basspig
Veteran
While pointing my EX3 at a white surface the other day, I was experimenting with the frame rate dial on the side of the camera body. I noticed that when I dialed it down to 1fps, the otherwise smooth gradient of white to grey tones as seen in the LCD became stepped (banded). The banding number of steps increased as I dialed higher frame rates, eventually ending in a smooth gradient when I dialed higher than 5fps.
Experiment: Try pressing and holding the frame dial until it activates (blue light) and dial down to 1 fps while aiming at a white wall. Does the image appear stepped rather than smooth gradient?
Now here's an interesting corollary to that: last summer, I recorded some time lapses of sun rays streaming through heavy clouds. The first recording was down by dialing down the FRAME knob on the camera body to 1fps. The next recording was done using Interval Record, set to 1fps. Here's the odd part: the first recording was nearly noise-free. The second recording had considerable grain.
I feel compelled to do more testing and experimentation with the goal of finding out what the mechanisms for the noise and banding issues are. Obviously, there are some alternate recording methods available on this camera which deserve careful consideration for each shooting situation.
Experiment: Try pressing and holding the frame dial until it activates (blue light) and dial down to 1 fps while aiming at a white wall. Does the image appear stepped rather than smooth gradient?
Now here's an interesting corollary to that: last summer, I recorded some time lapses of sun rays streaming through heavy clouds. The first recording was down by dialing down the FRAME knob on the camera body to 1fps. The next recording was done using Interval Record, set to 1fps. Here's the odd part: the first recording was nearly noise-free. The second recording had considerable grain.
I feel compelled to do more testing and experimentation with the goal of finding out what the mechanisms for the noise and banding issues are. Obviously, there are some alternate recording methods available on this camera which deserve careful consideration for each shooting situation.
