Canon R7 grainy photos

We don't know the ISO setting but 1/320 @ f/13 does give you some room to bring that down.

And you have one photo badly out of focus, with the second one looking just as i would expect. As mentioned, ACR has effective noise reduction tools. I shoot primarily with a 5D Mk IV which likely has similar sensor performance despite being a decade older. I almost always use the AI noise reduction and it works quite well (one of the few places I find AI to be at all useful.)

Jump on YouTube and watch some videos about using ACR and RAW processing.

One point has not been discussed here yet: Which ISO setting do you use for the appropriate pictures?

---

@nicmart  schrieb:

Why have I not found it to be the case with thousands of RAW files from a cheaper, older camera? Why do the same RAW files opened in Mac Preview or Photomator not show the grain?

I think both programs shows the embedded jpeg preview of the RAW, 'In details this can be looked a little bit different as the original RAW.

Why have I not found it to be the case with thousands of RAW files from a cheaper, older camera? Why do the same RAW files opened in Mac Preview or Photomator not show the grain?

Camera processing (jpeg, HEIF) always has very aggressive noise reduction applied. This is how they sell cameras. One could argue that they overdo it to the point where the result looks "plasticky" and unnatural.

ACR shows the file as the camera sensor recorded it, with very little noise reduction applied at default settings. You're supposed to apply the noise reduction yourself; ACR doesn't do it for you. The noise reduction tools in ACR are very effective when applied carefully - with the new AI-based "Denoise" for the really tough high-ISO cases.

I don't know the ISO of this image, but generally this looks like what you might expect. 

I'm on Windows, so I can't give any guidance on Mac Preview.

When I open a .CR3 file from my Canon M6 mkII (which has almost the same sensor as the R7) through Camera Raw into Photoshop, using default settings, it shows nowhere near the noise yours does.

One thing you might try is downloading a demo version of a third-party Raw converter, and see if the problem persists.

The files open directly into PS RAW 17.3.1, "camera faithful".

Is Mac Preview not also displaying the RAW file as RAW? Does Preview employ some method of eliminating the grain? Since it doesn't show the grain, it must be doing (or not doing) something to the file that PS is or isn't.

I just opened it in Lightroom, which I never use, and it displays the same graininess.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I don't want to have to grain correct every file shot with a contemporary camera when I still don't need to do that in a camera purchased 10 years ago. I'm really skeptical of the idea that every file I now shoot is born flawed.

Again, are you developing in Abobe Camera Raw?

The RAW files are .CR3. The other may not appeal to you, but I'm not going to print it at 6x magnification. Other than the foible I mentioned, I never had such a complaint with RAW files generated by the Rebel T5i. Photoshop RAW reveals massively more grain in a file generated by a contemporary camera than one 10 years old?

When the grainy RAW is saved to jpg the saved file is also grainy, so Photoshop is altering the file, not just displaying it grainy onscreen.

How are you developing what I assume are .CR2 files? Photoshop does not open these directly, but through Adobe Camera Raw. There is a new noise reduction tool in ACR which I find works well.

The other image, in my opinion, is a mess. Any detail around the eyes is gone. Basically, the noisy one is sharp, and the other one isn't. Again, details on how you are opening the "raw" files will help.