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Feedback and Suggestions : Telephoto Lens For Sailboat Racing Photography
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Feb 18, 2019 16:06:04   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Currently I am using a Sigma 50-300 telephoto lens on my Canon Rebel. My photos are grainy and noisy. Any suggestions on a lens upgrade? ⚓️

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Feb 18, 2019 16:24:53   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Noisy images can be caused by many things that spending more money on a new lens may not address. You should try the cheaper options first, like taking 1 or a few example JPEG files and posting a reply to this thread and storing those files as attachments. The community can then analyze and discuss the issues and potential corrective actions.

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Feb 18, 2019 16:25:54   #
Dave327 Loc: Duluth, GA. USA
 
Not much advice will be forthcoming. Post an original picture with the EXIF data intact. I would also suggest you post it in “Photo Analysis”. If you have not posted a photo - in the help section (top of page) - HOW to Post a Photo. Make sure you check “store original”, otherwise the EXIF data will not be there and the photo will be a thumb nail.

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Feb 18, 2019 16:37:42   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
CHG_CANON wrote:
Noisy images can be caused by many things that spending more money on a new lens may not address. You should try the cheaper options first, like taking 1 or a few example JPEG files and posting a reply to this thread and storing those files as attachments. The community can then analyze and discuss the issues and potential corrective actions.


If it turns out to me a methodology problem instead of a lens problem, a new lens will just make the problem more expensive.

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Feb 18, 2019 17:44:14   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Have included a photo for your review .


(Download)

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Feb 18, 2019 17:45:09   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Have included a photo for your review.


(Download)

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Feb 18, 2019 17:46:45   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Have included a photo for your review.


(Download)

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Feb 18, 2019 17:48:18   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Have included a photo for your review .


(Download)

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Feb 18, 2019 17:49:16   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Have included a photo for your review.


(Download)

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Feb 18, 2019 18:21:00   #
Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
 
Squirrel10 wrote:
Currently I am using a Sigma 50-300 telephoto lens on my Canon Rebel. My photos are grainy and noisy. Any suggestions on a lens upgrade? ⚓️


You have a pot pourri of addressable opportunities that you can look into before spending more money.

The T3i has a highlight priority mode - Custom Function II.6 that you may want to experiment with. By applying a different tone curve and amplification, you should be able to shoot at ISO 200 (the ISO with the least amplification) and save your highlights - and just deal with the shadows in post processing.

The images are very wide dynamic range and are mostly exposed as well as they could be on your camera, but I am going to guess that these were captured as jpegs. The T3i is not knowing for having a lot of dynamic range, and the underexposed/shadow areas quickly get noisy. Shooting these as raw allows you to control the amount of color noise (pretty high for ISO 100), as well as preserve more detail than shooting these as jpg and expecting the camera to get these right with any measure of consistency.

When post processing these you can apply more aggressive noise reduction, sharpening and contrast adjustments when you shoot these as raw.

And lastly, there is not a single image that appears to be crisp. But looking at other camera bodies with this lens, I'd say the lens could be contributing to poor image quality - but not noise. The noise is coming from the camera. In all likelihood, F8 - F16 will give you good exposures with decent depth of field, so getting a faster lens is not going to give you much. However, getting a sharper lens will definitely help. Canon makes a pretty decent 70-300 that will give you tighter compositions but will likely be sharper.

So if you want to address the noise, you'll need to learn enough post processing to be able to shoot raw and adjust the images properly, or change out the body for a full frame camera which will have inherently better noise and dynamic range, which will also mean a new lens.

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Feb 18, 2019 18:37:09   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Excellent, glad we asked for examples. These are all nice, particularly the final image with the two boats facing each other. I picked the example that I think best represents your noise issue. It's not the lens, but rather how digital cameras work and opportunities to process your images further. Three of the five examples are at ISO-100, the base ISO for your model. The highest ISO is 320. Changing lenses will have not impact how the camera performs at 'base' or otherwise relatively low ISOs.

Ideas to pursue in the image capture are:

1) Expose to the right using the histogram and highlight warnings as a guide. Avoid situations where you need to boost or otherwise increase the exposure in post processing which tends to increase the apparent noise in the darker areas in the results from EOS bodies.

2) Capture in RAW to maximize the processing options

Ideas to pursue in post processing:

3) Investigate the noise clean-up capabilities of your current software.

4) Consider a standalone noise processing software.

5) Consider a plug-in noise processing tool that is added to your edit workflow.

The issue is not your camera nor a need for a new one. I can tell you from shooting airshows and similar boats on Lake Michigan with a full-frame EOS body, you're still going to see some digital grain of the sky, whether the sky is a hazy greyish or a clear blue.

The image below does not report the processing software although the image appears to be cropped based on the pixel dimensions. Most any software with a noise processing capability should be able to better smooth the circled blotchy sky. Many advanced tools will easily be able to smooth this entire section to an even and pleasing blue. What tools do you have available? Would you be interested in an example processing of this image. Please reply 'yes' to confirm it's OK to edit and repost your image after modification.



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Feb 18, 2019 18:55:59   #
Linary Loc: UK
 
Squirrel10 wrote:
Currently I am using a Sigma 50-300 telephoto lens on my Canon Rebel. My photos are grainy and noisy. Any suggestions on a lens upgrade? ⚓️


I have opened three of the images you posted, all are marked as being from Canon 70-300mm - not the Sigma 50-300.

Exposure in all three is problematical, you have used pattern which has resulted in a compromise between a blown out sky and a silhouette of the boats and crew.
I would have tried a spot reading on something darker than the sails.

A little PP in Lightroom or Photoshop will transform these images into keepers, but you may have to replace the sky, (some of these are very bland due to the exposure.)

The first image also needs the horizon straightened big time. (will probably need more sea and sky to be cloned in around the edges.

There is not as much noise in the images as you suggest, but there is motion blur and lens aberration, the latter can be corrected in PP.

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Feb 19, 2019 08:14:07   #
Squirrel10 Loc: Virginia
 
Yes.

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Feb 19, 2019 09:13:24   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
Attached is a version processed initially in LR and then as a JPEG in Topaz Denoise 6. The side by side crop is from PSE to add text and to adjust the resolution to 2048px on the long side, but no additional processing. Starting with the original RAW or SOOC JPEG may have needed just LR (or PS / PSE) given the low ISO-200 of the image.

LR / Denoise processed
LR / Denoise processed...
(Download)

Old to New compare
Old to New compare...
(Download)

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Feb 19, 2019 09:13:40   #
CanonTom Loc: Birmingham
 
Following.

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