Faulty camera or acceptable noise levels

[demonious]

f16 iso200 30.0sec

Hi, I've taken some images and the noise on them is quite noticeable at 200 native iso using Xt-20. This is the same sensor used in Xt-2 and X-Pro 2 and a couple other cameras as well as you know by now. I have included the original image as well as a cropped to better present the noise that's present in shooting conditions at night. Do I have a faulty camera or does this mean that cropped sensor camera aren't well suited for astrophotography (would not want psuedo stars contaminating the milky way shots).

If you have a similar camera, let me know what you think and you can share your images. Would be good to have another fellow xt2, xpro2 user etc chime in to compare the images and/or settings if any.

 

[one eye jack]

The first photo (full size) is normal and the second photo (zoomed in) is normal.
When you zoom in or blow up a photo, it's equivalent to making the photo of lower resolution like 2Mp
instead of 24Mp of course there will be noise in the form of coloured dots.

All image sensors behave this way.If you read about Fuji X-trans sensor it cautions that not to use long exposure greater than 30 seconds which is the limit the sensor can take without noise problem because any sensor will have thermal noise because the sensor is "on" for longer time so get hotter.

The work around is take multiple shots and then a black frame with the camera averaging the result.This means you can't take another photo until the processor completes the calculations and save the image. This method is a form of noise reduction.I think a setting for this is needed for this mode.Most night shots are composites of many frames for less noise.

Another way of putting this is if you scale down an image to a lower resolution eg. 24Mp to 12Mp
the noise is not noticeable or non existant.That's why for website photos you hardly see noise
because it's scaled down from full size.

 

[Octarine]

Exposure time of 30 seconds will cause sensor heat coming in. Heat will cause noise.

 

[demonious]

Thank you guys for your input. I've also taken one eye jack's suggestions on how to overcome the noise problems. Very helpful stuff. Now I have 3 workarounds for when I need them

Ps I can't take Fuji very seriously when they caution against exploding cameras in firmware update mishaps. But I have read my manual, it's nice and packed of info.

 

[keithwee]

hi demonious, sorry to hear that they wrote 'caution against exploding cameras in firmware update mishaps' lol. I think Japanese being Japanese sometimes need to work on language use. Will feedback to them to stop scaring users for something as simple and as safe as a firmware update.