8261]

Thank you David!

[@MikeJamesMedia]

Thanks, David!

[@danbrowning2418]

Paul Reiffer also did a live video today on night sky adjustments.. He noted that in Capture One Pro, you can use the single pixel slider to fix the heat noise. It's pretty slick.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

I will check that out, thanks! Will most things photography, there are multiple ways to solve any problem.

[@Twobarpsi]

So well explained!

[@dubaigeek1988]

Insightful

[@watercloset99]

Man, you're the best

[@siulhisaleehernandezsantos6672]

Gracias

[@billwendry]

Sheesh. There’s so much to learn , right?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

We're all always learning.

[@ellyelzinga01]

I would probably try taking the picture into photoshop and use the spot healing brush tool or the clone stamp.. Would this not be working?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yup, that works. Just don’t clone out any of the stars. It might be hard to tell a white hot pixel from a star or a planet!

[@josewantland]

Does the file size gets larger with the Long Exposure Noise Reduction turn on ?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

No, because it's still only gives you a single RAW image. It does not layer or save the black frame.

[@thejotaran6731]

Awesome

[@awwwtraveler]

The same happen with my Lumix GX85 when long exposures more then 30 sec, no noise but because the hot pixel all over the images 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@wdhale14094]

At 60sec exposure, how did you not get star trails in your photo??

[@simonhill7121]

Capture One has a Single Pixel option designed precisely to fix hot pixels in post production

[@fofolara]

The black frame at what speed was it taken?

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Same as the non-black frame. 60 seconds. But with the lens cap on.

[@fofolara]

@@DavidBergmanPhoto Thank you very much for answering.

[@user-kt8gb6it8z]

I always use that the blackout kinda annoying

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Yea, but it helps so much if you have the time!

[@johnhambyphotography]

There is a free program called “DeepSkyStacker” you might want to check out.

[@DavidBergmanPhoto]

Looks cool, thanks!

[@rishipratap9381]

I am the first viewer