We test the Canon 350D / Rebel XT for image noise at all ISO settings at night and provide the RAW files so they can be downloaded, if desired, for personal examination.
We test the Canon 350D or Rebel XT for noise in nighttime lighting.
The RAW files for these images are available on the special digital camera section of the site for download so that you can examine the images yourself.
Exposures were 30 seconds, with aperture varied for the correct exposure, in shutter priority mode, since we are interested in camera noise rather than lens sharpness. The lens used here was the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro lens.
100ISO NR on
100ISO NR off
Here the only effect of noise reduction being on is a very slight softening of detail (you won’t see it here, only by zooming right in on the RAW files) and thus a very slight spreading out and making less apparent of the noise.
200ISO NR on
200ISO NR off
At 200ISO the same applies as for 100ISO and I actually think the version with no noise reduction looks better.
400ISO NR on
400ISO NR off
Again very close.
800ISO NR on
800ISO NR off
At 800ISO I’d say there is a very slight advantage to the NR on image, but it is very close.
1600ISO NR on
1600ISO NR off
Again very little to pick. In fact I would say that all the noise reduction does is to remove the hot pixels that you see with NR off.
In conclusion, I’d have to say the NR makes little difference to these night shots, except for fixing the hot pixel issue, but at the cost of doubling the exposure time.