Canon T2i 550D vs Sony A77 for Noise and Blownout Highlights
www.learningdslrvideo.com I ran two test comparing the Canon T2i 550D for noise and which one could hold the highlights better. In both tests, the cameras are set to a neutral picture style with the contrast all the way down. No lighting optimizer or high light tone priority turned on. In the first test I exposed for the dolls skin, I was the back and I am about two stops under. Both are set at ISO 1600. The reason why I went 1600 is that is high as the Sony A77 will go in movie mode if you can believe that. I picked this doll from my girls collection because of the blue and green colors and I am holding the somewhat red Sony box for the third channel red to see which channel does worse with the noise. Starting with the Sony I see the blue channel is noisy but not some much noise on the green. When we look at the Canon I would say it is about a tie on the blue channel noise. Next when we look at my face and the box I think the Canon is slightly better. When we look at the digital target and you look at the gray and the black, I would say the clear winner is the Canon with noticeably less noise than the Sony A77. In the next test I wanted to see who could hold the blown out highlights better. For some reason I am having a really hard time getting the exposure right for the Sony. Normally when I fill the frame with gray part of the digital target and set the exposure for the Canon I will get perfect exposure on skin tones, but not so with the Sony. I had so much problems I ...
December 9th, 2011 - 06:54
press 2 over and over
December 9th, 2011 - 07:16
@Gimp1203 according to b&h the a77′s sensor is in the same class but the physical dimensions of the sensor are larger.
December 9th, 2011 - 07:25
@Gimp1203 I meant nex-7 in my previous post, not the t2i. So you’re saying if you took a nex-7, set iso to 16,000, and took a picture, and then you took the same camera, kept the iso the same, boosted up the shutter speed (light loss), and brightened the scene with more lights so that the output looks the same as the previous picture, that the first picture will have less noise?
December 9th, 2011 - 07:34
@drumat5280 yeah i see. The quality is about the same though right?
December 9th, 2011 - 08:05
@ColinYFilms depends on your budget, I would rather have the 1.4 because of the better focus ring but it is a lot more $
December 9th, 2011 - 08:18
@drumat5280 wow it looks amazing. Do you suggest i go for the 1.4 or 1.8? Is there a great difference?
December 9th, 2011 - 08:44
@ColinYFilms no, the cheap 50mm 1.8.
December 9th, 2011 - 09:09
@Thrashavich
The A77 doesn’t have a larger sensor than the 550D, they are both APS-C sensors! Sony have crammed more mp onto the APS-C sized sensor AND put a translucent mirror in the light path, cutting the amount of light hitting the sensor so that some of it goes to the AF module giving you full time AF. You’ll get more noise than the 550D as a result.
I really don’t think people here understand the basics very well.
December 9th, 2011 - 09:51
are you filming with a 50mm 1.4?
December 9th, 2011 - 10:41
@xxbluejay21
You don’t know that the A77 has more noise at 12800 than the 550D at 12800? Perhaps you should look at comparing images against various cameras here dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta77/page25.asp
Let me put it this way, the A77 will have more noise at any given ISO than the NEX-7 which uses the SAME 24mp sensor. The difference being that the NEX-7 is mirror-less and suffers no light loss.
December 9th, 2011 - 11:24
@Gimp1203 lol light loss doesn’t mean higher iso if you set the iso to the same value. a77 with iso 12800 and t2i with iso 12800 has the same amount of noise but t2i would just be brighter.
December 9th, 2011 - 12:15
@xxbluejay21
Light loss = Higher ISO = More noise. Do you people actually know how cameras work??
December 9th, 2011 - 12:26
its because of the sony’s translucent mirror it reflects a certain percent of light
December 9th, 2011 - 12:40
I think it’s more than just the smaller pixel size. I think Canon just has a better algorithm or whatever for compressing video from the sensor to the card than Sony does. The noise is much less disruptive, and I’ve seen video of the Nex-5N (pixel size on 5N is about 1 micron bigger than canon- 4.2 vs 5) and the 5N doesn’t seem to have less noise. I’m getting a Nex-5N anyways because I’m interested in its small size and fast manual focusing.
December 9th, 2011 - 13:39
@Gimp1203 the light loss doesn’t mean there’s more noise.
December 9th, 2011 - 14:28
@Gimp1203 “How about testing the Canon at 24mp and or ISO 50 or testing the Canon’s video auto-focus, or testing the Canon at 12fps…oh wait you can’t…”
So what you’re saying is that when a Sony camera body that costs nearly three times a Canon body isn’t as good for shooting video, we should perform idiotic and pointless tests so you can feel good about yourself?
December 9th, 2011 - 15:07
@Thrashavich I think has to do with many small items, paying close attention to every detail and lots of testing.
December 9th, 2011 - 15:55
@drumat5280
No way….
It’s beautiful. How did you accomplish such clarity? I recently set up a ton of lighting to do some recording with 100 ISO and it looks way noisier than your footage. Do you apply some kind of de-noise filter or something?
December 9th, 2011 - 16:03
@Thrashavich the canon t2i
December 9th, 2011 - 16:58
Damn what a disappointment. I own the 550d and was looking to get an A77 as a step up for wedding videography. I definitely thought there would be less noise considering the larger sensor on the A77. Very disappointing.
Looks like it’s back to canon for me.
BTW what camera are you using to record yourself in the shots where you’re just talking and not testing anything? It looks like there’s no noise at all in those shots!
December 9th, 2011 - 16:58
Hey Dave, there was no mention of the lens you were using during your tests, do you mind sharing that info ? Also does your A77 have the latest firmware?
December 9th, 2011 - 17:57
What kind of camera do you use to record your videos and also settings?
December 9th, 2011 - 18:36
@Gimp1203 Do you own a A77?
December 9th, 2011 - 19:22
You tested an 18mp sensor against a 24mp sensor and found the 24mp noisier at 1600, this is news to you???
You didn’t know about the light loss due to the SLT design either?
How about testing the Canon at 24mp and or ISO 50 or testing the Canon’s video auto-focus, or testing the Canon at 12fps…oh wait you can’t…
December 9th, 2011 - 19:24
@PlatSoul thanks I did watch that one where he demos that the translucent mirror cuts 1/3 stop of light.