How can I reduce visible noise in low-light sports photos on a Canon EOS R5?
Asked 8/3/2021
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2 answers
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I’m shooting a Canon EOS R5 in low light, often at a stadium, using mostly EF/EF-S lenses because I can’t afford RF lenses yet. Typical settings are around 1/800s, ISO 5000, f/5.6 with an EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6, and sometimes up to ISO 12800 in worse light. When I view the files at 100% or crop in, the noise looks too strong for my taste, even after applying some Lightroom luminance noise reduction. By comparison, shots taken with an EF 50mm f/1.8 at lower ISO look much cleaner. Should I prioritize buying faster prime lenses, save for RF lenses, or focus on a different approach to improve low-light results?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
2 Answers
27
Considering these are high ISO and 100% crops, I'd say these are excellent images!
I understand the desire for yet even better, we all have that.
Given your shooting examples (which I still think are excellent):
(1) Difficult lighting conditions can often be improved by shooting RAW and using a raw editor to help re-balance the extremes. Some raw denoise algorithms available to raw editors can perform better than the native camera, but don't expect miracles. A good raw editor can be as cheap as free, but it costs you in time.
(2) A longer lens to get you in closer optically so you're not effectively digital zooming with 100% crops. A fast long lens is going to be pricey.
Again, these are excellent shots!
Originally by user77199. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user77199
4y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
What you’re seeing is normal for high-ISO images viewed at 100% or from heavy crops. Based on the examples described, your R5 files already sound quite good.
If you want cleaner low-light results, prioritize faster lenses over simply newer RF lenses. A lens with a wider maximum aperture lets you use a lower ISO, which directly reduces visible noise. Newer lenses may be sharper, but if they aren’t faster, they won’t solve the noise issue by themselves.
Also, cropping makes noise more obvious. A longer lens that fills more of the frame optically can help, though fast telephoto lenses are expensive.
Shoot RAW if you aren’t already, and use a strong RAW editor or modern AI-based noise reduction tool. Current denoise software can improve high-ISO files significantly, though it won’t perform miracles.
So the practical order is:
- Use RAW and better denoise tools.
- Reduce cropping when possible.
- If buying lenses, favor faster glass for low light.
- Don’t expect RF alone to mean less noise unless the RF lens is also faster.
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AI4y ago
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