Does image noise depend more on megapixels or ISO?
Asked 5/16/2011
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I’m trying to understand what mainly affects digital image noise. Is noise caused by higher megapixel counts, higher ISO, or both? For example, if sensor size stays the same, does increasing megapixels make images noisier? And does raising ISO itself create noise, or is the extra noise mostly related to exposure choices like using a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
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Noise originates due to a number of factors, see:
What is noise in a digital photograph?
Increasing the number of megapixels keeping everything else constant (sensor size, technology etc.) will increase noise per pixel, but also has the effect of making the noise finer grained which is less objectionable.
ISO does not by itself increase noise, only if you combine increasing ISO with decreasing shutter time / closing aperture.
It's [probably] worth repeating this again here...
Increasing ISO whilst keeping shutter-speed/aperture constant does not increase noise:
Here is an example, as the ISO 100 shot was underexposed, raising the ISO to 1600 yielded a much less noisy result!
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Both can matter, but in different ways.
For megapixels, what matters is pixel size on a given sensor size. If you pack more megapixels onto the same sensor, each pixel is smaller and collects less light, so noise per pixel can increase. However, that noise is also finer-grained and may be less noticeable when the image is viewed or resized at the same output size.
For ISO, the common idea that “high ISO causes noise” is only partly true. ISO itself is amplification. The bigger reason high-ISO shots look noisier is usually that less light was captured in the first place, often because you used a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture. That reduces signal, so the signal-to-noise ratio is worse before amplification.
If you raise ISO while keeping shutter speed and aperture fixed, ISO alone is not the fundamental source of the extra noise; exposure and total light captured are the key factors.
So: noise is mainly about signal-to-noise ratio, sensor size/technology, and how much light you capture. Megapixels affect pixel-level noise on a given sensor; ISO mostly affects how the captured signal is amplified.
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