ISO 12800

taken with a 50D and processed in LR3
1/250th, f/2.8

Are you shooting with a 1D Mark IV? Your noise is well controlled. I find while shooting indoors with a black floor and poor lighting ISO 8-10,00 will still give me sellable 8x10's. Here is an example of ISO 8,000.

OOPS... I see you are using a 50D... impressive!

Hey Nina,

That is great - the question I have - do you mind the noise in the prints? I did a wedding last year where I wound up shooting ISO 6400 and found the noise to be not acceptable- and this was on the larger sensored 5d ii. Also, I find that dynamic range falls into the tank.

James

I think the 1D Mark IV handles noise much better than the 5 D MKII does, James. I don't mind a certain amount of noise and for agility folks are very happy to get a decent action shot with only slight grain to it. Alot of agility photographers will only offer 5x7's as their largest size for indoor trials and although sometimes an image here or there will have more grain than I desire and I will tell the client that it would be best if you ordered that particular one in a 5x7 due to lighting conditions, I am finding with the Mark IV that I am able to offer a great amount in 8x10 and still have it look acceptable.

at 6400 I'm noise free printing to 11x14
and at 12800 am virtually noise free printing to 8x10 (haven't needed to print larger yet)

there are some tricks, which I know the 5DII has, along with my 50D's and probably the other newer Canon's

JPG, JPG, JPG ... RAWs at this high ISO are NOT PRETTY

the cameras have an option under Custom funcition ... High ISO noise reduction ... mine is set to strong

this alone is all I've ever needed to do up to ISO 6400, that and over expose by one stop, and I have amazing prints
now that LR3 has goon NR too, I've began pushing to 12800 because when winter came, the outside ambient dissappeared, and I couldn't even get up to 1/200th in the barns at ISO 6400 anymore LOL

I own two 50D's, rent more when needed, one assistant has the new 7D ... and the image quality is not noticably improved under the above conditions, so I'm buying another 50D until Canon improves upon these two bodies, but for under $1K the 50D is a sports shooter's dream camera LOL

..maybe so. I photographed a wedding yesterday and I have some shots at ISO 3200 and I find the noise to be just too objectionable. The whole image goes to mush....sigh.

James

hmmm, thought the 5Dii was supposed to be good with the noise ... JPG or RAW? what custom function setting for high ISO noise reduction?
did you over expose a tad?
did you print, or are you pixel peeping on screen?

Nina,
I take it that you don't find the fps of the 50D vs the 7D to be a major issue with action/sports photography. I'm lusting after the 7D but really could get the 50D and be very happy as long as it works as far as action/movement shots. Of course, I've been working with the 40D and it's done just fine in those situations. Like you, I have not seen a huge improvement in high-ISO shots between the 7D and the 50D but both are much better than the 40D. It's time to move up but with a house move and medical expenses, it has to make economic sense.

Jim

another local agility photographer bought a 7D when he lost the shutter in is 50D, because he doesn't get pro turnaround like I do with CPS service LOL

anyway, he shot 3 trials with the 7D while his 50d was at repair, and said there is no noticable difference between the two cameras as far as image/print quality

the fps are fine, mine keep up with the fastest bordercollies weaving or whatever, in low light conditions
heck, I plan on having two more 50D's for the BC Nationals next fall (guess who's the official on that one???? )

also, except for weaves, I never take more than a burst of 3 images ... too many clicks = too many pics LOL

I shoot some candids at a Dane specialty recently. Horrible lighting. 7D, 70-200mm IS at 2.8, ISO 12,800, exposure pushed one stop and ran thru Noise Ninja. Prints beautifully at 8x10. Haven't tried larger. The next day I set the in camera noise reduction to strong and I think I got better results.

Nina, Julie,
I shot the 7D at this year's Rottie National so I know what it can do. To get moving shots like this:





I need to shoot longer bursts and get my timing right. "Perfect" moving shots are my candid bread & butter and higher fps usually means a better chance of capturing that exact moment when the dog is fully-extended on one side and fully-contracted on the other.

Having said that, that first image was taken with my 40D and the second with the 7D. Clearly, the second was harder because it was indoors, high ISO, slower shutter speed, etc. but when I review my action shots from the 40D, I'm not disappointed. Nina, thanks for the feedback and I'm going to rent a 50D for some shows coming up in Jan. and, if I like it, I'll probably buy 2.

Jim

this is very interesting, I normally shoot only RAW with my 50D, but am going to try the JPG with the high ISO NR turned on strong,, wondering though,, at what ISO does the NR start working? I can't find my book right now. I did a couple of test shots at 12,800 and seems to be a lot of color noise with that, but not really a lot of light where I tried it. I take a lot of deer and other wildlife outdoors, but sometimes there just isn't enought light early morn to get a decent shutter speed without a tripod, which is hard to use with a moving animal. Thanks,

the thing to remember when pushing the ISO up there, besides using in camera NR on JPGs, is to overexpose your image, an underexposed or even properly exposed image has more noise than one that your highlights are blinking, and your histogram is mildly clipped to the right (not a ton) ... but remember to keep the detail in the white dogs ... I change my shutter speed from my average for the show, down one for all black dogs and up two (from the average) for the all white dogs ... as those who shoot agility, you understand the challenges we must endure just to get a picture while shooting in a dark dungeon LOL

Jim .. the fps are enough, honestly, I've never noticed a slowdown, or felt I needed more, it writes soo fast on the extreme III cards I use, that I litterally could hold the hammer down & machine gun it if I wanted to.

what I love about the 50D is many bought it & couldn't figure out how to use it well, so it's resale value is low, meaning we can collect them at a reasonable price LOL

Quote:

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what I love about the 50D is many bought it & couldn't figure out how to use it well, so it's resale value is low, meaning we can collect them at a reasonable price LOL

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Nina, that certainly enters into my thinking as well. When I look at the features vs the 7D, there's not that much difference -- at least for the ones that I use most. Perhaps the 7D's focusing system is a bit more sophisticated but I've never had a problem with the 40D's. As for high-ISO performance, I'm not going to be shooting too many indoor Trials where it would make a difference. Ring candids at Conformation shows are an issue but with fast glass I can keep the ISO at controllable levels. For the bulk of my work, the 50D is more than adequate.

Jim