Ideas for a new camera?

[mecrox]

For most of the past year I have been using an Olympus E-M1X, on a tripod, at base ISO making images at night of my home town mostly with a 35mm prime lens, my preferred option. The results are OK-ish but the Oly sensor does struggle with noise and shadows in almost any circs so far as I can tell.

I am thinking of trading up but the question is whether to look at a Z6 or R6 level over an R5 or Z7. Will the lower resolution sensors make a difference in low light or is something like the Z7 going to be fine bearing in mind that for this particular project I am mainly using a tripod with exposures of up to about 60 seconds (the max on the Olympus before bulb mode, I think). I do go handheld occasionally but usually only when bright city lights are involved and ISO 800 is about as far as I can take it on the Oly before IQ starts to suffer. I have no need to freeze movement as no people are in the images.

The intended output is a book of around 8” x 10” in portrait format so I will need more than ‘roughly OK’ if posted online or printed real small. I need perfectly fine at 300 dpi full page or more. That is partly why I am looking around.

Anyone with experience with cameras like these after dark?

[leuallen]

Try Topaz Denoise. It works. I shoot sometimes at 6400 and Denoise gives me acceptable results. Cheaper that a new camera system. I also use the EM1x.

[Peter McLennan]

I'd be looking at the Sony A7S III if I were in the low light biz. Big pixels = huge exposure latitude.

I've printed a couple of test images (RAWs) from online and they look great at 16X20.

[kers]

In print you far less noise than on screen. i think the Olympus will do fine at 10"

[mecrox]

Try Topaz Denoise. It works. I shoot sometimes at 6400 and Denoise gives me acceptable results. Cheaper that a new camera system. I also use the EM1x.

Much less costly! I will give it a try. Thank you for suggesting it.

PS: Later: I’ve just run a test using the new Deep Prime denoiser on PhotoLab 4. Likely not quite as good as Topaz AI Denoise but still very impressive. It might well be enough.

[mecrox]

I'd be looking at the Sony A7S III if I were in the low light biz. Big pixels = huge exposure latitude.

I've printed a couple of test images (RAWs) from online and they look great at 16X20.

Thanks for suggesting this. I should think its performance is amazing. If I were a pro then likely I would buy this, use it for the gig, then sell it on. But I am not, or not yet ... very interesting idea, though. This is actually a project for a uni degree course.

[mecrox]

In print you far less noise than on screen. i think the Olympus will do fine at 10"

Thanks. I guess I need to give some images my best shot at PP then get some test prints done. The Oly is a very pleasant, feature-full camera for sure. I’ve much enjoyed using it. I guess though that eventually that smaller sensor tells against it. Too bad Oly wouldn’t stretch to FF. I always liked their kit.

[BernardLanguillier]

For best noise reduction I recommend DxO DeepPrime, it’s really impressive.

I have ISO 25,600 Z6II images that feel as detailed and clean as ISO800~1600 of a D800...

[mecrox]

For best noise reduction I recommend DxO DeepPrime, it’s really impressive.

I have ISO 25,600 Z6II images that feel as detailed and clean as ISO800~1600 of a D800...

Thanks for your reply. Yes I am trying that one. Seems very good so far.

[langier]

Shooting my Z 6 at 6400-25000 regularly and do most of my NR in ACR. Above 6400 it takes more tweaking to process the raw files, but for me they are fine. Compared to my Oly 5D-II, the files are much cleaner and easier to process.

I'm shooting slow-ish lenses and am perfectly happy cranking up the ISO and wing it.

[mecrox]

Shooting my Z 6 at 6400-25000 regularly and do most of my NR in ACR. Above 6400 it takes more tweaking to process the raw files, but for me they are fine. Compared to my Oly 5D-II, the files are much cleaner and easier to process.

I'm shooting slow-ish lenses and am perfectly happy cranking up the ISO and wing it.

Cheers. Do you mean ‘Oly EM1-11’ rather than ‘Oly 5D-II’? Cleaner and easier to process certainly has a lot to commend it ...

[SrMi]

Have you tried using Live ND on Olympus? It is essentially frame averaging and eliminates much of the noise in the shadows. It is also important to use a high-quality lens, e.g., Olympus 17mm Pro. I find the output of Olympus's latest M1 camera to be quite good when compared to MF or FF.

[mecrox]

Have you tried using Live ND on Olympus? It is essentially frame averaging and eliminates much of the noise in the shadows. It is also important to use a high-quality lens, e.g., Olympus 17mm Pro. I find the output of Olympus's latest M1 camera to be quite good when compared to MF or FF.

Clever idea! I have never used this feature on the EM1X but will give it a try. Thanks for the tip. The 17mm Pro is about my most used lens.