TL;DR is I would recommend people use Firmware 0731 ... but be CAREFUL with it because you can easily push the camera too far and end up with a hot noisy mess!
So fortunately it was moderately cloudy again tonight and the moon hasn't quite come out yet ... so I think the light level is about the same. So we can compare the image taken last night with the T54PRO-ZE running firmware 0928 versus tonight using FW 0731 ... with the ONLY difference is the 0928 has Gain=100 and the 0731 has Gain=62. So yea, this seems to confirm that the Gain was "re-scaled" and the 0928 100 is about the same as the 0731 62.
BTW, I wrote earlier "I can kinda see/understand why from a marketing/sales perspective that you "redid" the scale since yea, once you go past 62 (on the 0731 firmware), the noise really does increase ... and I can envision people doing this, seeing the noisy image, and saying "this camera sucks" ... so maybe have something on the gain bar that says "using high values will brighten an image, but may introduce undesirable noise." ... so depending on your tolerance for noise, this wasn't a totally unreasonable limitation.
But don't get too excited about "turning it up to 11", as I'll again warn you that pushing the gain above 62 (with FW0731) is ... pushing it ... especially if you are at the light gathering limit of the camera.
So that wraps up FW0731 versus FW0928 ... but how about 5442-S3 versus T54PRO-ZE w/0731?
My front yard is pretty dark ... so as mentioned before, I have to use some fairly ridiculous parameters on the 5442-S3 to light it up. In this comparison, the 5442-S3 is at 160msec (I'm going to use that value - rather than 1/6s shutter - since that is what the menu provides) with gain=100 and 2D-NR & 3D-NR set to 50. The T54PRO-ZE has the SAME parameters ... BUT ... wait-for-it ... wait-for-it ... the shutter value is 20msec - i.e. that is TWO STOPS faster ... so the aperture/processing is having to make up for that ... although we don't know if the "gain (ISO) scale" of the 5442-S3 and T54PRO-ZE are the same.
Pretty impressive to turn it up to 11 (or maybe 12!) - which do you like better - the 5442-S3 or the T54PRO-ZE?
LOL the "right" answer is neither ... as both are a noisy/smeared mess ... but if I had to choose, I like the T54PRO-ZE ... even though the shutter speed is 4X faster than the 5442-S3!
Finally, I'll show you what happens when you don't crank it to 11 ... but just go a little past 10. Here's two images from the T54PRO-ZE (the clouds were clearing to the East, so I was worried about the Moon popping out and messing up my exposure ... so I didn't run out there to pose for the pictures) that used identical setting of 40msec (1/25 shutter speed), 2D NR and 3D NR of 50 ... with the difference being the gain was changed from 62 to 65.
I.e. that little extra push does degrade the image much, but results in just over a half stop difference in exposure (as measured by the Photoshop Color Sampler - sorry I said Eye Dropper in a previous post) which is significant! BTW, I haven't decided on what I'm going to end up running ... since FOR SURE I would like to have a shutter speed faster than 1/25s, but I have to work with the light I have and the camera's capabilities.
So that's why I recommend Firmware 0731 (based these quick tests) because it gives you some extra room to play with to improve your images ... albeit be careful, because you can also destroy them!
P.S. Sorry I didn't upload any video to look at motion ... but obviously even in the 1/50s (20 msec) picture, you are still going to get motion blur ... on top of a lotta noise & compression blur.
Before someone says it, I'm NOT saying you should run your cameras this slow ... and if you NEED to identify people, by all means "light it up" ... but I'm just trying to compare cameras that I happen to have.
PPS. If you click on an image to see large and then "arrow" across, that seems like a good way to compare - note the file names to help you out.
So fortunately it was moderately cloudy again tonight and the moon hasn't quite come out yet ... so I think the light level is about the same. So we can compare the image taken last night with the T54PRO-ZE running firmware 0928 versus tonight using FW 0731 ... with the ONLY difference is the 0928 has Gain=100 and the 0731 has Gain=62. So yea, this seems to confirm that the Gain was "re-scaled" and the 0928 100 is about the same as the 0731 62.
BTW, I wrote earlier "I can kinda see/understand why from a marketing/sales perspective that you "redid" the scale since yea, once you go past 62 (on the 0731 firmware), the noise really does increase ... and I can envision people doing this, seeing the noisy image, and saying "this camera sucks" ... so maybe have something on the gain bar that says "using high values will brighten an image, but may introduce undesirable noise." ... so depending on your tolerance for noise, this wasn't a totally unreasonable limitation.
But don't get too excited about "turning it up to 11", as I'll again warn you that pushing the gain above 62 (with FW0731) is ... pushing it ... especially if you are at the light gathering limit of the camera.
So that wraps up FW0731 versus FW0928 ... but how about 5442-S3 versus T54PRO-ZE w/0731?
My front yard is pretty dark ... so as mentioned before, I have to use some fairly ridiculous parameters on the 5442-S3 to light it up. In this comparison, the 5442-S3 is at 160msec (I'm going to use that value - rather than 1/6s shutter - since that is what the menu provides) with gain=100 and 2D-NR & 3D-NR set to 50. The T54PRO-ZE has the SAME parameters ... BUT ... wait-for-it ... wait-for-it ... the shutter value is 20msec - i.e. that is TWO STOPS faster ... so the aperture/processing is having to make up for that ... although we don't know if the "gain (ISO) scale" of the 5442-S3 and T54PRO-ZE are the same.
Pretty impressive to turn it up to 11 (or maybe 12!) - which do you like better - the 5442-S3 or the T54PRO-ZE?
LOL the "right" answer is neither ... as both are a noisy/smeared mess ... but if I had to choose, I like the T54PRO-ZE ... even though the shutter speed is 4X faster than the 5442-S3!
Finally, I'll show you what happens when you don't crank it to 11 ... but just go a little past 10. Here's two images from the T54PRO-ZE (the clouds were clearing to the East, so I was worried about the Moon popping out and messing up my exposure ... so I didn't run out there to pose for the pictures) that used identical setting of 40msec (1/25 shutter speed), 2D NR and 3D NR of 50 ... with the difference being the gain was changed from 62 to 65.
I.e. that little extra push does degrade the image much, but results in just over a half stop difference in exposure (as measured by the Photoshop Color Sampler - sorry I said Eye Dropper in a previous post) which is significant! BTW, I haven't decided on what I'm going to end up running ... since FOR SURE I would like to have a shutter speed faster than 1/25s, but I have to work with the light I have and the camera's capabilities.
So that's why I recommend Firmware 0731 (based these quick tests) because it gives you some extra room to play with to improve your images ... albeit be careful, because you can also destroy them!
P.S. Sorry I didn't upload any video to look at motion ... but obviously even in the 1/50s (20 msec) picture, you are still going to get motion blur ... on top of a lotta noise & compression blur.
Before someone says it, I'm NOT saying you should run your cameras this slow ... and if you NEED to identify people, by all means "light it up" ... but I'm just trying to compare cameras that I happen to have.
PPS. If you click on an image to see large and then "arrow" across, that seems like a good way to compare - note the file names to help you out.
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