E520 In Low Light

[peterb666]

I was shooting in low light recently and also wanted to do HDR so I had exposure bracketing on. With bracketing, you can take 3 individual shots or use sequential shooting.

I was surprised that my images were very noisy with a fair few hot pixels and salt and pepper noise all over. These exposures were typically 4 to 8 second exposures at ISO100 and 200 and the camera (E-P1) normally does a smashing job. After looking through the camera manual a bit, I discover that noise reduction is turned OFF when using sequential shooting. D'oh - that's what I did wrong!

I just did some test shots at 60s and let's just say the difference is phenomenal. I won't be doing that again. With noise reduction and single shot, no hot pixels and very little salt and pepper noise.

I don’t know about the E-520, but if it behaves the same, make sure you DO NOT have sequential shooting turned on for long exposures.

[Ross the fiddler]

I was shooting in low light recently and also wanted to do HDR so I had exposure bracketing on. With bracketing, you can take 3 individual shots or use sequential shooting.

I was surprised that my images were very noisy with a fair few hot pixels and salt and pepper noise all over. These exposures were typically 4 to 8 second exposures at ISO100 and 200 and the camera (E-P1) normally does a smashing job. After looking through the camera manual a bit, I discover that noise reduction is turned OFF when using sequential shooting. D'oh - that's what I did wrong!

I just did some test shots at 60s and let's just say the difference is phenomenal. I won't be doing that again. With noise reduction and single shot, no hot pixels and very little salt and pepper noise.

I don’t know about the E-520, but if it behaves the same, make sure you DO NOT have sequential shooting turned on for long exposures.

Thats what I had discovered when it first happened to me & had changed my setting accordingly (from multi shutter to single shutter), but that was at least 18 months ago, so that I had forgotten about that & yes, the E520 is the same.

Ross

[sketty]

I had similar problems when I first started using my 620, but really the problem was me not understanding what I was doing properly as I've since conquered most of those issues (noise and struggling focus). I've since taken nightscapes with 60sec exposures and no noise issues at all (at ISO 100).

At the time I was thinking I'd made a mistake going 4/3s but once I figured out what I was doing (and especially after I got the 12-60) I reaffirmed that I made the right choice for me. The Oly high grade bodies and lenses are great quality and relatively affordable, and my system is reasonably small and easy to carry about which was a major point for me. I also like going with the outsider and an innovative upstart

I wouldn't bother getting into comparisons/battles with APS-C or FF sensors. Whatever suits you is the best system for you - they all have advantages over others. 4/3 isn't great at the super high ISOs, but they are catching up (the 620 is good to 800, usable to 1600).

[Ross the fiddler]

I had similar problems when I first started using my 620, but really the problem was me not understanding what I was doing properly as I've since conquered most of those issues (noise and struggling focus). I've since taken nightscapes with 60sec exposures and no noise issues at all (at ISO 100).

At the time I was thinking I'd made a mistake going 4/3s but once I figured out what I was doing (and especially after I got the 12-60) I reaffirmed that I made the right choice for me. The Oly high grade bodies and lenses are great quality and relatively affordable, and my system is reasonably small and easy to carry about which was a major point for me. I also like going with the outsider and an innovative upstart

I wouldn't bother getting into comparisons/battles with APS-C or FF sensors. Whatever suits you is the best system for you - they all have advantages over others. 4/3 isn't great at the super high ISOs, but they are catching up (the 620 is good to 800, usable to 1600).

Sounds like you have a nice setup. I have the 14-54 II on the E30 (which I have been ear bashing everybody with) & it works nice. I went for that lens initially to put to put on my E520 because I wanted to take people shots in live view with its larger aperture & bigger zoom range than the 14-42 kit lens. That priority is much less now for the CD-AF in live view & the faster, quieter focusing of the 12-60 would be even more appreciated, but with it being heavier, larger filter thread & nearly double the price of the 14-54 II, I've had to settle for what I have & still love it.

Doing battles is pointless as you say, but I get started when critiscisms of Olympus gear is made in ignorance or misunderstanding. It's a bit unfortunate if you've sold your gear out of disatification with it arising from insufficient knowledge of it's functions & operations. The manuals may not explain everything as well as it could, but there are sights like Photo tidbits of the Olympus E-System by J. Andrzej Wrotniak that are very helpful in getting the most of of your Oly E system cameras.

I've taken night shots that were long on the E520 too & a 60 sec shot takes a little while as it takes the 60 seconds noise reduction exposure after it, then because I like to save every thing as SF JPEG + RAW, it takes just that much longer, but it is worth it. One thing to remember, don't get impatient during that time & pickup the camera to run with it, as it will change the auto aspect of it when saving it. Your landscape photo might be saved in portrait position instead. Not much of a concern, as it can easily be rotated in camera, but it can happen nonetheless.

Ross

[Ross the fiddler]

I would like to show 2 of my photos. The first was taken with single frame to show how not too bad a noise is seen in a photo despite it being at ISO 400 plus Auto Gradation On (auto shadow adjustment) at low noise filter setting for 5 secs.
P5264336awb.jpg

& then later with ISO 100 but because the sequential shutter drive was on it disabled the noise reduction & shows some hot pixels. Auto gadation is off so doesn't highlight the shadows with bringing up the noise but was for 60 seconds & noise filter setting is also off (must have been experimenting).
P6164835s.jpg

With careful attention to settings, it is possible to get some nice night photos. I was still just learning to take night shots when these were taken & I'm still learning.

I hope this is of some benefit to those with questions on noise & hot pixels in longer exposures.

Ross

[nissanman]

Ive got a E-620, ive taken a few low-light and night shots with it, (nothing worth posting) but as far as i could tell it was not noisy at ISO 100. Only thing i had trouble with was blur due to handheld and shutter speed.

Cheers,

J

[Ross the fiddler]

Ive got a E-620, ive taken a few low-light and night shots with it, (nothing worth posting) but as far as i could tell it was not noisy at ISO 100. Only thing i had trouble with was blur due to handheld and shutter speed.

Cheers,

J

Yes they do it OK, but buy a tripod & a remote cable (can be generic off ebay) or use timer on camera or shutter delay (anti-shake).

The last post of course was to show poor choice in settings gives poor results in image, although it can be knudged if needed. The use of Noise Ninja or Neat Image are also very good to clean up anything that does show noise. The E620 & E30 does do better than the E520 for ISO range though.

Enjoy yor E620.

Ross

[Wulfys Kingdom]

I have a question - someone told me that when cleaning up noise in noise programs, Olympus images retain better detail compared to some other camera brand images? I dont know whether it's been tested side by side or anything or whether it's just an observation. Has anybody heard/seen/read this or can verify? Thought it might be appropriate to ask here?

[peterb666]

I have a question - someone told me that when cleaning up noise in noise programs, Olympus images retain better detail compared to some other camera brand images? I dont know whether it's been tested side by side or anything or whether it's just an observation. Has anybody heard/seen/read this or can verify? Thought it might be appropriate to ask here?

Recent Olympus models started to become competitive from the E-620 onwards. Each new model brings about an incrimental improvement. The most recent is the E-PL1 which DPreview reckon is doing a better job than the Nikon D3000 and they also comment is a match for the Canon EOS 500D an Pentax K-x.

Review of Olympus E-PL1

[Wulfys Kingdom]

Thanks for the link. It was an interesting read.

[telemeister]

Interesting discussion guys. I went back to have a look at my low light shots. The highest ISO I have is 1600 with a 1.3sec shutter speed and there isn't much noise at all (using tripod, f5). I have 1600 ISO shots with 60 sec speed that have a bit of noise (f/11) (although there are a lot of things wrong with those photos, so there could also be other factors contributing). The other ones I have are 1/5 sec speed at 800 ISO (f/4.5), again, not much noise. These photos were taken indoors in a very dark cathedral. Finally, the photos I have taken on tripods at night with ISOs of 100, 200 or 400 all have no noise.

[Roosta]

After reading all that feedback Dust Angel, I believe you've got a capable camera, and like me, probally need to get out there and try different things - settings - iso and the like and see for ourselves. I feel you can get some great ideas for settings from some of the above text (I know I did, but don't know if my older unit can do half those things)and have a go, show us some of your pics. If I can get the quailty of shot that i'm happy with and my brother inlaw was impressed with (Nikon D90 owner) well, whats stopping you from experimenting???? Have fun.

[Roosta]

Interesting discussion guys. I went back to have a look at my low light shots. The highest ISO I have is 1600 with a 1.3sec shutter speed and there isn't much noise at all (using tripod, f5). I have 1600 ISO shots with 60 sec speed that have a bit of noise (f/11) (although there are a lot of things wrong with those photos, so there could also be other factors contributing). The other ones I have are 1/5 sec speed at 800 ISO (f/4.5), again, not much noise. These photos were taken indoors in a very dark cathedral. Finally, the photos I have taken on tripods at night with ISOs of 100, 200 or 400 all have no noise.

What camera and lens set up have you used mostly to get your lowlight results?

[telemeister]

What camera and lens set up have you used mostly to get your lowlight results?

Hey,
I have an E520 used with a 40-150mm lens (f/4.0-5.6) (standard kit lens). The noisy photo at 1600 had was at 61mm for 13 seconds with an f/11. The photo is pretty dreadful, but I as really just experimenting with the camera and seeing what each of the settings do.

The other photos, with little noise, were taken with the same camera and lens with exposure of around 1.3 seconds and f stop of 4 to 5.

The night was a complete experiment for me and the photos aren't very good, but there isn't a huge amount of noise in them with the exception of the 1600 ISO