30D help

[CincoJoe]

Noise Ninja more than likely can. Try the demo.

[kimberley]

I have that not really great I was wondering if there is one better?

[AjP]

Noise Ninja one of the best plug in out there when use it correctly... there are non, that perfect..u need to make adjustments and set the way you need it to work

[CincoJoe]

Like AjP said, they don't get much better than Noise Ninja. You can try one of the Fred Miranda plug-ins if you like.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/software/

[skdupre]

Kimberly,

Good points above in reviewing the noise issue. I am surprised to see any noise from the 30D at 400 ISO. But, it could be the lens as mentioned.

Also good points in suggesting other ways to shoot the picture (M, Av, Tv). I would like to be a little bolder and suggest specifically how I would have taken that picture with my Canon 5D, 580ex flash. Please forgive me if I'm being too forward.

ISO 100 (great for most outdoor portraits)
Manual
RAW mode
Focus point positioned in the center
Take light reading with a hand held light meter (in front of subject facing where you will be taking the picture). I use a Sekonic L-358.
Evaluate equivalent exposures for f5.6 (added depth to cover the 3 rows). In simple terms: select the shutter speed that will give you f5.6. Based on the camera information you gave above the exposure would have been around 1/160 @ 5.6.
Dial in the manual shutter and aperture settings.
Use Canon 580 EX flash set on ETTL.
Take one shot with no flash compensation and one shot with +1 compensation. One of those exposures should work.

You'll need to convert the RAW file. I use Adobe Bridge, but the Canon DPP software will get the job done.

I would later go in to PhotoShop and add a softening layer and erase the subjects to further throw the background out of focus. My personal style is to also add a soft vignette on the corners.

Samples are always good to see; however, this is the only "three row" shot I've done with my 5D. I know, there are some wide angle stretch marks, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. I'm also including a smaller group, which applies the same technique.

I hope this gives you some direction for future shots.

By the way. I will be purchasing a 30D as a backup camera to my 5D in a few months.

Sean

[HOUSCOUS]

Probably it's the lens' problem. 20D has highly performance at ISO 1600 even at night (with 24-70mm f/2.8L), it's hard to believe 30D has this problem at ISO 400.

Sincerely,

[Glen_A]

I have seen other post in other forums concerning this. Apparently some of the new 30D's have a noise problem. I recommend you return it from where you purchased it for an exchange if it isn't already too late. If it is too late send it in for warranty repair. From what I have read you are far from alone with this issue.

[zeroendless]

i must be blind,,, where's the noise???

[wyatt]

Kim, here's some additional thoughts to those already rec'd. Most of the trouble you see here is the lens. I shot with that lens for a while on my 20D, and my group shots all looked like you have. The distance and subject size in the frame both make things look worse. Shooting jpeg, in auto, your camera applied a level 3 sharpness, which made the problem look worse. If you shot in RAW, or even manual mode jpegs, with no extra sharpening done by the camera, you could later sharpen the picture in ways that would not compound the problem as much. One way would be in LAB mode, sharpen the L channel only. The shot is underexposed some which makes the noise worse. In auto, you camera got fooled some by all the white shirts. And last, it won't look as bad in print as it does on your monitor until you get into larger sized prints, like above 8x10 or so.
Don't be in a rush to send the camera off. If you have another lens, experiment some.

Wyatt

[Gabby498]

Kimberly, not being a Canon owner, I am not familiar with the lens problem and that may well be the problem. However, I do have a question I haven’t seen mentioned.. I apologize, I see that Wyatt did mention underexposure.

Was the original image underexposed? With the bright areas in the background and the white shirts it looks like the auto setting could have slightly underexposed the image. Under exposure will increase digital noise. If you had to lighten the image in post processing that could be a factor.

I would be inclined to set up where you could bracket the exposure in RAW before I got too disappointed in either the camera or the lens.

There are so many factors that have been mentioned; the lens, the jpeg conversion in the camera, underexposure—that you really need to take a deep breath, do some tests and see what you can eliminate. Exposure and jpeg conversion are easy enough to test in a more controlled situation and then if possible try another lens.

Hope it works out to be something very simple and you get a chance to really enjoy what I am sure is a great camera. (He who uses a point and shoot says with envy!)

[pippin]

Ok, no camera is going to be completely without noise. All cameras have it in one way or another. NO noise is an impossibility.

That 'noise' looks more like jpeg artifacts than anything else, but that could be because of the way it was saved for the web. Never know.

There's SO many factors that could be contributing to that.

[kimberley]

Thanks guys for all the help.

The problem isnt the camera, I know its me, I used a camera that I hadnt gotten used to yet and also had a difficult lighting situtation, at 2:00 in the afternoon under a cloudless sky and shot in the shade witht he sun right above me and having alot of difficulty with exposure, I just assumed better camera, new camera, great automatic setting, nope didnt work......

Im learning, slowly, but learning....

thanks for all the helpful information