Leica D-Lux 4 and Noise

[photogkellyrae]

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Hello,

 

 

I am curious about other photographer's experience with the leica d-lux 4 as far as printing larger prints ( 13" x 19" ) and the element of noise which is in the pics.

 

 

I love to use this camera for my street photography, for it is stealth and easy to carry, but my problem is even in the daytime, if I have my ISO anything above 100, I am unable to print good photos in a decent size for art prints. When I read the specs on the camera before I bought it, they touted its capabilities in this area, but I still see that many of my prints are not display worthy and have had to tell a few galleries that they are not up to par in the printing process. Maybe it is my lack of technical skill with digital, for I have only been doing digital for a little over a year. Prior to that I was analog for ten years. Maybe there is someone to help me with this problem or maybe a program to help my pictures look better.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Kelly

[Dan States]

Noise at iso 100 should not be an issue. Are you shooting in RAW?

 

13x19 is a pretty big print from a micro sensor camera with 10mp. How are you upsizing the image? Make sure you are not over sharpening or it will look like hell.

[jde2010]

Hello,

 

 

I am curious about other photographer's experience with the leica d-lux 4 as far as printing larger prints ( 13" x 19" ) and the element of noise which is in the pics.

 

 

I love to use this camera for my street photography, for it is stealth and easy to carry, but my problem is even in the daytime, if I have my ISO anything above 100, I am unable to print good photos in a decent size for art prints. When I read the specs on the camera before I bought it, they touted its capabilities in this area, but I still see that many of my prints are not display worthy and have had to tell a few galleries that they are not up to par in the printing process. Maybe it is my lack of technical skill with digital, for I have only been doing digital for a little over a year. Prior to that I was analog for ten years. Maybe there is someone to help me with this problem or maybe a program to help my pictures look better.

 

 

Thank you.

 

Kelly

 

Yes, i am although not very happy with the noise of my D-Lux 5. I have posted this problem already. Have a look at my noise photos and tell if yours are the same? Some shoot fantastic pics at 800 ??

 

Noise 1 and two

[jerryharwood]

Hi; my wife has a 3mp olympus digital, at least 10 years old. It is easily possible to create a 15X11 print without any trace of noise, and has been mistaken for prints from a Leica on many occasions. If I can do this with 3mp, surely a 10mp such as the Dlux 4 can cope ?

[anderswi]

I have two D-Lux 4, the ordinary black and the titanium version. I made a portrait of a man,with a beard he had since 1963(sic!). I let a prolab make a print in 70x100 cm (sic!), and it leaves nothing else to wish. Of cause you don´t look at a print that size with your nose in 10 cm proximity. I am very pleased with the result. Recently I bought the LX5, which I am beginning to like, just as much as the Leicas.

[myoung4828]

I have had a dlux4 for quite some time now. Because the camera can be used at slow shutter speeeds I find that the base iso of 80 is adequate for most shooting situations. Under that condition, noise is very low, in fact, because I shoot in raw, I remove all the noise reduction prior to converting to a tiff. If you want a more sophisticated method of noise control, in the event you are using higher Iso than the base iso, you can invest in a stand alone noise control program which is a better way to control noise. Try to shoot raw and correcting underexposure will be more of an option in the raw convertor, noise is greater in underexposed images. Otherwise, the images should hold up quite well at 11x17 min.

[myoung4828]

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I have had a dlux4 for quite some time now. Because the camera can be used at slow shutter speeeds I find that the base iso of 80 is adequate for most shooting situations. Under that condition, noise is very low, in fact, because I shoot in raw, I remove all the noise reduction prior to converting to a tiff. If you want a more sophisticated method of noise control, in the event you are using higher Iso than the base iso, you can invest in a stand alone noise control program which is a better way to control noise. Try to shoot raw and correcting underexposure will be more of an option in the raw convertor, noise is greater in underexposed images. Otherwise, the images should hold up quite well at 11x17 min. Noise is a reality in both analog and digital images. The real concern is the quality of the noise. If you look at leica M9 images at iso 800 and above, you will see lots of noise, but the quality of that noise has that tri-x feel to it which is pleasant and adds an artsy look to the image.

In the editing process after converting from raw to tiff, I sharpen using a small amount and high radius which produces a pleasing noise appearance. Experiment with your images to find a way to make the noise work for the image, much as grainier analog images work.

[farnz]

Kelly,

 

I respectfully suggest that you've answered your own question: it's shots above ISO 100 that are the problem. Most people will assume that noise at ISO 200 and ISO 400 with the DL4 have acceptably little noise because they're generally viewing the shots on screen. Otoh, you've enlarged the shots and the noise has become visible (and unacceptable).

 

You've pretty much found the limits of a small sensor camera. The DL4 has a tiny sensor (c. 5x7 mm) which holds 10 million+ pixels and the heat produced in such a small area is what causes the noise, which is why larger sensors typically produce less noise.

 

The answer is to either restrict your shooting to ISO 80 or 100 if you can or perhaps consider trading up to the DL5, which is a little less noisy. Other than that you should consider a camera with a larger sensor because any of the post-processing methods for noise removal will be at the expense of fine detail - just the thing I would think that you would want to retain in a large print.

 

Pete.

[simfan]

Using the NR -2 setting Noise will definitely show it's ugly head, even at base ISO.

The D-LUX 4 is not the greatest "low-light performer".

But this only becomes a problem in dark parts of the picture or if lighting conditions are poor.

Setting NR -2 and/or RAW is very important though is you ever wish to print near poster-size.