camera noise can raise site costs

[basschick]

we started out shooting our content with a panasonic bridge camera. the pics looked good, but at anything lower than ISO 100 i noticed that noise we couldn't even always see with our naked eyes made the pics a lot bigger in file size - and that means more bandwidth. a few months later when we started shooting with a canon DSLR, all the pics were 30 - 40% smaller in file size at the gate. which means less bandwidth.

but don't get me wrong - all cameras have noise at certain settings. in my reviews, i see a lot of pics shot at ISO 400. letting a little natural light in or buying and using a cheap light kit would allow the content to be shot at ISO 100 or 200, which also means less noise - and lower bandwidth use for your site.

interestingly, we used a canon A620 at some beach shoots, and (good ol' canon) it also had less noise than i've seen on some DSLRs, and video as good as some medium quality camcorders. i also hear for those on a budget that the fuji f30 is virtually noise free.

remember, not only will less noisy pics save you money on the member area but also on the tour - and they can make it easier for your designer, as well.

[Lee]

Im not really sure that im following your train of thought on this.

If a camera takes a picture that is 8mb in size, whether there is 'noise' on the image or not, its still only going to be 8mb in size isnt it?

As i said, not sure if thats what you mean but right now im not understanding how an image that has 'noise' on it differs than an image that is noise free if the end result is a filesize thats 8mb.

Regards,

Lee

[IdolKnights]

I think it may be subject to when you "compress" the image.

But an image at 8mb with noise (grain) is equal to a crisp image at 8mb.

Else - you could state, An image with more White takes longer to process. Or with bright reds for that matter.

I also Question "Low ISO" because it's high ISO that causes Grain.

Low ISO is used for well lit situations - High ISO is used for low light situations. (or action situations ... like sporting events)

[basschick]

most cameras take pics not by the file size of the camera but by megapixels. a noisy camera will take an 8 mb pic where a not noisy one will take the same size and quality of pic at 5 mb instead.

a noisy pic has more data, plain and simple. 10,000 little dots is a lot of extra data - just like a pic of a guy sitting in hay is always a lot larger with everything else equal than a guy posed against a plain colored backdrop. a pic of a lawn is bigger than the same size and quality pic of a blue sky. and a pic full of dots is bigger than a pic without dots.

Im not really sure that im following your train of thought on this.

If a camera takes a picture that is 8mb in size, whether there is 'noise' on the image or not, its still only going to be 8mb in size isnt it?

As i said, not sure if thats what you mean but right now im not understanding how an image that has 'noise' on it differs than an image that is noise free if the end result is a filesize thats 8mb.

Regards,

Lee

[basschick]

okay, i was rushing when i posted :bunnypancake:

ISO 80 or ISO 100 is much less noisy than ISO 1600 or ISO 800 and some less noisy than ISO 400. of course.

I think it may be subject to when you "compress" the image.

But an image at 8mb with noise (grain) is equal to a crisp image at 8mb.

Else - you could state, An image with more White takes longer to process. Or with bright reds for that matter.

I also Question "Low ISO" because it's high ISO that causes Grain.

Low ISO is used for well lit situations - High ISO is used for low light situations. (or action situations ... like sporting events)

[gaybucks_chip]

I think the issue is that a camera that shoots a very clean image will be able to compress that file more than a camera that captures a noiser image, because compression is most efficient when there isn't a lot of extraneous noise. Each bit of "noise" needs to be stored uniquely in the file, while, for example, a pure white background takes no space to store because the file simply says "replicate this white pixel 200,000 times here"

I hadn't really thought of it in terms of bandwidth, but it makes sense... a few KBytes of savings from each image, times 10,000 images, times x members dowloading adds up to a lot of bandwidth.