A7S II noise at high ISO

[Darien]

Hi all, I'm new. 

I recently bought the a7s II and I've been doing lots of video tests.

 

So, I have to say that I was expecting more. Especially I expected the camera to work better at high ISO.

I tested the camera, mostly at 1080p and 3200 ISO because I read it's the native ISO. But the results seem too noisy to me, even at lower ISO. It seems to me like every image was covered by a thin layer of grain. In these days I'm testing the camera mostly at night.

Am I doing something wrong? Someone could give me some advice?

 

Here some details on my most used settings:

 

PAL 1080p 25fps 50Mb

Sony 24 - 70 F4 (Zeiss)

ISO 3200

GAMMA: CINE2 / CINE4

COLOR MODE: PRO / MOVIE

 

For now I'm not using flat picture profiles to be graded.

If you think it helps I could post some samples.

[lenoindex]

images definitely will be helpful to get an idea of degree of noise.

[Darien]

Here some thoughts, maybe obvious things, but after several days of tests and internet search I think it may helps some sony alpha newbie, like me.

 

I made a lot of tests in the past days and I think I found the issue: my expectations were definetely too high or maybe, I expected something different. I expected sharp and neat images, even at high ISO.

I think the a7s ii is a great camera, no doubt, a camera that have no real competitor out there, right now. 

 

Though, there was something that didn't made sense to me.

There is a grain that you can see in every single frame (even at low ISO). I believe it has something to do with the sensor of the camera. I read a lot amongst the internet, viewed tests and reviews and It seems to be a thing that comes with many sony alpha cameras. It's like a "cine look", a film grain that's always there.

You can barely see it at 100 ISO and, of course, if you increase the ISO the grain is more obvious.

Many video tests you can see on youtube are neat, probably because of compressions and in some cases because of the color grading.

 

So, I expected different images, but it is not necessarily a problem. Maybe it has something to do with the pursuit of perfection that doesn't exist.

 

Comments are appreciated, please prove me I'm not crazy!

[Darien]

By the way here two examples of what I mean. You can see clearly the grain texture in the sky

 

1920x1080

25fps

1/50

F4

ISO around 10000

 

PP: CINE2 / CINE4

CM: PRO

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m82s0zoo44hohs9/ex1.png

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v695ih6d89u686s/ex2.png

[JCC]

F4 at night, Thats why you're getting grain.

 

I would also try dropping the shutter to 1/30, its 50% more light

 

JCC

[Darien]

F4 at night, Thats why you're getting grain.

 

I would also try dropping the shutter to 1/30, its 50% more light

 

JCC

 

So what minimum aperture would you suggest at night?

[JCC]

If you see any of the shots in my gallery or profile link, I mostly shoot in the dark.  

 

I use a 1.4 or 1.8.

 

From F1.8 to F4 the amount of light squares, from F1.4 it cubes.  This of course allows much lower ISO.  

 

Also, you can treat grain in post processing.  In Aftereffects you have to balance noise reduction vs unsharp mask.

 

JCC

[Darien]

Ok, using larger aperture lens is the easy way, it's well known.

So, i think I screwed up when I sold my Tamron 24-70 F2.8 to buy the Sony 24-70 F4.

 

I thought the camera handled better the noise, again, too many expectations.

[ACAnderson]

The trick to shooting with the a7sii is to overexpose the image and bring it back down in post.  There is lots of documentation out there on how this was how the picture profiles were designed to get the best possible resulting footage.

Most people say to overexpose 1-2 stops with the spot meter on a grey card.  I would run tests on the different picture profiles to see how that method looks in the end result.

[Darien]

I heard a lot about the "exposing to the right" technique but as far as I know people use to overexpose when they are using flat picture profiles.

BTW I ran several daylight tests in the past days and I'm happy with the result.

Tomorrow I'll have my first real shooting with this camera. Night situation in a little town. I'll use my Zeiss 24-70 F4 and a modified cine2/pro profile (the material has to be ready to go out of the camera). From what I saw in night situations with that lens, I'll try not to go over 3200 ISO.

 

Any suggestions?