Why does my RAW-to-JPEG export look noisier than the camera’s JPEG?
Asked 8/30/2019
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2 answers
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I’m shooting RAW+JPEG on a Canon 80D and editing the RAW files in ACDSee Photo Studio Professional 2019. My in-camera JPEGs look smoother, but when I brighten and export the RAW file to JPEG, the result looks much noisier and shows color speckles/artifacts.
In my test, the camera JPEG is a bit darker, while my processed RAW is brighter and has some exposure/light adjustments plus noise reduction. Even after applying noise reduction, the exported JPEG still looks grainy compared with the camera JPEG.
Am I doing something wrong in the RAW workflow, or is this expected? How can I get a cleaner JPEG from the RAW file?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
1
The noise level is not actually all that much different, it is just that your exposure correction also corrected the exposure of the noise. With digital cameras, it is better to expose brighter than you want, then dial down in post-production than the other way round. The more light you work with, the lower the noise levels of the result will end up. In a similar vein, it appears like you increased contrast and/or local contrast. Again, this comes at the cost of amplifying noise. So does sharpening. Admitting more light (via longer exposure or wider aperture) can be accommodated by lowering your ISO setting to avoid blown highlights.
Originally by user86674. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user86674
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This is mostly expected. Your RAW conversion isn’t necessarily adding lots of new noise—you’re making existing noise more visible by brightening the image. When you increase exposure/brightness after capture, you amplify both the image signal and the noise. If you compare both files at the same brightness, the difference will likely be much smaller.
A few things are contributing:
- The camera JPEG is darker, so noise is less visible.
- Raising exposure in post increases visible noise.
- Extra contrast, local contrast, and sharpening also emphasize noise.
- You likely still have too much color/chromatic noise; that should be reduced separately from luminance noise.
To get cleaner results:
- Expose brighter in-camera when possible (without blowing highlights), then darken slightly in post rather than pushing exposure up heavily later.
- If you can add more light via shutter/aperture, lower ISO to reduce noise.
- In ACDSee, adjust luminance and chromatic/color noise reduction separately; increase chroma NR more if you see colored speckles.
- Be careful with sharpening and contrast, which can make noise look worse.
So the main issue is exposure and processing choices, not JPEG export itself.
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