Need help! M 240 has weird stripe noise pattern in high ISO

[naboo]

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Hi everyone,

 

I need some advise here. I purchased an M 240 a week ago to replace my M9. Yesterday I took some shots in high ISO (above 3200) in very low light condition and noticed that in the dark area the color noise came with clear pattern in stripes which looks faulty and very uncomfortable. You can see it clearly in my 2 pictures below

 

Has any one experienced this with your M?

 

Why such an extremely expensive product branded with highest quality, perfection v.v... is so unreliable in quality control?

 

Thanks all!

 

 

Edited November 1, 2014 by naboo

[jonogilmour]

It's called banding, and it's common for high ISO shots. Buy a faster lens, or learn how to hold the camera steadier and bring down your ISO. Happens to a LOT of cameras from all brands, not just Leica, so it's not a problem with your camera, but a characteristic of shooting at a high ISO.

 

3200 is already really high; consider underexposing, then brightening in post, or make the photo black and white since there is already very little colour in darkness anyway.

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[tobey bilek]

Make a selection in photoshop and use median filter.

 

Digital works best at base ISO. All other iso setting are electronically amplified with all the problems that causes.

 

Some swear boosting with computer is better than with camera. I don`t see it myself.

[luele]

If you have the NIK filter collection use the one called Define. It helps for grain and has also a slider for banding problems.

[Echo63]

I have found shooting correct, or slightly overexposed (without blowing out important highlights) helps with the noise or banding, a bit of the noise reduction slider in lightroom also helps to minimise it

[jaapv]

The examples you show are underexposed, which often happens with low light shots, as the exposure meter gets fooled by (specular) highlights. The best solution is to use an incident light meter ( the correct way, over your shoulder) or a selective reading of the part of the image that you want to have in zone five. That this leads to overexposure of specular highlights -which does not matter- and sometimes of bright areas cannot be helped, unless you resort to HDR techniques.

Underexposure leads to noise and banding.

[zlatkob]

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3200 is already really high; consider underexposing, then brightening in post, or make the photo black and white since there is already very little colour in darkness anyway.

 

Underexposing and brightening in post will make the problem worse. The solution is to use a lower ISO, or overexpose a little and darken in post, and use noise reduction. Lightroom noise reduction is fantastic, as is Nik Define.

[naboo]

Thanks all for your replies, as long as it's a defect camera I'm fine to live with it!