a7ii newbie noise issues in astrophotography

[markmcvittie]

I just upgraded from a sony a5000...now have a sony a7ii with 28-70mm kit lens and ive only had it a couple days but im having an issue with noise. Shoot a couple photos last night and i dont understand why its so noisy in comparison to my a5000. I had it in manual focus, 3.5 aperture, 28mm, 1600-3200 iso and 15 second shutter. Im shooting in raw uncompressed and long exposure noise reduction off. Tried to battle the noise in lightroom but no luck.

Really amateur so im sorry if  this has been covered or simple fix. Aside from the noise issue this camera is very nice...little advanced for me but im trying lol.

 

Heres the shots.

 

iso 1600...28mm..f3.5..15 sec shutter 

 

 

 

iso 1600...28mm..f3.5..15 sec shutter 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

There is a lot of online material on stacking images and dealing with noise in astrophotography. Do a google search and get cracking. To me it isn't entirely obvious what kind of result you were expecting so it's better for you to do your own reading.

[Batis]

Capture One handles noise better than any other RAW program. That being said, I am not sure what problems you are experiencing. Any change point out what you are not liking about the photos?

[markmcvittie]

honestly having issues with all the images having noise...day/ night / afternoon and iso doesnt seem to be the factor...also totally unsharp images as well...Not sure what is going on but my a5000 had better pictures then this. Im confused what is happening 

 

this was shot at iso 800 and f4 28mm. The lack of detail and noise is not what i expected...i dont know how my images were far better with a sony a5000

 

 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

The 28-70 is not a great lens. I think your copy may be decentered because it is mushier on the left side of the image.

 

I see quite a bit of chroma noise in the clouds. Clouds always show noise more, especially when underexposed like in this photo, but I agree that it is a bit strong for ISO 800. When I had the A7R it had very little noise at 1600 and below.

 

I think you should contact Sony about the lens and send them some sample images of noise.

[markmcvittie]

The 28-70 is not a great lens. I think your copy may be decentered because it is mushier on the left side of the image.

 

I see quite a bit of chroma noise in the clouds. Clouds always show noise more, especially when underexposed like in this photo, but I agree that it is a bit strong for ISO 800. When I had the A7R it had very little noise at 1600 and below.

 

I think you should contact Sony about the lens and send them some sample images of noise.

Thanks jaf...i believe i have some kind of issue...its almost like its not able to focus at all on landscape, if i do a macro or have something in the foreground it will focus...but i have 15-20 landscapes ive tried with it on burst and not one has focused....its on auto with afc on and selected to wide...face detect off.  Im guessing this lens or camera has an issue.

 

here are some shots...in full auto as im just trying to see what the camera will do...as you see nothing is really in focus hardly, where if i shot that with my sony a5000 it would be all in focus. However i do a close up like the flower its fine....perhaps its an auto focus issue?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like this shot makes no sense...half in focus..it was hand held but i mean this thing has 5 axis stabilization and the lens is oss....i have never in my life had so many unfocused shots...which makes no sense seeing my a5000 had what 25 points of af...this has over 100....and i shot almost 20,000 pictures with my a5000 and aside from action i never had focus issues.....i have to be doing something wrong or camera is a bum

 

 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

Looking at the photos I see some areas that are in focus, although they're quite soft. Try borrowing a different lens to see if it improves. Also, in the bridge picture I see chroma noise in the cloud streaks, which is a bit surpring considering there's good light.

[markmcvittie]

Hmm i dont know anyone with a sony camera to borrow off....i do have a meke 35mm apsc 1.7f lens in the mail somewhere i can try when it arrives...i bought the camera and lens second hand it had 2000 shutters...so i think im out of luck with sony doing anything either. Im afraid to buy another lens at this point because im not sure if its the camera or lens.

 

This shot seems sharp..this is the 28-70 kit lens with a 10mm meke extension tube.

 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

My guess is that your problems with softness are related to the 28-70 lens. It is known to only produce good IQ in the center at small apertures. (The snail pic probably feels sharp because it is centered and because of the magnification from the tube).

 

Regarding the noise, looked at some comparison shots with A7II on flickr. I was surprised to see chroma noise in the clouds even at relatively low ISO. So, this may actually be normal for the camera. There is some hope nevertheless. Chroma noise is relatively easy to remove or suppress with the right software. CaptureOne does a good job and has a free version for Sony users. DxO Optics does an even better job but it'll cost money after the trial period.

 

If you want to keep things at an affordable level, you could get one or two legacy lenses with good reputations. That might improve IQ for you.

[markmcvittie]

alright thank you, i will likely sell the 28-70 lens and look for something sharp...I pretty much shoot wide all the time so maybe ill find a 28 or 35 mm prime that has good optics.

 

I did just order a samyang 14mm f2.8 for astrophotography, started really to enjoy that aspect and started doing it on my a5000 on kit lens and now with the a7ii on the kit lens....so maybe this lens will show that its just the lens...im hoping its not the body thats for sure

[markmcvittie]

got some shooting, much better pulled it out of auto and im much happier 

 

 

[melovesushi]

i had a similar problem when i first got my camera , i can't help but feeling it's the settings in the menu , have you checked soft skin effect is off? 

also when doing astro photography , i assume you are using a tripod and they say you should switch off the steady shot.

[VTC]

Yikes. Lay off the saturation.

[markmcvittie]

Yikes. Lay off the saturation.

seeing they are my photos and my choices how about no....how about you layoff the useless input 

[VTC]

Not necessarily useless input. HELPFUL input. When color in airplane pics take on a paint-by-numbers or cartoonish look it's time to shoo the cats paw off the saturation slider.

 

Sometimes it helps to ask for other opinions. It's similar to body odor. YOU get used to it because it comes on gradually but ask an outsider if you stink (or over-process an image to the point it's excessively evident) they'll say YES, providing you're not handing them their paycheck.

[cws]

seeing they are my photos and my choices how about no....how about you layoff the useless input 

Hi Mark.....  always feel it's better to explain why something might not be as attractive to viewers straight up, beats me why people just comment without offering anything....

Admit when I first saw the images I also thought "oversaturated and/or oversharpened"... but know some people like that effect...

however when it causes artefacts on the image its probably time to tune it back a little...

By way of example, a crop at 100% from the bottom left corner shows some serious fringeing artefacts, particularly around the guys head, and on the tree line.  This detracts from what otherwise can be a nice composition, but you should be able to dial it back a little and still have a great image to share.

just another 2c.... take it for what you will.

 

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[Guest Jaf-Photo]

Stepping into the fray... Over-processing is often the result of monitor settings. For example, if brightness is set too high, the colours will look washed out. A natural reaction is to increase saturation.

 

The best way to address this is to do a simple screen calibration. There are a number of sites that have tests images for visual calibration. That is often enough to get back to a reasonable level of processing. Just do an online search.

 

Constructive advice, I hope.

[markmcvittie]