Since I got my new Canon 1ds Mark III, I have noticed a problem in noise. This camera is said to be superb in its low noise capacity. In my experience, this is the noisiest camera I have ever had. And I have had 16 top of the line digital cameras in the past six years.

Tonight I shot some dusk sunset images at f/11-16, ISO 200, exposure 5-8 seconds. The images are filled with single white ghost pixels. No amount of noise reduction touched these. I tried proccessing the RAWs in PSCS3, Canon DPP, Capture One 4, all with same results. This noise is very clear even at 50% viewing.

On daylight shots with far shorter exposure time and flash, I still see noise. I am talking about hundreds of whte pixels.

I am curious if this is just my camera or if others share this problem?

Hmmm..

I haven't done any exposures that long yet, but everything I've done at high ISO looks good for noise.
Better than the DsII for sure.

The new camera IMO also has better color at high ISO.

I've noticed noticeable noise at ISO400 - something which was never really an issue with my previous camera, the 5D.

A 21mp 35mm chip is going to be noisy, but I would love to hear other users' opinions.

Mine is very clean up to iso 800 (critically clean for large enlargements). At iso 800 there is a tad of noise but detail is still superb and color accuracy also and even though when viewed at 100% you see a tad of noise when printed its negligible. Its very close to my 5D but the noise is better quality hard to explain.

I am more than happy with Canon's 'balance' in terms of noise, resolution and 'look' with the 1DS3. I think this camera's files look more like film than any other digital device i have owned, which includes Phase P20,5D and 1DS2. Perhaps the noise at all ISO's is what gives it the feel it has, but anything that takes the plastic look of the 1DS2 away is fine by me, colours are nicer too.

Can you upload such a raw file for analysis?

I printed a picture of my daughter at 15 by 10, that was shot at iso 1600 and then pushed by 1.1 stop in post and with only default colour nr in LR and about 10 luminance the print shows just a little luminance noise in the edge of her nose by the soft eye. There is also a little luminance noise in a couple of darker oof areas. This is printed on an IPF5000. Overall I think the pic is stunning for a snap that required almost no work - just LR to CS3 for output sharpen and print.

Mike

The 1DSmk3 is one of the cleanest cameras available. If you are getting white spots in both camera JPEGs and in conversions of RAWS, then your individual camera is probably defective.

I've had the camera for about three months now, and it is far cleaner than my old 1Ds or 1Ds2 -- almost on par with my 1D3. The real question is, what are you using to process the images? I find the conversion program makes as much a difference as anything else. Though I like LR, it's far from the most "noise free" or sharpest prgram you can use.

To the OP: with these long exposure times, are you using dark frame subtraction?

To most other respondents: the original post is about long exposures at relatively low ISO where fixed pattern dark current noise can be the main problem, so why talk about performance at high ISO with far shorter exposure times, where photon shot noise, pre-amplifier noise and such are the more likely problems?

BJL,
You're losing your touch. Better get back to exercising your mind with more frequent participation on the forum.

The OP in his initial post also wrote the following:



He either has a faulty camera or is doing something weird in his work flow.

I had the same problem. I ran a test with my 1dsMK2 and found more noise at ISO 100 with the MK3. I called Canon and asked if this is the way it should be and was told no. I have sent the MK3 to canon for what they call a iso calabration of fix. I will get the camera back this week and report if this worked. I did test dark frame noise reduction and high ISO noise reduction with no apparent help to over one second exposures.
Dennis

This sounds similar to the problem I had. In my case any exposures of around a second or longer exhibited hundreds of hot pixels. In Capture One they appeared white, in DPP they showed as red, green and blue spots and in ACR the program automatically corrected them (even with noise reduction off) so they were not visible. The ISO setting did not affect the hot pixels, but they were dramatically reduced with shorter shutter speeds.

After going around and around with Canon service I had to send it in and have the sensor replaced.

So it sounds like you may have a defective sensor.

Thats great news. I won't hear anything from Canon until it's fixed. It did't look bad enough to be a defective sensor, but time will tell. The images I was getting were still amazing.
Dennis

To me, that sounds like a defective sensor with many dead pixels. easy way to tell (though i'm sure there are better ways). get into a dark room with a single color light source (like the red lights from a christmas ahem, holiday, tree) put it on a tripod and take a long exposure with that light. If you see single white spots around the image, those are dead pixels. I can't recall if they end up giving you a bit of a cross hatch, where the pixel at the four corners will also look a bit off, but one will be especially white. Something that shouldn't happen if you only have red light.

I had this problem with my 10D, and its the first thing I check on each new digital camera.

I received my camera back from CPS, it went out last Friday I received it back this Friday. CPS in New Jersey did a great job getting this in and out. I am pleased to report that I don't have to take this camera back, it is now spectacular. I just finished comparing noise ninja noise charts that I did before and after. I can only say that the before charts look like they were shot with a D2x at ISO of 400. The camera has 60% less noisy images now. CPS said that they brought the camera back into factory specs and didn't elaborate any more than that. Whenever they did worked! would recommend that anyone who's complaining about noise on their 1dsMk3 send it back to canon asap. They also cleaned the sensor. I use this camera on two jobs before I send it back for this noise repair and had to do more noise reduction on ISO 100 images than I ever had to. I just finished another one on Friday with if no noise reduction used at ISO 100.
Dennis

Hi!

Good to hear that the problem was solved.
Anyway, it would be interesting to see some "before and after" comparison shots (100% crops).

Cheers,
J

I posted the after and before 400 iso's at http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/20919...103235030gwVDZI
They were shot with different lensed one being more out of focus than the other.

Thanks!
Quite a difference:

Cheers,
J

Sean,
YES and EXACTLY!!! This precisiely what I am experiencing. In C1v4 i get 1,000's of white pixels. {for the rest of you who want some details - 1ds Mark III, ISO 100 - 200, fast exposure times like 1/25 and/or lonmg exposures to 10 seconds, and basically any exposures in between, I am getting tons of noise].

When I process in DPP, the noise is white, red, blue, green. If proccessed in PSCS3, the noise is white, and mostly gone. But it is still there.

I sent my camera in to CPS. That was a new fiasco and I am furious with Canon at this point. Firstly, I was told my CPS membership had expired thus I was no longer a CPS member. After a six year membership, I was no longer a member. News Flash - CPS membership now expires every year. If you do not seek to renew your membership every year, yours will expire too. Feel free to write Canon and tell them that this is lame. But back to my Mark III....

I sent the Mark III in to Canon and they had it for three days, returning it free of any problems.

I did a photo shoot with it yesterday, asssured from Canon that all was well. To my loving surprise, the images are now NOISY AS EVER!!!!

Today, I ran every test I could in house on my camera and tried every variable possible literally. Nothing, corect this noise.

Many are saying this sounds like a bad sensor problem. Then why in the ***** did Canon not repair this last week when they had my Camera? I havd to cancel a week's worth of work and now I have to do it again. I can't get a loaner from CPS because "I am not considered a member" until my membership goes thru their normal 4-6 week new member check.

Canon - this is bad, bad, bad business. Shame on you!!!

I agree and frankly, I do not think we should have to do ANY noise reduction at ISO 100.

I have loaded a NOISY image online for review which was processed in:
- Capture One V 4
- PSCS3
- Canon DPP

the image is online at

www.michellehoff.com/test.jpg


Dana

A JPEG image is worthless for the purpose of such analysis.

"A JPEG image is worthless for the purpose of such analysis."

Yes, my sincere apologies on the low quality jpeg format which was posted online. I would post a fill size 60MB tif for review if I knew how. I would post the original RAW file for download if I had an ftp access that would hold a 28MB file. But I don't have either.

The reason I posted the jpeg was to portray a simple illustation of the white noise.

Regards,
D

The best way is to send it with yousendit.com. There is no need to register.
You can sent it to a fictional email address, you don't even need to use your own email address, that too can be fictional.

In response, you receive a URL (an internet address) from yousendit, which is required to download the file; you should post that here.

But pls do not upload the TIFF. The point is, that everybody can try his/her way on a raw file, but not on the TIFF or JPEG.

Thanks Pano,
I took your advice and uploaded a RAW file. If you wish and for those interested too, it can be downloaded here:

http://download.yousendit.com/120FF39637D1A5C8

Once you download it, the first thing you will notice is that it is a fuzzy out of focus image. The camera moved during the shot. This was a very very windy evening. Not to worry, the noise levels are juist as lovely on this frame as a smooth crisp interior image.

As for proccessing these images, I found the following to be true:

- Photoshop CS3 had the best results, or least amount of noise. Especially is I used the noise compensation adjustments. I will also ad that he PSCS3 images were the least sharp overall of the three proccesses I compared. And the noise is still there to some extent.

- Canon DPP produced the second Tiff file, with the noie appearing as red, blue and green specs along with a few white images. The white pixels seem to be the largest. These are viewable pre and post processing in DPP.

- Last I used Capture One V 4 which produced images with white noise. These are the sharpest and cleanest of the images as per image content. And also the most noise visable. I use C1 for most of my work.

As I have had the 1Ds Mark III for three months now, I went back and looked at images from January. They were fine and free of noise. Unlike the images today. I also noticed that from day to day, the noise or ghost pixels are in the same spot on the image/sensor. That leads me to think there is a sensor problem.

I mentioned all of this to Canon. They still failed to correct the issue when the camera was sent in. Now they want me to send the camera in again.

ugh.

I don't find this image noisy. Perhaps you should point out, which area is noisy.

However, I see hundreds of hot or stuck pixels. Your "the noise or ghost pixels are in the same spot on the image/sensor" indicates, that you too are thinking of these (if the "noise" is always on the same pixels, then you can be sure it is not noise).

I'm afraid the sensor of your camera is beyound repairability. Pls make a "black frame" shot: with lens cap on, but tightly, viewfinder covered, 1 sec, and upload that too. Some (even some dozen) hot pixels are ok, but I think this is too much.

You see less of them in CS3, because ACR removes most of them.

Yes, I agree. I was never sepakingof noise in terms of grainy imagery. I was speaking of hundreds of white pixels with no color in them.

As for the sensor needing to be replaced, I am on week two of that fight with Canon. As I said, they have already had this camera once for this problem and did nothing.

d

As it turned out, the imagery in my Mark III had a problem. I sent my camera to Canon twice for the problem. On the second go round, I demanded they provide me with better professional service. I also got my Dealer as well as his Canon Rep involved.

While it took a little over a week to sort this out, I received a brand new Mark III today. Thank you Canon.

Any progress report with new camera? Trust all is well now.