Richard Lovison wrote:
> The E-1 also seems to "suck pond water" when it comes to noise
> levels at higher ISO settings though seems to be better than
> the E-300. In the real world, has this been a problem for
> you?
I'm going to ask you one question to keep in mind as you read
this. Do you use medium format to reduce grain in your film
images?
Winsor wrote a very good comments in this thread about noise. I
totally agree with his assesment. I'm going to add a few
thoughts and comments to this.
Winsor made a comment about dot spread. When printing on your
own inkjet printer, the selection of inks (dye vs pigment) and
paper surface type has a major bearing on dot spread. An
interesting thing I've found is that I get a nicer print if I
apply a tiny bit of blurring to the photo to "take the edge
off". The E-1/14-54 lens produces pictures which are
nerve-wrackingly sharp on my Canon S9000 in sizes 5x7 and below.
For a million years now, commercial labs have done a little
softening to the image just to hide any noise as well as smooth
the edges a little to make the pictures more palatable. When I
send my digital files out to a commercial lab (Designed Images
Inc, or Millers), they apply a little softening which really
helps the image.
What does this have to do with noise? When your output
resolution is high and if there is no softening applied, nor is
there any dot-spread to speak of the images will look gritty
with the noise. I notice this more on glossy paper than pearl
surface paper.
Has noise in the E-1 been an issue with me? Truefully? Yes.
It has been an issue when event shooting where I have to use
ambient lighting. If only the 14-54 was a constant aperture
F2.8, I would be much happier. Only in rare circumstances will
I go up to 1600. 800 is actually pretty good and 400 is very
nice. When using the stroboframe setup I'm using 200 or 400.
This matches my usage of Portra films in 160 and 400. The E-1's
noise structure is remarkably "film like". "Ya right," you say.
Believe it or not, it really is when printed--provided you
follow the above comments about softening the image. I stated
that noise is an issue for me with the E-1. Let's put this in
perspective, though. I use the camera professionally. My needs
are higher than that of Joe Consumer. What I run into is the
classic "no substitute for square inches" situation where we
used medium format for shooting high iso just to keep the grain
in check.
Will the noisier Olympus sensor be a problem for anybody coming
from 35mm? Hardly. The E-300 and E-1 are producing far cleaner
images than anything you've experienced in 35mm. (comparable
ISO) Noise/grain-wise, I compare the E-1 to about what I got
with 645. The Canon is even cleaner and has a distinct 6x7 or
4x5 cleanness to it.
Ok, one more thing...
Yesterday I printed up a very large order of 8x10s for another
list member on B&W fiber glossy. The negs were 35mm Ilford
Delta 400. The film was x-ray damaged to the point of losing
over a full stop of latitude. X-ray damage tends to make the
grain larger/grittier and it looks like the film has been pushed
two stops. It also forces you to increase the paper contrast by
at least a full grade. The nature of these photographs required
tremendous amount of cropping and the full-frame enlargements
were around 12x18. As I was developing the prints I noticed how
horrendously large the grain was. Yikes, I thought--he's not
going to like these. Before I panicked and did anything foolish
like backing off the grade or doing an overlay blurred grade 00
exposure I remembered that the paper emulsion is swelled. This
morning I looked at the dried prints and noticed that the grain
is tight and in many cases, hardly visible. This is with close
inspection. Normal viewing distances reveal very little grain
at all, except in the extreme shots where I had to go up to
grade 4 1/2. When grain is visible, it's "normal" for what
you'd expect to see.
I think the whole "noise" issue is terribly overblown. I
wouldn't base a camera purchase on that issue. As often as I
need to do something to the noise, I just take care of it in
post. I think the image color and handling of the Olympus
trumps any noise issues with the camera.
AG
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