Why are my photos grainy?

[AgentZap]

I just got my Olympus SP550-UZ and went around the house taking several indoor shots to play with it a bit. I tried the auto setting and the indoor setting. When I downloaded the photos to the PC I noticed they were pretty grainy. This was with flash under fluorescent and CFL lighting.

What things should I try to get rid of graininess in my shots?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

 

[Deadtrees]

Since it's a digital camera, "noisy" would be correct, not "grainy."

What you can do about it is:

1. Try to use lowest possible ISO as long as it doesn't shake.
2. Turn down settings such as contrast and sharpness.
3. Get a Dslr
4. Use noise reduction softwares such as NoiseNinja or .......hmm...I forgot the name of it.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees
Since it's a digital camera, "noisy" would be correct, not "grainy."

What you can do about it is:

1. Try to use lowest possible ISO as long as it doesn't shake.
2. Turn down settings such as contrast and sharpness.
3. Get a Dslr
4. Use noise reduction softwares such as NoiseNinja or .......hmm...I forgot the name of it.

Neat Image

 

[Mrvile]

If you were using flash, it's weird that the camera still set a high ISO. Were you zoomed in really far? The more you zoom in, the higher the camera will set the shutter speed and the higher the ISO will need to be.

Anyway, try using NoiseNinja or NeatImage on your images - they usually do a pretty good job.

 

[troytime]

also make sure you're not using any digital zoom

 

[AgentZap]

I wasn't zoomed at all. I'll play with the ISO and see how it goes, thanks. Also, I'll check out those apps.

 

[shocksyde]

Another thing to watch out for:

If your pictures are coming out underexposed and you use a photo editing program to brighten them up, you'll amplify any noise that is present. I learned this the hard way.

 

[Steven T]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots.. Around 3200 it starts to get pretty grainy. Check out these picks taken with 1600 iso http://forums.dpreview.com/for...m=1012&thread=23844546

But yah, lower ISO ='s less noise.

 

[Steven T]

Originally posted by: troytime
also make sure you're not using any digital zoom

another one that really depends on the camera.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: Steven T

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots.. Around 3200 it starts to get pretty grainy. Check out these picks taken with 1600 iso http://forums.dpreview.com/for...m=1012&thread=23844546

But yah, lower ISO ='s less noise.

doesn't noise really stem from low levels of light, and not high ISO?
Just seems the high ISO is always to blame

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Steven T

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots.. Around 3200 it starts to get pretty grainy. Check out these picks taken with 1600 iso http://forums.dpreview.com/for...m=1012&thread=23844546

But yah, lower ISO ='s less noise.

I was referring to the OP's Olympus camera.

 

[Steven T]

Originally posted by: troytime

Originally posted by: Steven T

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots.. Around 3200 it starts to get pretty grainy. Check out these picks taken with 1600 iso http://forums.dpreview.com/for...m=1012&thread=23844546

But yah, lower ISO ='s less noise.

doesn't noise really stem from low levels of light, and not high ISO?
Just seems the high ISO is always to blame

You need higher ISO for taking pictures in lower light levels. So both answers are correct (of course, technically ISO is the real answer though)

 

[pontifex]

were you using the digital zoom (if it even has it)? digital zoom really lowers quality, or at least it did with my old P&S.

 

[troytime]

wtf, i edited my post and it DPed

 

[magomago]

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots..

I'm not doubting the f32fd at all as I bought my parents that camera, butttttttttt if you read that link

Hi Vince!

I'm delighted that you liked the shots - yes I ran them through Noise Ninnja.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: troytime

Originally posted by: Steven T

Originally posted by: troytime

Originally posted by: Steven T

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Shoot in low ISO. The higher the ISO the noisier the pictures will be.

ISO 50-200 is ok. ISO 400 and above is pretty noisy.

That depends what camera you're using. I've heard several times that the fuji f31fd can go up to 1600 with relatively clean shots.. Around 3200 it starts to get pretty grainy. Check out these picks taken with 1600 iso http://forums.dpreview.com/for...m=1012&thread=23844546

But yah, lower ISO ='s less noise.

doesn't noise really stem from low levels of light, and not high ISO?
Just seems the high ISO is always to blame

You need higher ISO for taking pictures in lower light levels. So both answers are correct (of course, technically ISO is the real answer though)

i think technically, it's still low light that is to blame
i've seen plenty of mega high ISO shots that have little or no noise.

 

[Steven T]

True, but it has to do with the sensor. The cameras that have larger sensors will be able to handle higher ISO. ISO is basically sensativity, the higher it is (in most cameras), the more artifacts you will get. Most p&s cameras can't handle ISO ove about 800 without becoming messy. Actually, a lot cant even do 400.

 

[ElFenix]

ISO is merely international organization for standardization. they promulgated a standard for measuring film sensitivity.

noise results from a poor signal to noise ratio when you turn up the sensitivity (actually, the amplification) of an analog photodiode. with enough light, that signal to noise ratio is still going to be good. that's why noise in digital camera images is typically in the darker areas (darker areas have less input signal). but if the whole image is low light, you'll get noise all over the place.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: troytime
i think technically, it's still low light that is to blame
i've seen plenty of mega high ISO shots that have little or no noise.

It's the high ISO for the most part.

However, the longer the exposure, the greater the amount of noise as well.

High ISO increases the physical amplification of the electronic signal from the imaging chip. This amplification is an analogue process that causes transmission noise to be amplified as well. The greater the amplification, the more exaggerated the signal noise becomes. A long exposure will cause there to be more noise, but that's not nearly as big of a driving factor as the camera's ISO setting.

Noise also is less apparent in photos that are downsized. If I take a 10MP image from my DSLR and shrink it to 800x600 pixels, it's not going to look noisy even if I'd taken it at ISO 1600.

ZV