Hello to you all!
I m having a lot of trouble shooting images with a bit of dynamic range. The last video I shot I thought I had made a great exposure for the scene (with a little shadows in the corner, and some highlights), and for my surprise, in post, i realized may shadow was noisy and grainy. Can anyone help me with some tips. I would really love to be able to have black parts in some shots but I cannot do that because everything that is shadow or black, gets noisy.
I use a mark3 and 24 -105 kit lens (at f4).
Thanks a lot
The only way to reduce noise in the shadows non-destructively, is to increase exposure.
If you have highlight headroom, then it's easy. Otherwise you might be able to sacrifice some (more) highlights for the shadows.
Else you need to deal with the noise in post processing. That could be via a combination of noise reduction techniques and pushing the shadows towards black.
I would recommend to use raw based zebras (http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=12096.0#post_Zebras) with the raw zebra underexposure option set to 2 EV. With this option, anything covered on the LCD by white zebras will contain noise that will need to be dealt with in post processing, especially if you want to further raise the brightness levels in post. If the shadows have great importance to you, you will probably want to use the zebras to push the exposure as far to the right as possible, overexposing as many highlights as possible to reach your shadow goals.
If none of these options is suitable, then it's time to consider a switch to a Nikon/Sony.
@audionut quick slightly off topic question: I see people suggesting to switch to Nikon as an option frequently when people (complain) about noise or dynamic range, why is this?
The photography studio I work for shoots Nikon, and I shooting a d800 for them, and the noise is far worse than my 5d3. I notice their photos are able to pull a lot from shadows and highlights (D4), but the shadows are always noisy too
Post work, in your video editor.
just crush the shadows in post to perfect black ;D
Or raise the shadows and cut them off, gives a nice look with perfectly grey shadows and noise free (with no detail) ;D
Thanks to you all my friends. Every tip and every advice is more than helpful and welcome!
See you!!!
Noise and dynamic range are two different things.
The 5D3 will have the edge over the D800 from the highlights (camera saturation point) through to 10% light level (midtones) from an SNR (noise) standpoint.
At low ISO 800 and lower, the D800 will have the edge (less noise) in the shadows, with the noise advantage swinging further in favor of the D800 as ISO lowers.
At ISO 100, the D800 will capture around two stops more detail in the shadows compared to the 5D3.
From a noise standpoint, the D4 beats the 5D3 for the same amount of light hitting the sensors, at the same exposure settings, hands down. If your results show otherwise, there is some difference in the T-stop of the lenses being used, and/or more dust on the D4 sensor, and/or subjective bias, and/or post processor differences, and/or some other factor providing a significant effect on the outcome.
@audionut I see. I see. That all makes a lot of sense. Thanks for laying that out for me