K20D image noise

Hi Gang...
Been a while since I,ve been on here....

Just a quick question.
I've noticed I'm getting noise in my images (shooting RAW.)
Mostly above 400asa, but also even at 200asa..... ?

Mainly whilst taking portraits at Weddings, and on the Grooms black coat etc.

Using Adobe Elements 6 to convert them to Jpeg...its RAW converter is really good...
I've up dated the firmware, so hopefully this will help.....but any suggestions will be grateful.

Thanks

Are you underexposing at all ? "pushing" shadows to retrieve detail can result in increased noise.

Hmm...
Good point.....I'll have a check, but dont think so...

Thanks for the reply..

No probs, just a thought. The k20d does err on the side of underexposure a little.

You will get some noise at higher iso's even if the histogram is well balanced.
I'm not familiar with Elements 6 but I'm assuming it uses ACR which has a built in noise reduction process at the conversion stage (be aware that you need to zoom to 100% to see the results when adjusting the sliders) There should also be a noise reduction option when working on the converted jpeg, a quick search in the "help" menu should find it.
There is also a whole host of noise reduction software available, popular ones include "noise ninja" & "neatimage". Personally I use Dfine 2.0 link (they have a free trial) which I find excellent as you can choose to sample just the problem areas (ie. the black coat) which helps maintain detail in the areas that are less affected by noise.

Just a thought though but you're probable comparing the K20D with your K10D.
The K20D use a CMOS sensor and it produce slightly more noise with lower ISO (ASA) then a CCD sensor what the K10D use, at ISO 400+ is the turning point I believe.

To be honest....that never crossed my mind...
But why make the K20D (the flagship) worse than the K10D....???

Weird?

Thanks for the post mate

More megapixels means more noise, but the change to CMOS from CCD has resulted in better noise control at higher iso.

Not really weird though, they are both different devices and work in different ways.

CCD is an active sensor where CMOS is passive, that's why CMOS is better for longer shutter speed since they don't heat up that much. CMOS sensors are also more responsive so they work better then CCD with high iso but with low ISO a signal travels through less components with CCD then with CMOS resulting in less noise (not 110% sure on that though).

CCD are still the best sensors in my eyes but CMOS is better at iso800 and everybody seems to be focus how well a camera preforms at high iso but forget how they preform at low iso and dynamic range.

Also now that we see film on DSLR camera we wont see CCD back on there since they get hot when using for a long time, CMOS keep far cooler since they are passive.

Here is a link if you want to read more about it link