Long Exposure Noise - LR

[ElizabethTLee]

Hey Guys,

I'm getting back into some long exposure / night photography so I decided to do some testing to see how long my camera could exposure before getting long exposure noise, in a dim room at iso 100.   68-70 degrees or around there.

I'm still using a Canon 5D Mark II that I bought new 8 years ago. So I didn't go in with too high of hopes but was still very disappointed with the results I got.

I was noticing it on my camera LCD back at a 1min. I went back and looked at my 30sec. exposure and that had noise. I was pretty upset by this. 

When I loaded the photos into lightroom classic cc, I saw the same noise that I saw one the LCD on my camera. I still decided to pull it up at 1:1 to examine it closer and when I zoomed in, I saw it disappear.  So i zoomed back out and it was still gone. Went to the next image were the noise was still visibly showing, zoomed in, and again it disappeared. Pulled back the view and it stayed gone.

My question is, what am I to believe. Just so I know how to proceed.  Do I believe the lcd back and lightroom's initial image before I zoomed in.  Or do I believe that the noise isn't there, since after zooming into 1:1 it disappears right in front of me?

I had added Zero adjustments.  Straight out of camera and straight to the loupe in lightroom. I did not change a thing.

What is the explanation for this?  Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Elizabeth

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

My question is, what am I to believe. Just so I know how to proceed.  Do I believe the lcd back and lightroom's initial image before I zoomed in.  Or do I believe that the noise isn't there, since after zooming into 1:1 it disappears right in front of me?

You should believe 1:1, which is the only view where you can evaluate noise and sharpening accurately.

At 1:1, one image pixel is represented by one screen pixel, which gives you a true impression of the image.

Any other view than 1:1 will be inaccurate and misleading because of image scaling.

All this applies not only to Lightroom, but to any other application that can display images.

If you're shooting RAW, you cannot trust the LCD on the camera - it displays a jpg which is embedded in the raw file.

The jpg will include camera settings like noise reduction and sharpening, which may be included in the raw file, but Lightroom ignores settings from the camera.

If you're shooting jpg, you can probably trust the LCD, but only at 1:1 view.

[ElizabethTLee]

Thanks!

I’m definitely shooting RAW. I absolutely forgot to take into account that the LCD is showing a jpeg.

Thanks for the quick reply. Have a good day!