Picture Style & Plugin to reduce Noisy Blacks

vladwolodarsky

vladwolodarsky

Active member
Hi All,

First off, DVXuser is a tremendous resource. This site has kept a lot more hair on my head!

I am going to be shooting in subway stations on a 60D. The shots are super contrasty and the blacks are really noisy right now.

The Canon 18-135 is on the front of the camera. ← It's all I can afford right now and I need the focal length range. The ISO is set between 800 & 1600 and I've been white balancing off of a sheet of paper.

I shot the 1st round of tests on the standard picture style and I am going to shoot another test today on the Neutral picture style with sharpness and contrast all the way down, and saturation 2 notches down. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?192819-Standard-vs-Superflat/page4&highlight=picture+style

My top priority is to keep the blacks from getting too noisy. I know this is a lot too ask with my current rig, but I just want to find something reasonable. Do you have any ideas of a picture style and plugin(ex: http://www.neatvideo.com/ ) combo that could be the best solution?
 
I'm running some tests right now, and my preliminary results don't look encouraging: anything I've tried to do to the picture style so far only generated more noise

I expect to have my full results in a week or so
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-28mm-f2...mera_Lenses&hash=item2a0de77f45#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-Vintage...era_Lenses&hash=item3cb4cb4c83#ht_4505wt_1139

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ex-Yashica-Yash...ltDomain_0&hash=item20b6f21b8c#ht_1326wt_1139

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-El-Nikkor...mera_Lenses&hash=item4aa83b3e57#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKKOR-50mm-f-2...amera_Lenses&hash=item3364a39eb2#ht_529wt_905

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKON-nikkor-AF...mera_Lenses&hash=item2c5a7d8563#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-NIKKOR-50...mera_Lenses&hash=item35afa44ab5#ht_500wt_1156


And there are many more. Buy the appropriate fotodiox adapter to attach the lenses. in all it shouldnt be more than $150 if so much. these lenses are faster than ur stock lens and as primes have better image quality. I have a yashica 28mm 2.8 i got fro 27 bucks...and its a real nice lens.

Combine that with that neutral setting and iso of 1250 and you should be fine. Neatvideo if necessary
 
jambredz said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-28mm-f2...mera_Lenses&hash=item2a0de77f45#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-Vintage...era_Lenses&hash=item3cb4cb4c83#ht_4505wt_1139

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ex-Yashica-Yash...ltDomain_0&hash=item20b6f21b8c#ht_1326wt_1139

and

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-El-Nikkor...mera_Lenses&hash=item4aa83b3e57#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKKOR-50mm-f-2...amera_Lenses&hash=item3364a39eb2#ht_529wt_905

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKON-nikkor-AF...mera_Lenses&hash=item2c5a7d8563#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-NIKKOR-50...mera_Lenses&hash=item35afa44ab5#ht_500wt_1156


And there are many more. Buy the appropriate fotodiox adapter to attach the lenses. in all it shouldnt be more than $150 if so much. these lenses are faster than ur stock lens and as primes have better image quality. I have a yashica 28mm 2.8 i got fro 27 bucks...and its a real nice lens.

Combine that with that neutral setting and iso of 1250 and you should be fine. Neatvideo if necessary
Click to expand...


Not to threadjack......but what adapter have you used succesfully with some of these lenses. I am looking to go this route but haven't looked into adapters that have worked succesfully, and are there any problems or extra steps that need to be made?
 
fotodiox adapters is what i use. I havent had any probs with them. I used a Kawa adapter already and didn't like how slack the lens fit...replaced it with a fotodiox
 
vladwolodarsky said:
Hi All,

The Canon 18-135 is on the front of the camera. ← It's all I can afford right now and I need the focal length range.
Click to expand...

You may think about selling it in the future and getting a Tamron non VC 17-50 2.8 along with a Nikon 100mm 2.8. Best of both worlds and both sharp lenses.
If you plan to shoot in the subway or at night in NYC f2.8 is a night and day difference from f3.5/5.6, literally. If you have little cash get a used Canon 50mm 1.8 and you will see the difference right away.
I just spent a few days in Singapore testing the Tamron at night at ISO 1250 to 2000 neutral 0-0-0-0 and it still looks relatively clean.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=ca...+18-135&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1311
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=ta...n+100mm&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1311
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=Ni...0mm+2.5&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
 
Last edited:
jambredz said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-28mm-f2...mera_Lenses&hash=item2a0de77f45#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yashica-Vintage...era_Lenses&hash=item3cb4cb4c83#ht_4505wt_1139

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ex-Yashica-Yash...ltDomain_0&hash=item20b6f21b8c#ht_1326wt_1139



and

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-El-Nikkor...mera_Lenses&hash=item4aa83b3e57#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKKOR-50mm-f-2...amera_Lenses&hash=item3364a39eb2#ht_529wt_905

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKON-nikkor-AF...mera_Lenses&hash=item2c5a7d8563#ht_500wt_1156

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nikon-NIKKOR-50...mera_Lenses&hash=item35afa44ab5#ht_500wt_1156


And there are many more. Buy the appropriate fotodiox adapter to attach the lenses. in all it shouldnt be more than $150 if so much. these lenses are faster than ur stock lens and as primes have better image quality. I have a yashica 28mm 2.8 i got fro 27 bucks...and its a real nice lens.

Combine that with that neutral setting and iso of 1250 and you should be fine. Neatvideo if necessary
Click to expand...

jambredz said:
fotodiox adapters is what i use. I havent had any probs with them. I used a Kawa adapter already and didn't like how slack the lens fit...replaced it with a fotodiox
Click to expand...



Could you possibly link the adapter that you have used / what camera you are shooting on?
 
Neat Video is awesome and should be in everyone's post production arsenal. It can significantly extended the render time, but it's almost always worth it. Neat Video can take a little playing with to get things 'just right' and I recommend creating a custom profile for your camera (at all ISO settings) because this will save you a LOT of searching for auto profile areas later.
 
Thank you for all of the tips. I will probably attack the noise from both fronts: lenses & neatvideo.

Right now I just need to get a couple in the can and figure out the focal lengths I must have to operate.

Thank you for the tip about the neatvideo ISO profiles. I am definitely going to add the ISO data to my slate today.

Btw, have you heard that white balancing on an 18% grey card will help clean up noisy blacks? I just might pickup a proper grey card and test it out.
 
Exact said:
Neat Video is awesome and should be in everyone's post production arsenal. It can significantly extended the render time, but it's almost always worth it. Neat Video can take a little playing with to get things 'just right' and I recommend creating a custom profile for your camera (at all ISO settings) because this will save you a LOT of searching for auto profile areas later.
Click to expand...
I was wondering if this works all the time? Isn´t the noise pattern changing according to the circumstances?
 
vladwolodarsky said:
Btw, have you heard that white balancing on an 18% grey card will help clean up noisy blacks? I just might pickup a proper grey card and test it out.
Click to expand...

I have not noticed the white balance to make any difference when it comes to noise, although the less color correction you have to do later, the less noise you will likely have in your end result, so it makes sense to white balance to something you know is correct (a white piece of paper is often not really a flat white, but a little red or blue).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top