Comments on: Digital Night Photography: Test Exposures, Noise Reduction, and Image Stacking « Joe Reifer http://links.twwilliams.com/2009/10/11/digital-night-photography-test-exposures-noise-reduction-and-image-stacking-%c2%ab-joe-reifer/ Links and short bits, updated often Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:03:23 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Joe http://links.twwilliams.com/2009/10/11/digital-night-photography-test-exposures-noise-reduction-and-image-stacking-%c2%ab-joe-reifer/comment-page-1/#comment-113 Joe Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:53:46 +0000 http://links.twwilliams.com/?p=154#comment-113 Hi Tommy - Most Canon and Nikon digital SLRs that have a CMOS type sensor can make long exposures of 5-6 minutes without in-camera noise reduction. The 5D series is fine up to about 8+ minutes as long as the temperature is cold. The temperature was in the low 50's when the images in the article were made. By stacking two 7.5 minute exposures I didn't have to run noise reduction, but still got the benefit of the long star trails. Testing your camera for noise is a good idea -- in typical conditions make back to back exposures with in-camera noise reduction turned on, and also turned off. Compare the results in Photoshop to see how long you can expose without needing to turn on noise reduction. Again, ambient temperature can play a big part - colder is better for noise. Cheers, Joe Hi Tommy – Most Canon and Nikon digital SLRs that have a CMOS type sensor can make long exposures of 5-6 minutes without in-camera noise reduction. The 5D series is fine up to about 8+ minutes as long as the temperature is cold. The temperature was in the low 50’s when the images in the article were made. By stacking two 7.5 minute exposures I didn’t have to run noise reduction, but still got the benefit of the long star trails.

Testing your camera for noise is a good idea — in typical conditions make back to back exposures with in-camera noise reduction turned on, and also turned off. Compare the results in Photoshop to see how long you can expose without needing to turn on noise reduction. Again, ambient temperature can play a big part – colder is better for noise.

Cheers,

Joe

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