E-3 noise control compared to E-1 and E-400

This is a set of images that I created to examine the ISO and resolution differences between three Olympus Four:Thirds DSLR's - the five megapixel E-1, and the ten megapixel E-3 and E-400.

I was interested in how far Olympus have come with regards to one of the main criticisms of the original E-1 - high ISO noise. I think these tests show that Olympus have made great strides since the introduction of the E-1. I would be happy to rely on Auto ISO in the E-3 right up to ISO 800, with ISO 1600 and even ISO 3200 being perfectly usable with a little NR processing.

The E-1 and the E-400 share similar sensor technology - a CCD produced by Kodak. The E-3 is rumoured to share a similar sensor to that found in the E-510. I don't have an E-510 so can't test for what improvements have been added (if any).

All of the shots were taken in JPEG mode at the highest quality. My reason for this was to see how the JPEG engine performed with regards to noise control and detail quality.

All cameras had neutral settings for contrast, sharpness and saturation. The very sharp Zuiko f/2 50mm lens was used at an aperture of f/7.1. The sRGB images were loaded into CS3 for cropping and nothing else. The crops were saved at 100% quality, once pasted onto a wider canvas.

WB was automatic, and the items were lit by a full spectrum 6000K daylight bulb. Metering was matrix. Mirror lockup + cable release was used on the E-1 and E-3, and the IR remote on the E-400 as it's dumbed down enough to not offer something so useful...

It seems that the E-3 slightly over exposes looking at these images. This would tie in with other findings I've noticed on other blogs and forums. It's not a problem to work round (and my usual setting on pretty much every DSLR I've used is to dial in -3 exposure to protect highlights). It will be interesting if this becomes a common finding. If it does then Olympus may tweak the exposure algorithm with a future firmware update.

As far as detail goes, it's obviously a reasonable leap from 5 megapixels to 10. The E-3 seems to have slightly more 'sharpness' than I would think was natural. If I were shooting JPEG then I may adjust the 'natural' sharpness settings to -1. As the noise increases, the images have a slight 'bitty' quality. I'm not sure if this is the result of a 'neutral' sharpness setting or some form of noise cleaning (even when NR is turned off, I would expect some processing of the image to remove certain artifacts). The E-1 looks slightly softer with neutral settings, and the E-400 even more so. Normally I only shoot using RAW, so am not too interested in how the various cameras treat 'sharpness'.

I also tested the various Noise Filter settings in the three cameras. It's not something I've ever turned on before as I like to do my NR in a proper editing environment. The results of these tests don't change my opinion. I prefer the slightly noisier details than the smearing that in-camera NR often applies.

Anyway, take all of these images with a pinch of salt. This is my own real world test, and not something done in a lab. No doubt other 'real' results will be showing up soon, but for me I'm generally very happy indeed with the strides that Olympus have made with regards to detail and noise control. It dispels some of the myths of the 'tiny' sensor.



Initial scene (from E-3). Click image to see full size. You can also download all full sized images by following the links at the end of this page.



ISO 100. No Noise Reduction, 100% crops. Click image to see full size.




ISO 400. No Noise Reduction, 100% crops. Click image to see full size.



ISO 800. No Noise Reduction, 100% crops. Click image to see full size.




ISO 1600. No Noise Reduction, 100% crops. Click image to see full size.



ISO 3200. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.






ISO 100. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.



ISO 400. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.




ISO 800. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.



ISO 1600. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.



ISO 3200. No Noise Reduction. 100% crops. Click image to see full size.




Effects of in-camera Noise Reduction. Click image to see full size.




You can download all of the original JPEG files in a zipped archive from the following links:

E-1 Full Sized Images (46MB)

E-3 Full Sized Images (145MB)

E-400 Full Sized Images (54MB)


Addendum

I did an A4 (approx. 8"x12") print of the ISO 1600 full sized image for each of the cameras, and (as I expected) the 'bittiness' is completely invisible in print. The E-3 print looks more like a low ISO shot than something at ISO 1600, whereas the E-1 print clearly shows the noise in the shadows. The E-400 sits somewhere in-between. It's nicely balanced tonally with just the vague hint of noise in the shadows.

One other thing I should point out is that the standard 'natural' setting on the E-3 (in my view) adds too much sharpness, which I think accounts for the 'bittiness' of the high ISO shots. If you set the sharpness to -2 then I think it looks cleaner. Maybe not so 'sharp', but that can be rectified later via any decent editor.

I hope to be picking up an A3 (12"x16+") printer soon, which will really show the differences (as well as make much better use of the 10 megapixel files).