Taking inside pictures without a flash , pics looks grainny

Wizzard005

Hey all,

This is going to be a simple question. I have a Sony A100.. It takes good inside pictures on S setting, however they come out not really clear.. Is there a way to fix this? I mean they look ok, but i want to turn ok to wow....

Here is an example

I had ISO set to 1600 on S setting...

Light meter set to +1

frg

Hello,

Not too familiar with the sony but the grain or noise is a result of the high ISO (1600) on my D70 anything over ISO 400 tends to get grainy) , For indoors without flash I would use a lower iso and stick the camera on a tripod. and a fast lens (larger maximum aperture f1.4 -f1.8 f2.8) would help as well

Wizzard005

frg wrote:

Hello,

Not too familiar with the sony but the grain or noise is a result of the high ISO (1600) on my D70 anything over ISO 400 tends to get grainy) , For indoors without flash I would use a lower iso and stick the camera on a tripod. and a fast lens (larger maximum aperture f1.4 -f1.8 f2.8) would help as well

So ISO 400 is good for low light? The camera has the Aperture setting, so i know how to do that, also has built in image stablizer, so i dont think i need a tripod....

I am just tring to work out the bugs because I have a very large Halloween party coming up, and i didnt want to use auto settings, but may have to end up doing that if i can get a good pic

Thank you for the input!

rustic

Wizzard005 wrote:

So ISO 400 is good for low light? The camera has the Aperture setting, so i know how to do that, also has built in image stablizer, so i dont think i need a tripod....

Like most other things, ISO is a tradeoff. As you increase the ISO, you'll get more light picked up, but you'll also get more noise.

Shutter speed, ISO, and Aperature all work together to control how much light gets picked up. If you've opened up your aperature all the way, the only ways to get more light in are to increase the ISO (and thus increase noise/grain) or to keep the shutter open longer (and increase the chace of motion blur).

Image stablization will help, but it's not going to get you a clear image at anything under 1/60 shutter speed I'd say (someone correct me if that's off). I know that with my shaky hands, I don't like to go below 80 at a minimum (this also depends on your focal length, the more zoomed in you are, the faster shutter speed you'll need to avoid blur). A tripod will let you keep the shutter open much longer (thus allowing you to keep the ISO down and avoid noise) without resulting in a blurry image.

I think that what frg was saying is that 400 is the highest that he can bring his ISO to without getting grain. If you're only shooting handheld, you're probably going to be stuck with using a tripod, or the options of a grainy shot or a blurry shot. Or you could always crank up the lights, but that might ruin the ambiance of the party:D

Does that help at all?

JESTER

When you take photos with high speed in dark places you are going to get the grain. There are several software programs available to take care of it. I personally use NoiseNinja and it works great for me. I take a lot of volleyball in dark gyms and use 1600 to 3200 speed. It really comes in handy. I used it on your photo. This is the result:

Wizzard005

JESTER wrote:

When you take photos with high speed in dark places you are going to get the grain. There are several software programs available to take care of it. I personally use NoiseNinja and it works great for me. I take a lot of volleyball in dark gyms and use 1600 to 3200 speed. It really comes in handy. I used it on your photo. This is the result:

wow very nice....

So question, what if there are people here and I still dont want to use a flash, or am i stuck using a flash, because people will be moving and it will mess everything up....

OsirisPhoto

Wizzard005 wrote:

wow very nice....

So question, what if there are people here and I still dont want to use a flash, or am i stuck using a flash, because people will be moving and it will mess everything up....

Looks like the higher ISO route is the one to take in that case, along with a noise reduction proces as Jester illustrated. Many folk, myself included, shoot ISO 1600 (or even 3200).. anything for the shot

If you have people in the this scene, some additional lighting might be needed anyway.

JESTER

Well I would personally use a flash. What color is the ceiling. Maybe you could bounce it. But with the people moving around you would need a high shutter speed to keep them from blurring. You might get away with some if they are just standing still and posing for you. Their color will be a little off too unless you use a different white balance than you did in this photo. I agree with Rustic about not going below a 60 shutter speed handheld. Get there a little beforehand and experiment on someone.

Wizzard005

Hyperbaric wrote:

Looks like the higher ISO route is the one to take in that case, along with a noise reduction proces as Jester illustrated. Many folk, myself included, shoot ISO 1600 (or even 3200).. anything for the shot

If you have people in the this scene, some additional lighting might be needed anyway.

the other day i ordered a flash, so I know i will have the flash power behind me if i decide to go that route....

I wil play with the settings tonight with a tri-pod and I will post my findings....

Wizzard005

I got that program, well worth the 75 bucks

Anyways, here is a before and after picture, let me know what you think..


BEFORE:




AFTER:


I am impressed at this, was simple to do... I was reading up online, alot of people say there is a ton of noise on the Sony ISO 800 +

I will be playing with the advanced settings tonight again to see if i can take a good picture

Pexi

IMHO, the AFTER pic looks really bad. I'd prefer the original with noise .

OsirisPhoto

You've lost a lot of fine detail from the original image, like the carpet and wood textures. Best to use noise reduction tools conservatively, otherwise you end up with a 'plasticky' image. Not sure how Noise Ninja does it, but imaging it's the same as Neat Image, that you can 'build' a noise profile of your camera / settings which should be more accurate.

Remember that you are shooting a still image.. will be more to consider when you add people... lighting, movement, etc. Not to say good shots can't be done in low light, you just need to work out what you want in an image and how to get it.