Noise – is it really that bad? (The Canon G9 redux…)

ISO is the new Megapixel.

What I mean is that when researching cameras, one cannot read more than a paragraph or two before coming across a discussion/analysis/nitpick of said cameras high-iso/noise performance. More and more it is becoming the standard by which digital cameras are judged.

And this is not a bad thing in and of itself – Low noise is a pretty much universally desired characteristic – since one can always *add* noise/grain to a clean image, but it’s much harder to get rid of it once it’s there. Ergo, clean images are better.

 The problem is people get obsessed with it!

Personally I don’t think it’s all that bad.  Do I like a clean image? Of course.  But when I was doing my research into the canon G9, I was almost put off buying it by “reviews” stating that “anything over iso100 is completely unusable”.   Luckily I was able to find some test images and see for myself.  Turns out, that IMHO, this is rubbish.  I would not hesitate to make an A3 print from a G9 raw file at iso100, 200 even 400.

And theirin I think lies the issue:  far too few people actually *print* their images.   Yeah noise looks bad when viewed at 100% pixel size on a monitor, however that same image will look *much* better when printed.  It’s simply not as much of an issue in the final print.  (not that it doesn’t make a difference, but to me contrast and color affect the “subjective quality” of the print much more than a bit of grain/noise)

Heck, back in they days of film we had to deal with “noise” at anything over ASA100, and no one complained all that much.  Many even liked the aesthetic of “grain”.  We’ve been spoiled by the super-clean images that digital is capable of!

Back to the G9- as a matter of fact, I kind of *like* it’s noise at 400/800… To me the G9 is a “street camera” (see my G9 review) and I have always liked the “gritty” asthetic of street shooting on grainy film.  After a touch of noise reduction and a black and white conversion, the G9′s raw files seem to have a pleasing, tight “grain-like” luminance noise pattern.  I’ve actually been leaving it in my b/w images even when I could clean it up.  (BTW, the raw files clean up well in any NR program – NeatImage, NoiseNinja etc…)

The other point is that noise goes hand and hand with exposure.  Digital noise gets exponentially worse when “pushing” an exposure.   I’d rather have a somewhat noisy iso800 image *properly exposed* rather than an underexposed iso100 shot that I’d have to “push” 2 or 3 stops.

Anyway, I guess the bottom line to my rant is:  before you start compaining about how noisy your camera is:
1) make sure your exposures are spot on.
2) make some prints.
The whole noise issue may not be as bad as you think!

And if it’s still unacceptable, there’s always NeatImage!