Something Seems To Have Changed—For The Better!

High ISO noise example and directly into the sun as well. No noise reduction applied.
From a JPEG file.  (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T4; 16-55mm F/2.8 lens @ 16mm; 1/150th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 6400; Cropped to 12mp

I've been using Fujifilm cameras since the X-T1 was released.  High ISO digital noise performance has never been quite as good as full frame cameras, but with judicious application of noise reduction in editing software, I've been satisfied. Now, add in the wonders of the new artificial intelligence based noise reduction plugins, and the differences are largely and completely erased.

Last Tuesday, I was asked to photograph a "National Night Out" event for the local police department.  A little volunteer work is good for the soul so I agreed.  For those of you who may not know about National Night Out, it is a community event that brings members of the community together with law enforcement, other first responders (and some others) to build relationships, garner understanding and better understand ways to work together to prevent crime in neighborhoods.  It is a fun event and there are lots of opportunities for children to meet police officers, see police equipment such as motorcycles, K-9 dogs, etc.

Thinking about my task, the event was going to be held from 6 p.m. through 8 p.m.  The problem I immediately identified was that sunset would be at 6:44 p.m.  That meant many of the photographs I planned to take would be at high ISOs.  Using a flash unit would ruin the atmosphere so I ruled that out.  In the end, I decided to take one camera, one lens, one spare battery and a lens cleaning cloth.  I wanted to keep things simple.

I packed up my X-T4 with the 16-55mm f/2.8 lens attached and put it all in my old Domke F803 canvas bag and drove to the event.  I set my camera to make both RAW and JPEG images,  Auto White Balance, Auto ISO (maximum ISO 6400 and a minimum shutter speed of 1/125th sec.), aperture priority, Pro Neg Std film simulation, no high ISO noise reduction, +1 sharpening and +1 color.  My plan was to use the JPEGs (as Fujifilm's JPEGs are outstanding), and deliver edited files to the police department.  The RAW files would serve as a 'backup' in case a particular JPEG couldn't be edited successfully, but that turned out not to be the case.

My camera's focus settings were set on 'continuous' using back-button autofocus and the largest zone focusing pattern.  I have a function button programmed to toggle between eye/face detection and regular autofocus.  I used that quite often for this event.

One thing to know about Fujifilm cameras, is that when you max out the ISO, the shutter speed will decrease to maintain proper exposure so I did have an image or two at a shutter speed as low as 1/40th sec.  Luckily, they were pretty static scenes with little movement.

My goal was to show kids and their parents interacting with law enforcement personnel, other first responders, the various exhibitors and emergency equipment on display, etc.  In the end, I made about 300 exposures.  Mostly, I didn't worry about anything except composition and accurate focus.  I couldn't have been more pleased with the quality of files I made.

A 'touching' image of a young girl with one of the Virginia State Police work dogs. (click to enlarge)
Fujifilm X-T4; 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 36mm; 1/250th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 1600

So, what has changed?  It is the amount of objectionable digital noise in the my Fujifilm X-T4 image files.  Even at ISO 6400, I found very little digital noise.  In fact, I delivered the edited files to the police department and didn't apply any noise reduction to any of the files, even the high ISO files, because the noise was so inobtrusive that you have to look at a file closely at 100% to see any noise.  And even then it only looked like fine film grain.  (see above)

Here's the rub.  This minor amount of digital noise at ISO 6400 isn't my recollection nor my experience with this camera or previous Fujifilm cameras.  My recollection is the noise was objectionable at those high ISOs and one had to spend a bit of time in Lightroom's Detail panel to reduce it to an acceptable level at that ISO.  What changed?  I don't know.  But these latest image files look a lot better than ones from previous years, even with the same sensor and image processor.

My camera was set on aperture priority, auto ISO auto exposure so I wasn't dialing in exposure compensation and giving the files more exposure than what the camera called for.  More exposure results in less noise.  My JPEG settings had high exposure noise reduction set to -4 so no or minimal noise in-camera reduction was being applied.  Could it be that Lightroom has improved their algorithms with recent updates?  Possibly.  I don't remember a recent Fujifilm firmware update which may have applied additional in-camera noise reduction.  At least, they never told us if they did.  Maybe it's my eyesight?  Is it failing?  Not likely since I just had top shelf artificial lenses implanted 15 months ago when my cataracts were removed.  My eyesight is better now than it has been for 40 years.  I have 20/15 vision at a distance and can read the tiny print on the back of a medicine bottle.

Same file, same settings as above just with a bit of judicious noise reduction applied.
What's not to like?  (click to enlarge)

I really can't put my finger on why these files have much less noise at comparable high ISOs than files in the recent past.  In any case, I am really pleased with what I am seeing now.  No matter what the reason, the  amount of digital noise in my high ISO image files from my X-T4 seems to be less than in the past.

Or maybe it is just my imagination?  Maybe it's confirmation bias?  Whatever.  I'll take it.  And...just think how things will continue to get better for us photographers in the future!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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