Sony RX10 II star timelapse noise

[DPC]

With just a Sony RX10 II available, I had a go at doing a starry sky timelapse yesterday. It was on my list of things to try. Exposure OK, composition too, raw images through Lightroom, all fine. But there is terrible confetti-like white noise all over the images. I think this comes from the sensor heating during the 30 second exposures. Long exposure NR was off and will be on for tonight's further testing. I didn't make any dark frames either. If any of you have had success with this and can give me some tips, I would be very grateful. My aim isn't to get involved with highly specialised astro tech, rather get some cool 10 second atmospheric b-roll inserts (that don't look crap). Thanks!

[Luke Mason]

RX10 II sensor uses backlit and stacked design which generates significant amount of heat during integration. But thermal noise is usually chromatic, not white, it could be readout noise too since RX10 II has very high pixel density. you might want to double check your exposure settings, or use a small fan/cooling pad on the camera.

Generally this type of camera is not suitable for night time long exposure, something like A7s would give you better quality results.

 

[DPC]

Thanks Luke. If (ever) it helps someone, after a little more testing it seems (to my surprise) that having Long Exposure Noise Reduction ON reduces noise in raw files. They're still not great, but useable. Oh, and the camera is a pig for night shots anyway because the EVF becomes a mass of noise in the dark and focusing is really hard. 

[The Chris]

Here's a pretty good RX100 review from an astrophotographer, has settings info. http://www.lonelyspeck.com/sony-rx100-series-astrophotography-review/

With a 1" sensor and a fixed lens, long exposure night photography is pushing things in terms of IQ.

If you can shoot raw, then downsample the images to your video size noise should improve quite a bit.