Dragon and low light noise

[Mark Wilkinson]

Art Adams wrote a great article about green screen that covers channel response in detail:

http://www.dvinfo.net/article/ultra-hd/dragon-color-does-tungsten-or-daylight-make-a-difference.html

 

[Bobby Farokhzad]

Is noise level something that can be reduced in a future firmware upgrade or is it a direct result of the sensor? I know there are many film guys here who love a certain digital texture but there are also many others (myself included) who would kill to to have a clean, almost clinical looking image at high ISO values. If we want noise, we will add it later.

 

[Bob Gundu]

If you guys are still having noise issues with the LLO, there has to be something wrong.

 

[David Battistella]

If you guys are still having noise issues with the LLO, there has to be something wrong.

Totally.

Dragon on is less noisy on a per frame basis than my nikon d700. That is what I would compare it to, but not digital camera that shoot 1080 and sharpen and noise reduce in camera.

so the question is, noisy compared to what?

Battistella

 

[luigivaltulini]

so the question is, noisy compared to what?

Battistella

this being the point.
Each complaint here has never been compared to another, so difficult to judge.
I would be happy to see any comments here with the files in which comparative shows that Dragon is worse .. or better ... This would help everyone.

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

Totally.

Dragon on is less noisy on a per frame basis than my nikon d700. That is what I would compare it to, but not digital camera that shoot 1080 and sharpen and noise reduce in camera.

so the question is, noisy compared to what?

Battistella

Is there a good reference to getting good results? I'm just curious what tricks and settings people are using. I've tried calibrating it after heating it up and still haven't had luck.

I always find I have to use Neat Video even with the LLO.

 

[David Battistella]

Again here Jeffery,

i'd have to see specifically what is deemed as "noise". I'd have to know what you are comparing it to that to you seems less noisy.

This whole noise discussion pops up now and again and I find myself scratching my head.

Battistella

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

Again here Jeffery,

i'd have to see specifically what is deemed as "noise". I'd have to know what you are comparing it to that to you seems less noisy.

This whole noise discussion pops up now and again and I find myself scratching my head.

Battistella

Gotcha, It might be a day or two but i'll take it out and post a .r3d file.

 

[Brian Boyer]

Is noise level something that can be reduced in a future firmware upgrade or is it a direct result of the sensor? I know there are many film guys here who love a certain digital texture but there are also many others (myself included) who would kill to to have a clean, almost clinical looking image at high ISO values. If we want noise, we will add it later.

What you're really saying is you like the look of noise reduction. As Phil Holland has pointed out, there currently are no hyper-clean, high ISO cameras that don't benefit from built-in NR.

People basically want the convenience of having it in-camera, which is something RED doesn't do.

 

[Eric Hines]

Loving the LLO low light performance. This is ISO 2000.



Link to full size image. https://i.imgur.com/2NhE0hL.jpg

 

[D Fuller]

Loving the LLO low light performance. This is ISO 2000.



Link to full size image. https://i.imgur.com/2NhE0hL.jpg

That's beautiful.

 

[Tom Gleeson]

this being the point.
Each complaint here has never been compared to another, so difficult to judge.
I would be happy to see any comments here with the files in which comparative shows that Dragon is worse .. or better ... This would help everyone.

I have been doing some work with the amazing Sony F55 but at 1250asa it is no better than the Dragon and probably noisier than a Dragon fitted with the LLO OPLF. THe noise characteristics are different and the Sony noise is more "colourful" than Dragon with DEB checked. I have yet to do the test but I suspect a Dragon with LLO OPLF could punch it out with an Alexa when it comes to low light noise. While Dragon low light performance is not stellar the new OPLF will see it easily compete with its direct competitors.

 

[Zeb B]

Loving the LLO low light performance. This is ISO 2000.



Link to full size image. https://i.imgur.com/2NhE0hL.jpg

R3D?

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

I finally got to test it out in somewhat of a Low-Light situation with available light. I shot it all in 6K at 4.0 on the Leica R 80 1.4.

2000 ISO:

400 ISO:

 

[Nick Morrison]

I finally got to test it out in somewhat of a Low-Light situation with available light. I shot it all in 6K at 4.0 on the Leica R 80 1.4.

2000 ISO:

400 ISO:

Gorgeous shots!!!

 

[Brian Boyer]

I finally got to test it out in somewhat of a Low-Light situation with available light. I shot it all in 6K at 4.0 on the Leica R 80 1.4.

2000 ISO:

400 ISO:

I'm confused by this post. Earlier, you complained of excessive noise. Are these pics examples of a noise amount you find unacceptable or are they examples of you getting the noise sorted out?

They look great to me. Then again, I like the way Dragon's noise looks. It might be the best in the business.

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

I'm confused by this post. Earlier, you complained of excessive noise. Are these pics examples of a noise amount you find unacceptable or are they examples of you getting the noise sorted out?

They look great to me. Then again, I like the way Dragon's noise looks. It might be the best in the business.

The results I was getting were terrible and catching weird streaks of magenta even with the cap on. Finally got a good calibration and got these shots. It was clearly user error.

 

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

The results I was getting were terrible and catching weird streaks of magenta even with the cap on. Finally got a good calibration and got these shots. It was clearly user error.

Can you share what user errors you were making...? May be useful to some of us. Thanks!

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

Can you share what user errors you were making...? May be useful to some of us. Thanks!

To be honest i'm not really sure. I basically just kept re-running the sensor calibration. I had been using a EF and PL mount and kept getting the issue. I thought it was a leak but I put the camera directly into a 1K and nothing was getting in. Did it with a Leica R mount today and it worked and I was getting much better results. I then put the Canon mount back on and re-calibrated to a different check box in the menu and the issue did not re-appear.

 

[Jeffrey Loewe]

I finally got to test it out in somewhat of a Low-Light situation with available light. I shot it all in 6K at 4.0 on the Leica R 80 1.4.

2000 ISO:

400 ISO:

If anyone would like to download a sample here is a brief moment frm the shot. The welding portion is pretty short since I cut the clip short for size to upload. Here is a link to an .r3d file.

http://we.tl/7P1USAp3lM