This is one thing I can't figure out: It's a fact that larger sensors produce cleaner, less noisy images than smaller sensors. The m4/3 sensor is about 8x the size of a compact digicam sensor, which in turn is larger than the sensor than on a typical camcorder. So logically, the m4/3 sensor should out-perform a small camcorder sensor, right? However, that's not been my experience. I've used 8mm, Hi-8, and Mini-DV camcorders in the past noise has rarely been a problem. But with my E-P1, the noise is very obvious in low light shots, and is downright embarrassing when videoing something against the night sky--for example, fireworks.

At first, I thought it was maybe because camcorders typically sport faster lenses (f/1.8 or faster). But I discovered even when using my 20mm @ f/1.7, the noise is still very obvious.

Is this because of the differences between how the sensor processes video vs. still images? I've read that I can minimize the video noise by cranking the noise reduction setting to 'High', but I don't do this because I'll end up forgetting to change it back when I go back to shooting stills.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Have you checked the exif on those videos?

 my ep1 is noisy for stills at iso 200, i delibrately onderexpose to save hkghlight sometimes , and   it of course gets worse

Have you checked the exif on those videos?

No, I haven't. I take a look--I'll probably find that the camera has cranked up the ISO for low light shots and that's what's causing the excessive noise!    (But then, don't camcorders up the ISO in low light as well?)

It is probably the compression that causes the noise.

Quote from: Centauri27 on July 19, 2011, 10:01:41 AM

Quote from: lisandra on July 19, 2011, 01:19:10 AM

Have you checked the exif on those videos?

No, I haven't. I take a look--I'll probably find that the camera has cranked up the ISO for low light shots and that's what's causing the excessive noise!    (But then, don't camcorders up the ISO in low light as well?)

they do, but most camcorders (consumer) don't go higher than ISO 400 and apply a hefty amount of noise reduction to that ISO 400. The pen on auto ISO will go to the safest (highest) ISO it can (1600-3200) and use the current noise reduction settings you have for photo. If you could see even 50% crops of those videos you'd have a heart attack at the amount of detail lost in the camcorder.

Those are very good points, lisandra. I'll check the exif of my current videos, then restrict auto ISO to 400, crank up the noise reduction, then see if my E-P1 can produce less noisy videos. I realize that stills from a camcorder are shockingly lacking in detail, but then my goal for a video is to simply have it look good on TV--there's no real need to preserve a lot of details because you can't crop or enlarge a video, like with a still photo. (That also explains why most camcorders typically produce lower-res still photos.)

Of course, the thing that'll kill me is that if these changes work (i.e., produces better videos), I'll have to remember to change them back and forth each time I video, because the E-P1 uses the same settings for vids and stills! 

Quote from: lisandra on July 19, 2011, 03:19:04 PM

Quote from: Centauri27 on July 19, 2011, 10:01:41 AM

Quote from: lisandra on July 19, 2011, 01:19:10 AM

Have you checked the exif on those videos?

No, I haven't. I take a look--I'll probably find that the camera has cranked up the ISO for low light shots and that's what's causing the excessive noise!    (But then, don't camcorders up the ISO in low light as well?)

they do, but most camcorders (consumer) don't go higher than ISO 400 and apply a hefty amount of noise reduction to that ISO 400. The pen on auto ISO will go to the safest (highest) ISO it can (1600-3200) and use the current noise reduction settings you have for photo. If you could see even 50% crops of those videos you'd have a heart attack at the amount of detail lost in the camcorder.

Those are very good points, lisandra. I'll check the exif of my current videos, then restrict auto ISO to 400, crank up the noise reduction, then see if my E-P1 can produce less noisy videos. I realize that stills from a camcorder are shockingly lacking in detail, but then my goal for a video is to simply have it look good on TV--there's no real need to preserve a lot of details because you can't crop or enlarge a video, like with a still photo. (That also explains why most camcorders typically produce lower-res still photos.)

Of course, the thing that'll kill me is that if these changes work (i.e., produces better videos), I'll have to remember to change them back and forth each time I video, because the E-P1 uses the same settings for vids and stills! 

I dont remember how much control one could have over the settings in video mode on the PEN but, set your noise reduction to its highest, sharpness to its lowest or near lowest, turn off all shadow recovery tricks, and possibly a minus 1 contrast to avoid clipping. set the lowest shutter speed acceptable for video (most agree its twice the focal length youre using, so 1/40 or 1/30 on the panny). Once all of that is done, set ISO from there, video doesn't have to be as brightly exposed as photo, otherwise it doesn't really look natural.

So I wonder: does this issue affect all DSLR video or just the PEN? Can anyone with a video-capable DSLR comment on this? How about Panasonic m4/3 video shooters?

There's all the control in the world with the gh2, and it handles video different than photos. This is ISO 2000 at 1/50 sec handheld. You cqn switch over to full hd but YouTube doesn't do it justice
 

GH2 dynamic b&w ISO 2000, cinema 24p