R5 VS 5DSR NOISE TEST

[Ben Egbert]

I wanted to compare both cameras so I set up a test using the same light, lens and settings. In photoshop I converted with a corrected wb and added one stop of exposure. Note that the 5DSR is darker, but I did not try to match them, should I?

Any suggestions on technique will be appreciated. I see a slight improvement for the R5, but not the miracle I was expecting. I choose this ISO because its about the maximum needed for Milky way.

 

[JimFox]

Did you shoot this in manual? It’s odd that the 5DSR is darker.

You should also test each ISO stop up to 6400 Ben. Lots and lots of times, especially if you don’t use an f2 lens you will find yourself shooting at higher ISO’s. I used to bump mine up to 4000 or 5000 a lot. I tried to avoid iso 6400, but at the end of the day it’s about getting a properly exposed night sky. The more underexposed it is by sticking to an arbitrary iso limit, the noisier the image will be.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I shot manual maybe the White bal adjustment effected it I should have adjusted each separately. I will test the R5 independently to higher levels when I have my methodogy worked out.
Meanwhile does the R5 look ok to you?

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Ben, do you have LENR turned on? To really do an effective comparisons turn it off. Also even with 5DsR if you have a proper exposure the noise is significantly controlled. The issue with a single night exposure where the ground is dark is that the noise is high in the ground layer and you have to push the shadows quite a bit. To see the difference between the two bodies keep your image under exposed and push shadows at least 2 or more stops. R5 is supposedly ISO invariant i.e. a 6400 ISO image has the same noise characteristics as as 3200 ISO image pushed one stop.

I’ll try a similar exercise.

Btw the luminosity difference between the two is strange.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I did have LENR turned on for both cameras, so you say turn it off. I also had high iso NR turned on for the R5. I tried some NR on both images and saw a bit more blotchy results in the 5DSr. I will also try the underexposed shots.

I will have another go at the luminosity.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Also I realized the difference in white balance could be due to different camera profiles. Unfortunately PS doesn't (yet) have camera profiles for R5 so one has to use Adobe ones.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I used the eye dropper to set WB on the R5 and used the same setting for the 5DSR. I should have used the eye dropper on each separately. The camera chose 5200 I believe which was far too warm.

 

[Ben Egbert]

I did another conversion using 2 stops exposure and setting both images at 3800 WB. The RDSR is still underexposed but a 1/3 stop exposure boost brings then pretty close. The R5 now looks much cleaner than the 5DSR..

Tomorrow if I get some time I will redo the shots with LENR turned off and pay very close attention to the exposure, 2 stops you advise then push it in post. I will also try some at ISO 4000 and 5000 on the R5.

At some point I need to use a target with some color and detail to see the effect of sharpness and shadow. A real night time landscape is what I need I suppose.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Here is the result of the above test. Still with the original files that have LENR

 

[JimFox]

Yeah, I would us a test pattern of some sort Ben.

Your testing is interesting to see, and I think will be valuable to a lot of people.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Jim, tests like this are informative, but are really pixel peeping and I don't want to head our forum in that direction. I will try to come up with a more real world test and maybe post a result from that. But this being Thanksgiving week and family arriving, it may be a while. This last test put my mind at ease a bit. It.'s not just the cleaner file, but the lack of blochyness.

 

[JimFox]

Thanks Jim, tests like this are informative, but are really pixel peeping and I don't want to head our forum in that direction. I will try to come up with a more real world test and maybe post a result from that. But this being Thanksgiving week and family arriving, it may be a while. This last test put my mind at ease a bit. It.'s not just the cleaner file, but the lack of blochyness.

I agree, I am not into pixel peeping either. I think the goal is simply knowing if you can get clean images that display well. So I like that as your goal as well.