Bad copy of 7D?

[Snorri94]

Hi,

In April I bought myself a Canon EOS 7D. I was in France and saw it on a good price. The store had no copys available but the sold me the copy that was in the 'show-room' (Excuse my bad English, I'm from Iceland). Now when I look at my photos I can see that the noise is very high (Even with a ISO 200). Also, when I move the files from the camera to the computer the files look like this:



Here are examples: ISO 200


100% Crop


Original:

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Not a bad copy


CR2 is CAnon RAW file, you either need Canon Digital Photo Professional or a third party software to read RAW files


The noise is normal. 7D has "a lot" of noise compares to other cameras. Just keep in mind that cramping 18 megapixel into a APS-C censor and still producing that little amount of noise is amazing.

[neuroanatomist]

Welcome!


Well, first off the_MG_0000.CR2 naming meansyou've got the camera set to the Adobe RGB color space instead of sRGB color space. sRGB is the usual setting unless you're sending to a publisher that requires Adobe RGB, or you're printing it on an inkjet - for computer monitors and most commercial printing on photo paper, sRGB is the color space to use.


You're apparently using a Mac. Macs running current software can natively recognize .CR2 files from the 7D (mine does, and I can open them in Preview, iPhoto, etc.). The icon you're seeing on the .CR2 file is a Mac 'generic' icon (I see it when I copy MS Outlook .msg files or Windows configuration .ini files onto my Mac, for example). It means your Mac is not recognizing the RAW file. Run Software Update, or download the relevant updater -Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 2.7 is the one that provided native support for the 7D's RAW files. Note that you've got to be running at least 10.5.8 or 10.6.2 for that update. Independent of Mac OS X natively recognizing the RAW files, they should open in DPP - make sure you have the latest version of that software from Canon.


Now, about the noise. I'm not sure what your basis for comparison is that's resulting in your perception of 'very high noise' in the image. If you look at one of Bryan's noise examples from his 7D review, you'll see what I think is similar noise to that in your images. Here's the ISO 200 example:






Compared to the 5D II, the 7D has more noise even at these low ISO settings. That's one big difference (the biggest difference, IMO) between a 1.6x crop sensor and a FF sensor.


You can also apply varying degrees of noise reduction in DPP if you're shooting RAW.


As a side note, there's also some lateral chromatic aberration in your image (the green fringing around the features in the blurred out background and evident at the neck/shoulder in the 100% crop). It's not that big a deal, really, but DPP can also correct for the CA automatically, based on settings specific for the lens you're using (assuming it's a Canon lens, not a 3rd party lens).

[Snorri94]

Thank you for good answers!

Well I'm really disappointed if this is normal amount of noise on ISO 200, I've seen other photos on ISO 3200 and they are performing really well. My photos are even bad at ISO 100!

About the sRGB an Adobe RGB. I choose to use the Adobe RGB color space, with my english knowledge it's hard to explain but I wont switch to sRGB

I found my CD with DPP and the ISO performance is still 'bad'. Lightroom is just to awesome to let go.

I'm getting my camera checked tomorrow - I'll let you know about the resaults.

[neuroanatomist]

've seen other photos on ISO 3200 and they are performing really well.

ISO 3200 on a 7D? I can tell you from my experience ISO 3200 on a 7D is tolerable in terms of noise performance...but justtolerable. I certainly wouldn't call it 'performing well'.

I'm getting my camera checked tomorrow - I'll let you know about the resaults.

Do let us know.


For comparison, here's a shot at ISO 200 from my 7D (the 'jittery' bokeh is from the wire mesh of an enclosure that I shot through):


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EOS 7D,EF 70-200mm f/2.8<span style="color: red;"]LIS II USM @ 200mm, 1/250 s, f/2.8, ISO 200


In a 100% crop from the image above, here is some perceptible noise, even at low ISOs. But, your 100% crop does seem a little noisier. If it's RAW processed in Lightroom, maybe that's part of the issue? Try DPP, at least. The shot above is straight-from-the-7D jpg with Standard picture style (actually shot RAW+JPG, but I haven't gotten around to processing the RAW files from the outing this past Saturday).

[Keith B]

If it's RAW processed in Lightroom, maybe that's part of the issue? Try DPP, at least. The shot above is straight-from-the-7D jpg with Standard picture style (actually shot RAW+JPG, but I haven't gotten around to processing the RAW files from the outing this past Saturday).

I'm definitely not an authority (never used Lightroom), but the ACR that came with CS3 Photoshop (maybe improved by now) was not nearly as good at rendering RAWs as Aperture and I would expect Canon's proprietary software to be even better.


I'd certainly try the Canon software then compare them.


Have the exposure levels or shadow levels been altered in the photo? That will increase the appearance of noise regardless of initial ISO.