Quick Tips: Turn Off In-camera Noise Reduction

In-camera noise reduction is now a default feature in existing and new digital slr's.  It is quite a useful little tool to make your photos better.  To me it is quite a nuisance because it slows the camera down.  The camera would take a bit of time processing to reduce the noise and in photography, every moment counts.  That is why I turn noise reduction off.

2 types of noise reduction

Most dslr's have two types of noise reduction: a High ISO noise reduction and a Long exposure noise reduction.

High ISO Noise Reduction

In most dslr's, High ISO NR will be applied on ISO800 and above and only on JPEG files will NR be applied.  High ISO NR will not be applied on RAW.

The thing I noticed when this option is turned on is that, in continuous-shot mode, the camera's image buffer will be lessened.  Instead, for example, a 20 image buffer at ISO400; when ISO is adjusted to 800 above, the image buffer goes down to about 10 images.  Then, the camera's frame rate slows down or, at times, disables the shutter because the camera is currently busy processing.

But when High ISO Noise Reduction is turned off, the camera can capture roughly 20 images before the buffer fills up.  This is why I turn this option off.

Long Exposure Noise Reduction

This option commonly uses a dark frame subtraction.  Basically, the camera takes an image with the shutter closed, a dark frame.  A dark frame is essentially an image of noise in a sensor and can then be subtracted on subsequent image to correct the noise.  

Now the kicker, if you take a 30 second exposure with this noise reduction option turned on, the camera would take another 30 seconds to capture the dark frame; giving you roughly 60 seconds (or more counting the NR process time) before you can take another shot.  

In landscape photography, every second counts especially if your shooting sunrise or sunset.  If every shot you make takes two times longer the shutter speed then you'd miss a lot of scenery.

This is why I turn this option off too.

If I turn off noise reduction feature, my images would be noisy.

Yes they would...

You can always reduce the noise on post.  Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw have effective noise reduction features.  These are found in the Details section, under Noise Reduction.

There are also lots of third party noise reduction plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom.  So your images will be noise free.

I also find the images captured with NR off a bit sharper compared to images where in-camera NR is applied.

Quick Tips: What filter size should you buy?

Here's a quick tip on purchasing filters.  This doesn't concern UV or clear filters but for other photographic filters such as neutral density or CPL.  For UV filters buy the size of your lens thread.

Tip:

Buy the largest filter size, commonly a 77mm thread, and use a step up ring.

What are Step Up Rings?

Step up rings are like adapters from a smaller sized thread to a larger thread.  Say you are using an Nikkor 18-55mm lens, which has a 52mm thread.  Go buy a 52-77mm step up ring so you can attach a 77mm filter on your 18-55mm lens.

Why buy a 77mm and step up ring?

The answer: economical.  If you are serious in photography and love landscapes, eventually you'll be buying an ultra wide angle (UWA) lens.  And common UWA's have 77mm threads.  

Here's the idea.  

Say your current lens is a Nikkor 18-55mm and you want to try CPL filter for landscapes.  So you go buy a 52mm CPL filter, which costs around say $50.  You enjoy your 52mm CPL and soon you decide to buy a Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6.  Now if you do purchase the Sigma, then your $50 CPL would be junk because it won't fit on the Sigma, which has a 77mm thread.  So you'll have to buy a 77mm CPL which would cost around say $80.  Your 52mm CPL is now a $50 paper weight.

But if you buy a 77mm CPL, for $80, and a step up ring, commonly at $12, then you've only spent $92, economical no?  and once you do buy an UWA, you don't have to buy a new filter.

Also,

"This saves a lot of fiddling when you are out shooting and trying to swap filters around." ~Ken Rockwell

Multiple self portrait in a single image

When I posted this on an online forum, a bunch of queries came at me.  How did you do this?  I'll share this video by Gavin Hoey.  It's quite simple than you think.

Hope you've learn a thing or two with this video.