Long Exposure Noise Reduction (Sony A7iii) - what does it really do?
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- This week, I'm testing the long exposure noise reduction feature in my Sony A7iii. Most cameras have this function but I wanted to know what it actually does so I went out and did just that!
The results from this are quite interesting and I learned a lot for doing this test...it's definitely worth doing yourself to better understand your camera.
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Thanks
Mike
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Thanks so much! Finally a video that really clarifies this feature.
I’m glad I could clear it up for you. 👍
I’m actually just working on another video on long exposure noise right now....the four different ways to get rid of it......so keep an eye out for that one really soon! 👍
Your information is really useful to understand one of the main challenge for photographers. Thank you so much for sharing this..👏👏
Thanks so much! I'm glad it was helpful! 😁👍
Hey Mike, fantastic video that really helps even years after the upload!
I have a question - because the NR on setting essentially doubles the time, does it mean that the subject or the background needs to be constant? What if the subject moves during the latter half duration of the capture -- basically how does this setting work? Does it simply look for the noise during the latter half of the time, or does it capture the image the whole time and look for noise patterns in the second half of the timing? Thanks.
This video was very thorough. Like very very thorough. You are a way better creator than I: but I, personally, would have rather you given your conclusion up front and then the explanation afterwards. Again thanks for all your awesome videos!
No worries Chris, thanks for the feedback 😁👍...on the really techie ones like this, I’ll maybe put a timecode stamp at the start so you can skip to the conclusion if necessary in future tutorials. 👍
Mike Smith dude- your videos are so great I seriously contemplated hard before posting that comment. I figured no harm no foul. You seam pretty approachable.
That’s Awesome Mike. I got way to impatient when I got my A7R3 and turned that feature off, but now you have me reconsidering my decision for sure!
Thanks so much Chad! I'm like you in that I have it turned off. It is so frustrating having to wait that extra time for each exposure, but it was intriguing after making this video...I've been doing some projects recently where I have been taking 4 minute exposures and lots of them around the city...long exposure noise reduction just isn't an option as it double the time taken throughout the day, halving the amount of shots I can get.
I also did this video on getting rid of long exposure noise reduction that you might find interesting: ua-cam.com/video/X5nNxGosY0Q/v-deo.html&t
Thanks for watching! 👍
Hi Mike! I recently purchased a Sony a7III and while doing some research online, I came across your channel and have been loving it! thank you for all the super useful content. I have a question: in your astrophotography tutorial, you suggest turning long exposure NR off; I thought it had to do with the algorithm getting rid of some of the stars. after watching this video, it seems like it does a good job at not doing that. I was wondering what you recommend doing when shooting the night sky: get rid of the NR or leave it?
You're right, I turn off NR noise reduction. This is because it takes so long to process the image. When shooting the stars with wide angles, and even from a tracker, I am often shooting exposures 15, 30 or 60 seconds and longer. With LENR on, this doubles the time for each exposure which light not sound like much, but this really eats into the time you have available to shoot. There's nothing worse than shooting a 30 second exposure and then having to wait for the camera to finish processing the shot befoer you are able to use the camera at all.
I hope that makes sense.
Thanks for watching 😁👍
@@mikesphotography yes all. clear. thank you Mike!
I never used this feature thinking that it could degrade the photo in some kind of way. I always think that I could fix the problems of the photo later on photoshop (using the Dust & Scratches filter). Thank you Mike for this comparison! 🙏🏼 I'm sure I'll use this feature when I shot the foreground with really long exposures with low ISO. Great job!!
Yeah, I never use it normally...it takes far too much time waiting around for it to process. Much better sitting in front of the computer with a beer, getting rid of them. 😎
That’s a great way to use it though! I’ll have to try that as well! 👍
I went out in the desert to do some milkyway shots the other day and this noise worked its way into the 30second exposures. It was definitely the heat as it was 40degrees+.
You are right! hahaha but I'll try it next time to compare those two way of doing it.
I remember the first time I tried a really long exposure, it was a 46 minutes photo, that's when I knew what hot pixels are hahaha
Hot pixels are so hard to avoid on hot places, I have to deal with it all the time but it's not a big problem
Now that’s a really long exposure!! I bet they were bright in that one!! 😳
Yeah, they’re not too bad to get rid of....👍
Very helpful video! Thank you 🙏
And thank you for watching 😁👍
This is great stuff Mike, thank you! Can you do a video about using DRO or not? (Dynamic Range Optimizer) Oh yeah, and why are some of your shots in this video 6000x4000 pixels and not full sensor?
Thanks Tor! I’ve got a video planned on what different settings change your raw files and which ones just have an impact on jpegs so I’ll be covering DRO in that one.
The 6000x4000 shots are the full sensor readout from the a7iii and the larger ones (can’t remember the res) are from the a7rii. So just two different megapixel cameras. 👍
Hey Mike, I really enjoy watching your videos, so heres another noob-question from me :) The A73 is considered to be a toptier low-light camera. (I upgraded from A72 to A73, without any knowledge), so my question is how come so? What does the A73 have what others don't have? Is it less noise on higher ISOs than other cameras on the same ISO? thank you very much! :)
Thanks so much!
With the A7iii, they have just refined the sensor and as technology advances, so does the ability to shoot with higher ISO levels with less noise. Also, the sony sensors are ISO invariant and this helps a lot in low light.
Thanks for watching. 😁👍
Mike, interesting enough, just prior to watching this video I watch your Astrophotography video and I believe in that you stated to have the NR off. So needless to say, now I'm confused.
Could you enlighten me?
So in my astrophotography video I did say to turn it off and I do turn it off permanently. This is just a video where I find out what it actually does as I've never done a side by side comparison before.
I thought it was quite interesting with the results so I made a video on it.
I've also done a video on how to get rid of long exposure noise and the different ways you can go about getting rid of it.
ua-cam.com/video/X5nNxGosY0Q/v-deo.html
It's just good to know all of the different ways you can improve your photos and all the functions the camera has to offer. Then you can make an informed decision for yourself. 😁👍
wow.. this is an awesome find! i dont think any of other youtubers covered this topic! I always wonder how to get rid of those hot pixels. So in conclusion the in camera noise reduction will work!
Thanks Misael! Glad you like the content!! 👍
Yes, indeed. If you are patient, and have time to wait for the camera to process the image, it will work.
One question Mike, if the LENR helps to remove the hot pixels, why many photographers suggested turn it off when doing Astrophotography? Just a bit confuse:)
No worries. The long exposure noise reduction takes the same time as the exposure to process the image. If you're taking a 30 second exposure, you have to wait another 30 seconds for the shot to complete.
This might not seem too much of a problem for one or two exposures, but when you're taking different compositions through the night and have a limited amount of darkness, it's amazing how quickly the night flies by. So by having LENR on, you're basically halving the amount of shots you will get over a night shoot.
With LENR off, you can take a lot more shots throughout the night and then remove any long exposure noise afterwards when editing.
I made a video on different ways to get rid of this noise: ua-cam.com/video/X5nNxGosY0Q/v-deo.html
Does that make sense?
@@mikesphotography Yes, thanks.
In astrophotography it is common to take a long "dark frame" picture with the lens cap on. This reveals all the hot pixels which can then be subtracted in software from your long exposure shots, hence no need for LENR. I think this is exactly what the Sony is doing, but in camera on every shot. That is why it doubles the shot time - one for the picture, one for a dark frame. That is also why LENR doesn't erase stars - it is only neutralizing hot pixels which are always in the same place for your particular camera.
Is it okay to always leave noise reduction on all the time? Shooting studios shots, landscapes and eveyy other stuff.. Thanks!
Hi Racel,
Yes it is. It only starts to get annoying on exposures over 15-20seconds.
Thanks for watching!
@@mikesphotography great video and info! Pls keep it coming, Thanks for the reply! Anyway how do you shoot this in your cam? What mode?
I find it weird that the "noise" seems to be in the same pixels independet of exposure time. Is this really noise from the incoming light, or is it the small physical inaccuracies in the manufactured camera (sensor, lense, etc), or something else?
Long exposure noise is a weird one, they stay the same until you do a sensor clean where the camera remaps the sensor. Then they are in different places, but then keep those places until the next remap.
It could be tiny bits of dust causing the light to be refracted away from those pixels which then change after a sensor clean cycle?
I have a question about the cleaning sensor mode in sony a73
which is better to perform it when the lens is attached on the camera or should i remove the lens? because I think that when you perform this function while the lens is attached the sensor might throw some dust on the rear element of the lens while it's vibrating so what do you suggest me to do?
Good question, I normally turn the camera face down and then do the sensor clean...after that, I take the lens of and use the blower to get rid of any dust that might have fallen on the rear element.
Thanks for watching 😁👍
@@mikesphotography thank you
How does one get the camera to shoot longer than 30 seconds? :O
That's a good question. The best way is to use an intervalometer or a remote shutter cable. Then you set your camera to bulb mode and use the remote shutter to hold the shutter open for as long as you want. 👍
@@mikesphotography oh. I totally forgot about the bulb mode😅 thanks for replying! Your video is very informative
Long exposure noise reduction can work in RAW?
Yes, from the tests that I ran, it gets rid of the noise in the RAW files as well as the jpegs.
Hi if im doing exposures of around 15-25 seconds. Then layering 3-4 images of them. Should i still turn the NR on or issit ok to off them? Not sure if it will make a big difference
It depends what you are photographing. If it is of a night sky, I'd switch it off as the stars do move a lot more than you think over that amount of time. If there is nothing really moving that much in your shot, then you can have it either on or off. 👍
Mike Smith thanks for ur reply. Im photographing automotive and using a a6500. Will the hot pixels be obvious during the 15-25 seconds of shutter?
It makes no sense to test long exposure reduction regarding stars without a tracker. The algorithm would delete starts but only if they are sharp and small. Long trails would never be affected. The problem with long exposure noise reduction is with sharp small stars. With or without tracker it affects them since it doesnt identify as stars. Long trails the algorithm is not able to interfere otherwise any long exposure with car or vehicles light trails would be deleted. So, the algorithm just clean what is identifyied as hot pixels with colors and sharpness and even those sometimes still.
Thanks for your feedback Raphael.
What intrvalometer you use for a7iii?
I use a third party intervalometer I bought off amazon. Here’s a video where you can see which one I have and how it works.
ua-cam.com/video/XoBTGeEA6aw/v-deo.html
Is long exposure nr affects video too ..?
Hi Fernando,
No, this is just for photography...for video you would have to get a plug-in like denoiser or something similar.
Thanks for watching. 👍
Mike Smith thx for replying,,I’m using a Sony a6300 this option (long exposure nr) is available to switch on/off even on video mode,,I thought it was necessary,,thx again.
Fernando tuto no worries. Yeah, it’s still available when you’re in video mode but doesn’t do anything, so it’s good to ask to see if it does do anything.
Thanks 😁👍
I have the Va version but I am not able to get it work. I never get the message that this function is in progress. Do you have any ideas why this is so?
The Va version? Not sure what you mean by that?
@@mikesphotographysorry I meant the rx100 Va. But I think that it is working. I tested it and when the long exposure NR is on a message saying processing appears. Thanks a lot for getting back to me
my question==noise reduction is used in video shoot also....??
No, in camera noise reduction is for long exposure noise when the sensor heats up over the expsoure time of a single still image.
For noise reduction in video, it's best done in post with plug-ins like Neat Video or Denoiser.
Thanks for watching. 👍
👌🏼👏🏼
Thanks Hamood!!
Now do High ISO NR ;)