Critique Wanted Noise is killing me!!! Moeraki with X100

Jun

Regular
I recently took a trip to Moreaki which are famous for its round boulders. We became distracted watching sealions and were too late to see it in any light. so I tried some night time photography but the noise was becoming too much. Do you have any suggestions on how I could remove it? I know lowering ISO is the most obvious but is there anything I could do to compensate for the lose of exposure?

I tried lightroom to remove the noise but it can only do so much! Am I being too ambitious?

This is the boulders. iso 1600, 30sec f2.8
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On our way back we visited hidden secret of Dunedin.. Glow worms! at iso6400, 30sec f2.0
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I want to be able to take good star photography. Any advice? iso 1600, 25sec (using the 600 rule) f2.0
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My 2 lovely friends at Fleurs place. The fish comes straight off the boat into the kitchen which is 10 steps away from the jetty.
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Sealions and some birds on a rock + a rainbow
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thanks Luke, I used lightroom to remove noise alot, even though it works I don't like loosing detail. Would a faster lens be better? Im starting to get GAS everytime I see a fast lens review... :daz:
 
I think its mostly down to ISO. At those exposure times, you're obviously shooting from a tripod. And the point of shooting with a tripod in really low light with long exposures is to keep the ISO down. Higher ISOs have more noise to begin with and the longer you expose them, the worse it gets. I'd shoot these at the base ISO of 200 at whatever exposure is needed and see how that works. I don't do much (almost any) of this type of shooting, so I don't know if the X100 has any hard limits to the length of exposures - if 30 seconds is the limit, it might not be the right tool for the job.

That said, I don't see any noise either, but these are small versions - I went into your Flickr stream to see if there was a full res to see what you're talking about, but nothing much bigger.

-Ray
 
For this kind of long exposure you probably want to shoot at base ISO (200) and use a smaller aperture to maximize sharpness and depth of field. F8 is often a safe choice. You also want to activate the "Long Exposure NR" function that is found somewhere in the X100 menus. You should be able to expose for several minutes in bulb mode.
 
Hi ray I don't have a pro account on flickr to upload full res images. The x100 is limited to 30sec timed but it does have a bulb setting. Only thing is I don't have a shutter release cable yet to use it with. Photography seems to be a never ending buying game :tongue:
 
Dude. That third image was taken by what is commonly referred to as a point and shoot camera.

Let me run that by you again ....POINT .... AND ....SHOOT CAMERA! Albeit a rangefinder copy etc.

It's a bloody miracle if you ask me.

You can't have a longer exposure than 30 seconds on the X100. I think you need to tone down your expectations from this small compact. The pictures are great!

Also why didn't you shoot all wide for the first image? Also what's the shutter speed on the last image? The water looks really nice. Love the picture!
 
If you go to the Set menu (spanner) and page 5 there is the option to have in-camera Long Exposure NR On or Off. When shooting in B or T settings for shutter speed with this set to On the camera processes a 'dark frame' with the shutter closed for the same time as the original exposure. Because the shutter is closed it records just the sensor noise and subtracts it from the original image. Each exposure takes twice as long and some folk still prefer to use a dedicated NR program in post processing.

I agree with Ray to extend the time and use a low ISO in which case you probably will want to have Long Exposure NR on.

With the shutter speed set to T (time) the exposure is limited to 30 seconds. Set to B (bulb) this extends to 60 minutes but you have to keep the shutter button depressed which can introduce movement.

It is pretty much a case of trial and error to see what works for you. That said your images are quite acceptable in my opinion.
 
You are NOT expecting too much from this camera. When it comes to noise, the X100 is only beat by the full frame giants. Regardless of its' form factor, it is certainly not a point and shoot. You have gotten good recommendations from everyone above. Follow them all and your photos will be excellent. And a cable release should only be a couple dollars. Keep shooting and sharing!
 
+2 on the cable release. I picked one up on ebay for about $12.00(US). The nice thing about it is that it keeps your hands away from the camera. Mine also came with a locking mechanism. You can lock the shutter open for as long as needed and walk away from the camera while you sip on your beverage of choice!:drinks:
 
Thanks guys. i always wondered what the Long exposure NR was. I really should have read my manual...

Just keep in mind that long exposure NR will double the time to shoot and record an image. The camera will take a second exposure with the shutter closed for the same length of time as the actual image exposure itself. This is how it maps any hot pixels arising from a long exposure and removes them from the original image.
 
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